I have children at home and want to raise a cat. How can children and cats get along properly?

Many parents struggle with the idea of ​​keeping cats when they have children at home. Everyone is afraid of the harm caused by Toxoplasma gondii, so they have been facing this issue with a risk-taking mentality. Is there a conflict between keeping cats and having children?

Is Toxoplasma gondii really that scary?

Toxoplasmosis infection

Toxoplasma gondii is contagious only when it is in the developmental stage and can be transmitted through the skin, respiratory tract, eyes and placenta. However, only cats can excrete Toxoplasma oocysts in their feces, and cats only excrete oocysts once in their lifetime, and the process lasts for 3 to 15 days.

How do people get infected?

Humans are mainly infected through food, which may be caused by eating food contaminated by cat feces or uncooked meat containing Toxoplasma cysts. Therefore, Toxoplasma can be transmitted between humans, cats and other animals, and it is not the case that cats are the culprit. Cats can also be very good playmates for young children.

Animals susceptible to infection

Almost all mammals and birds can transmit Toxoplasma gondii, and the infection rate is very high. The main source of infection for humans comes from the meat of these animals, which is not cooked, or the raw and cooked food are not separated when cooking.

How to really prevent

Although the harm caused by Toxoplasma is not small, as long as you maintain good hygiene habits on a daily basis, Toxoplasma will basically not come to your cat. You should be very careful about the cleaning of your cat and the things it may come into contact with when going out. As long as you do these things, you can stay away from Toxoplasma.

How do children and cats get along

Children like cats: Generally, children want to have a pet because they have someone to play with. For them, cats can move, meow, and run, and are certainly more interesting playmates than dolls. Therefore, cats are irresistible pets for children.

Cats also like children: Cats are very gentle animals and are good companions for children. Not only can they accept care and love, they even love children very much. Cats do not need children to do a lot for them. All they need is for children to hug them gently and talk to them.

How the relationship changes: They obviously like each other, so why does the relationship often change? It is because children often cannot judge the severity of their abuse, and cats do not have the patience of dogs. When children treat cats roughly a few times, they will remember it.

Teach your children how to treat cats

Let him understand cats: Before bringing a cat home, tell the child that cats are beautiful animals, soft and comfortable to touch, but cats cannot be hit hard, only hugged and touched gently. Let the child know that cats are not toys.

Take things slow: When the cat first comes to the home, children should be restricted to petting it, and they should be gradually guided in how to treat the cat. They should also be told not to chase the cat, because cats don’t like being chased, which will scare them and cause problems in the future.

Be patient in teaching: After telling the children to touch the cat gently, you should teach them where the cat should not touch. You can let the children feed the cat its favorite food from time to time, so that the cat will be more accepting of the children and the relationship will become harmonious.