Perhaps this is something that everyone has already heard (particularly those living in California, where’s there’s a law about it), and I’m just late in learning: flushing cat poo infects sea otters with Toxoplasma, and is killing them at a devastating and alarming rate. On the other hand, I’d never heard of it in my lifetime of pooties, so maybe you haven't either. At the very least, it’s probably a good idea to remind people.
In a fit of insomnia last night – worse than usual – I caught "Animal Exploration with Jarod Miller" at 4:00 a.m. While the topic of the show was "Fierce Fighters," the segment on sea otters caught my attention.
I’m tickled, but not really surprised, that Wikipedia has an articleabout cat litter.
Not to be gross, but this is a diary about poo.
While you’re here, please visit kibblekat.com and kibble.com.
Many pootie owners are unaware of the parasite, which particularly likes cats as hosts. But if you’ve had a pregnancy in your household, you know that the mother-to-be had a great excuse not to clean the litter box; if she did, she ran the risk of catching Toxoplasma, causing serious damage to the fetus. (We had three cats when I was pregnant, and I definitely took advantage of avoiding this chore.)
I’ve always scooped the poo out of the box and flushed it down the toilet, thinking this was the best way to dispose of it. The clumps get thrown out in a plastic bag. [I must mention at this point that my cat pees down the shower drain, something she began doing by herself. She positions herself right over the drain and scratches around it when done. Until I "flush" with water, she won’t leave off. If I can ever catch her on video, you better believe I’m going to post it.]
Now it turns out that both poo and clumps should go into that plastic bag.
An articlein National Geographic News by Patricia Conrad, a veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, explains the diminishing otter populations along the west coast.
Conrad and other researchers were surprised to discover high mortality rates of young and adult otters due to disease. A leading contributor turned out to be the widespread parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
The parasite is known to reproduce only in cats. The domestic animals then release the parasites' infectious oocysts—egglike structures that transfer parasites to new hosts—into the environment through their feces.
A single cat can shed millions of the tiny, long-lived oocysts.
The parasite also attacks other sea mammals, such as whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions, but sea otters don’t eat other mammals, and thus can’t get the parasite that way.
"The way sea otters get infected is from the oocysts shed in cat feces," Conrad concluded.
Her team's theory is that oocysts released outdoors by domestic and feral cats slowly make their way into streams and eventually into the ocean.
Their latest data show that 38 percent of the live sea otter population and over half of the dead otters analyzed have been exposed to the parasite.
Infected otters may die of severe brain disease and may also be at higher risk of shark attack, since the illness would make them easier prey.
Although not dangerous to humans under most circumstances, the parasite can cause severe disease in people with suppressed immune systems and can interfere with fetal development.
If you’re a technical type, the US Department of Agriculture details a research project that uses terms like "10 PCR-RFLP genetic markers" if you care to check it out.
This is more urgent than appears at face value:
Marine mammals, scientists say, are often the canary in the coalmine:
"...indicators of environmental problems such as disease-causing life-forms and biologically produced toxins."
In other words, the way we cat-owners dispose of pootie poo can kill animals that predicate humans poisoning ourselves to death.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Magazine was also a source for this diary.
UPDATE
In comments by G2Geek and jb oahu, below, they raise evidence that runoff from stray and feral cat poo is more responsible than flushed poo, and offer alternative suggestions of disposal. Please check them all out.