If you're pregnant, you don't have to send the cat away: have someone else scoop the litter every day, cook meat through, and wear gloves when handling soil

Cost

Free. Hand the litter box to someone at home to scoop every day. If only you can do it, buy a box of disposable gloves. The hard part is eating meat fully cooked; no half-raw steak or lamb.

What you get

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that a first infection with toxoplasma shortly before or during pregnancy can pass to the baby. Most infected babies have no symptoms at birth, and may later go blind or have intellectual disability as they grow. A few babies are born with serious eye or brain damage. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) says infection in pregnancy can cause miscarriage. A toxoplasmosis testing center in Lyon, France, counted 603 pregnant women with confirmed infection during pregnancy, most of whom took antiparasitic drugs. The overall share passed to the baby was 29% (95% CI 25 to 33, the plausible range). About 6% of infections at 13 weeks of pregnancy were passed to the baby, and about 72% of those at 36 weeks. The earlier the infection, the more likely the baby is to have symptoms. For infection between 24 and 30 weeks, the risk of the baby showing symptoms early is highest, at about 10%. A study in six European cities compared pregnant women with new infection during pregnancy and those without. Keeping a cat at home gave OR 1.0 (95% CI 0.7 to 1.5), no difference. Cleaning the litter box themselves gave OR 1.3 (95% CI 0.8 to 2.1), a difference that may be just chance. Eating undercooked lamb gave OR 3.13 (95% CI 1.4 to 7.2), a risk about 3 times that of not eating it. Contact with soil gave OR 1.81 (95% CI 1.2 to 2.7), about 80% higher. In the different cities, 30% to 63% of infections could be attributed to undercooked or cured meat, and 6% to 17% to contact with soil. The CDC's advice for pregnant women: if someone else can change the litter, let them. If no one can, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands with soap and water afterward. Change the litter every day, because the toxoplasma in cat feces takes 1 to 5 days to become infectious. Don't get a new cat during pregnancy, and don't adopt or touch stray cats, especially kittens. Keep the cat indoors and feed it only cat food or cooked food, not raw meat. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (中国疾控中心) also says in its public education that the father-to-be should take over cleaning the litter box as far as possible, and that with proper precautions in pregnancy you can keep the cat. The NHS states that stroking a cat or keeping a cat will not give you toxoplasmosis.

Notes

A cat generally sheds toxoplasma in its feces only for a few weeks after its first infection. An adult cat that was infected before is less likely to shed it again. A cat kept indoors and not fed raw meat has little chance of becoming infected. You can catch it without a cat at home, from undercooked meat, unwashed fruit and vegetables, and soil or untreated water contaminated by cat feces. So what to do is this: cook meat all the way through, and wash knives, cutting boards and hands that touched raw meat; rinse fruit and vegetables under running water; wear gloves when gardening or turning soil, and wash your hands afterward. The NHS also advises against eating cured raw meats such as salami and Parma ham, and against drinking unpasteurized goat's milk. The European study did not ask in detail about lettuce and unwashed vegetables, and 14% to 49% of infections could not be traced to a source. Whether to be tested for toxoplasma antibodies is a question for your prenatal doctor. The grade is B because the cat and meat risks rest on the figures from one study, and they were recalled after the fact. The advice comes from official bodies, and no study has worked out how many infections following it would prevent. The benefit is rated “medium” by judgment, with the reasoning in the verification record. The benefit falls on you and your baby.

Evidence grade

B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.

Sources

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Toxoplasmosis: Risk Factors. https://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/risk-factors/index.html
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Toxoplasmosis. https://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/prevention/index.html
3. NHS. Toxoplasmosis. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/toxoplasmosis/
4. 中国疾病预防控制中心 (2025). 孕期弓形虫感染，都是「吸猫」惹的祸吗？ https://www.chinacdc.cn/jkkp/crb/qtcr/202501/t20250103_303681.html
5. Cook AJ, Gilbert RE, Buffolano W, et al. (2000). Sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: European multicentre case-control study. BMJ, 321(7254), 142-147. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7254.142
6. Dunn D, Wallon M, Peyron F, Petersen E, Peckham C, Gilbert R (1999). Mother-to-child transmission of toxoplasmosis: risk estimates for clinical counselling. Lancet, 353(9167), 1829-1833. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(98)08220-8

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 27, tip 17. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer