Posted by Dalice on February 18, 2002 at 13:25:29:
In Reply to: Re: Update on abortions posted by Helene on February 17, 2002 at 12:25:41:
The way I understand it from reading, talking to a friend who is going through the same thing, and my vet is that this is a protozoal disease. Rodents carry it and the cats eat the mice and then pass is on through their feces. Once in the feces it is passed through to goats or humans by ingesting it through goats eating contaminated feed. Barn cats are their for their hunting advantages, but they catch the protozoa and then pass it to the goat. It does not make the doe sick apparently. It attacks the placenta causing either fetal demise, premature births, or weak kids. THis all depends on when in the pregnancy the doe becomes infected. Apparently my does were or are infected later in the pregnancy as I have had late term abortions and weak kids. My friend having goats with the toxo evidently had earlier exposure because her does aborted earlier with dead fetuses that were difficult for the does to birth. Their is no treatment to be done. Only prevention. My vet said that it is usually the teen-age cats that cause the problem. If you have fixed cats and no kittens you should be ok.
Also, once the does have aborted and been exposed to the toxo they should have long perhaps lifelong immunity. I guess that at this point I am for my own management going to try and get my barn cats fixed so that I do not have the kitten thing going on. I have had cats by the way for 7 years, as long as I have had the goats and this is my first problem with it. It is a horrible thing to go through needless to say. Their are some articles on it if you just search on your computer under toxoplasmosis.
Hope this helps you some.
Dalice