Alert! for Male : Cat owners take note, this can be dangerous! [TKB Health]

Animal lovers say that keeping animals in the house is pleasant, it keeps them stress free. But in the case of cats, the results of a new research may break the hearts of some people.

Keeping a cat can increase the risk of mental problems going forward. The special fact is that it only happens with men. A recent research shows that due to a parasite, there is a possibility of mental illness going forward. A common parasite called Toxoplasmosis gondi is found in cats. It can be transmitted to males who come in contact with cat poop. The connection between T. gondii and psychosis has been debated for decades. In some studies, people infected with this parasite have also been said to have schizophrenia. Sometimes present in raw meat or contaminated water, this tiny protozoan can infect all warm-blooded animals and is very prevalent in humans.

Most infected people do not show any such symptoms and they do not even know that any parasite is present in them. Whereas, some people may have moderate to severe problems. For example, fever or shortness of breath. Previous studies have also shown that children who grow up with a cat in the household are more likely to develop mental disorders as they grow up. This new study has been published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. In this, 2,206 adults in the city of Montreal were interviewed who had kept cats as a child. Along with this, the mental health was also talked about. Participants in the research were also asked about other risk factors for psychosis, such as head trauma, smoking, and the number of times they left home as a child.

According to the researchers, having a cat in childhood was associated with psychosis in adulthood, but only because of certain factors. The risk of psychosis was particularly high among men who had cats as a child. But no such link was found among women adults who had domestic cats or housecats as children. The researchers also found that having a cat alone did not increase the risk of psychosis. This is most likely to occur in those who had head trauma, had been homeless several times as a child, and those who raised feral cats. Additionally, researchers have been unable to explain why it affects only men.