As we unhappily knew and noted way back in mid-2010, it is extremely worrisome to live with cats, because they are trying to infect us with a parasite that changes our behavior. And here is a new substantial review of the lastest thinking on Toxoplasma gondii and human behavior. If you have ever been near a cat, it'll FREAK YOU OUT, at first. Everybody run! Cats are in control of our minds! (And here, try this on for size: "infected men like the smell of cat pee.") But then... it's possible that those of us who have been infected by our cats have an evolutionary advantage? And it might not be that bad? And also, really, we can't even blame the cats: most people who do get it, which isn't everyone at all, won't get Toxoplasma from cats, but from meat, vegetables or drinking water. VEGETABLES ARE CONTROLLING OUR MINDS. QUICK, PANIC FASTER.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
10
I just thought I was paranoid because I have to creep through my house knowing one feline or another will burst out from under a bed or table and attack my feet at any time. Glad to know it is most likely a digusting parasite that compels me to wear socks at all times.
Also worrisome : Toxoplasma gondry, which causes its hosts to like films with handbuilt sets, magical-realist storylines, and twee characters.
Ha ha, the comments on the article are kind of amazing! "THIS IS SENSATIONALIST ANTI-CAT HATE!"
@jfruh HATERS GONNA HATE (on cats...the clearly superior pet. According to cats.)
@hockeymom Cats are the kindest, warmest, most wonderful pets I've ever known!
"Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia?" Sure, why the hell not.
purrr.
Reading the stuff about what happens to ladies kind of makes me want to procure a parasite-ridden cat. Designer clothing and more friends? I can get used to all the cat hair.
I CAN HAZ SKITZOFRENIA?
The gifts of Louise are as innumerable as the motes of the air or the fish of the sea or the dead shrews on my back porch. The coat of Louise is as the finest silks of Araby. I am fixed by the gaze of Louise, and I know no fear. I only know love. I only know peace, until the waterbowl of Louise runneth dry.