6 ms·

We learned years ago that our cats get put in the lower part of our house with the door closed at night. We felt bad about it, but being able to sleep all night

We learned years ago that our cats get put in the lower part of our house with the door closed at night. We felt bad about it, but being able to sleep all night made up for it. Quick story: for several nights, I'd wake up in the middle of the night with horrendous stomach pains. I was thinking I needed to see the doctor it was so painful. Then on the fourth night when the pain hit I woke up fast enough to notice our cat walking off of my stomach. Turns out he (a 15 lb cat) had been jumping off a shelf through the air about 6 feet and landing directly on my gut. This was instrumental in the decision to keep them away from us ;)

cunthorpe 5y ago
That’s hilarious. Goes to show how impossible some “debugging” is. No sane doctor would say “so your stomach hurts at night, do you own a fat cat?”
- mLuby 5y ago
  Sounds perfect for a Dr. House mystery.
  - yissp 5y ago
    IIRC there was an episode where someone's cat was the cause of their mysterious illness (toxoplasmosis I think).
    - cm2012 5y ago
      By the way, the common myth is misleading. Toxoplasmosis is almost always caused by undercooked meat, which is why it's so much more common in France. You can get it from cats but it's almost always stray cats, not house cats.
      - moistly 5y ago
        I don’t think undercooked meat nor stray cats explain the 30–50% prevalence rate. You have a source for your claim? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963851/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963851/
        cm2012 5y ago
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ "Pork, lamb, and mutton are the most important sources of T gondii infection, along with game meats such as bear and feral swine." "A total of 252 women with toxoplasmosis, along with 748 controls from Naples, Lausanne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, and Milan, were interviewed by telephone or in person. Overall, eating raw or undercooked beef, lamb, or other meats; contact with soil; and travel outside the country were major sources of infection." Cats don't even make the list of major sources of infection. Further, "The association of cats and human toxoplasmosis is difficult to assess by epidemiological surveys because soil, not the cats, is the main culprit. Oocysts are not found on cat fur and are often buried in soil along with cat faeces.11 Therefore, direct contact with cats is irrelevant with respect to T gondii transmission, and soil contact is universal and difficult to avoid."
      - danaris 5y ago
        Do you have a source for that? (I'm not doubting; I'm looking for further reading on the subject, as I've been curious about toxoplasmosis since first getting my own cats over a decade ago...)
        cm2012 5y ago
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ "Pork, lamb, and mutton are the most important sources of T gondii infection, along with game meats such as bear and feral swine." "A total of 252 women with toxoplasmosis, along with 748 controls from Naples, Lausanne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, and Milan, were interviewed by telephone or in person. Overall, eating raw or undercooked beef, lamb, or other meats; contact with soil; and travel outside the country were major sources of infection." Cats don't even make the list of major sources of infection. Further, "The association of cats and human toxoplasmosis is difficult to assess by epidemiological surveys because soil, not the cats, is the main culprit. Oocysts are not found on cat fur and are often buried in soil along with cat faeces.11 Therefore, direct contact with cats is irrelevant with respect to T gondii transmission, and soil contact is universal and difficult to avoid."
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  A doctor could order a polysomnography and observe the patient sleeping. The cat will not be present in controlled environments so the test result will be a false negative. The issue is closed as unable to reproduce...
  - dylan604 5y ago
    Take 2 of these and call me in the morning. We might need to adjust the dose, or we could try something else. Let's make a weekly schedule so we can keep trying different things. **Doctor immediately starts thinking about that vacation he's going to be able to take from the extra insurance claims from this one patient alone
3np 5y ago
...why not let them outdoors during night?
- thrill 5y ago
  The coyotes agree with this premise.
  - Sylamore 5y ago
    Was awakened one morning by a horrible shrieking noise coming from somewhere else in the house. When I got up to check what had happened my wife was freaking out because there was something under one of the orange trees in the back yard that she didn't like. One of the neighbors had a very fluffy cat they would let outside, who liked to loaf in the lower branches of our orange trees and my wife likes watching cats lounge about. Well that particular morning she witnesses a coyote appear from nowhere and snatch the cat. By the time I ran it off, the only thing left of the cat was a pile of fur and it's tail. The coyote jumped over the 6ft tall cinder block fence with the rest of the cat like it wasn't there and ran off. It was pretty common for cats to go missing in the area and very few folks would heed the warnings about small pets being allowed out.
  - 3np 5y ago
    There are roughly 0 coyotes and very little in terms of predators dangerous for cats in, for example, Norway.
    - abraae 5y ago
      Cats are literally the apex predator in New Zealand.
      - dragonsky67 5y ago
        Same in Australia, is considered irresponsible to let them roam unrestricted, especially at night.
gadders 5y ago
How did that not wake you up?
- gilbetron 5y ago
  Oh it did, but apparently he would jump on me and then quickly scamper away without me realizing it. Consciousness is weird.
bregma 5y ago
A 15 lb cat? You need to see a vet, not a doctor.
- gilbetron 5y ago
  He's down to 12 lbs, we adopted him when he was 7 years old and weighed 17 lbs as his previous owners kept him in a single room. But thanks for judging me sans facts, internet stranger!

cunthorpe 5y ago

That’s hilarious. Goes to show how impossible some “debugging” is. No sane doctor would say “so your stomach hurts at night, do you own a fat cat?”

mLuby 5y ago
Sounds perfect for a Dr. House mystery.
- yissp 5y ago
  IIRC there was an episode where someone's cat was the cause of their mysterious illness (toxoplasmosis I think).
  - cm2012 5y ago
    By the way, the common myth is misleading. Toxoplasmosis is almost always caused by undercooked meat, which is why it's so much more common in France. You can get it from cats but it's almost always stray cats, not house cats.
    - moistly 5y ago
      I don’t think undercooked meat nor stray cats explain the 30–50% prevalence rate. You have a source for your claim? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963851/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3963851/
      - cm2012 5y ago
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ "Pork, lamb, and mutton are the most important sources of T gondii infection, along with game meats such as bear and feral swine." "A total of 252 women with toxoplasmosis, along with 748 controls from Naples, Lausanne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, and Milan, were interviewed by telephone or in person. Overall, eating raw or undercooked beef, lamb, or other meats; contact with soil; and travel outside the country were major sources of infection." Cats don't even make the list of major sources of infection. Further, "The association of cats and human toxoplasmosis is difficult to assess by epidemiological surveys because soil, not the cats, is the main culprit. Oocysts are not found on cat fur and are often buried in soil along with cat faeces.11 Therefore, direct contact with cats is irrelevant with respect to T gondii transmission, and soil contact is universal and difficult to avoid."
    - danaris 5y ago
      Do you have a source for that? (I'm not doubting; I'm looking for further reading on the subject, as I've been curious about toxoplasmosis since first getting my own cats over a decade ago...)
      - cm2012 5y ago
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118145/ "Pork, lamb, and mutton are the most important sources of T gondii infection, along with game meats such as bear and feral swine." "A total of 252 women with toxoplasmosis, along with 748 controls from Naples, Lausanne, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, and Milan, were interviewed by telephone or in person. Overall, eating raw or undercooked beef, lamb, or other meats; contact with soil; and travel outside the country were major sources of infection." Cats don't even make the list of major sources of infection. Further, "The association of cats and human toxoplasmosis is difficult to assess by epidemiological surveys because soil, not the cats, is the main culprit. Oocysts are not found on cat fur and are often buried in soil along with cat faeces.11 Therefore, direct contact with cats is irrelevant with respect to T gondii transmission, and soil contact is universal and difficult to avoid."
matheusmoreira 5y ago
A doctor could order a polysomnography and observe the patient sleeping. The cat will not be present in controlled environments so the test result will be a false negative. The issue is closed as unable to reproduce...
- dylan604 5y ago
  Take 2 of these and call me in the morning. We might need to adjust the dose, or we could try something else. Let's make a weekly schedule so we can keep trying different things. **Doctor immediately starts thinking about that vacation he's going to be able to take from the extra insurance claims from this one patient alone

3np 5y ago

...why not let them outdoors during night?

thrill 5y ago
The coyotes agree with this premise.
- Sylamore 5y ago
  Was awakened one morning by a horrible shrieking noise coming from somewhere else in the house. When I got up to check what had happened my wife was freaking out because there was something under one of the orange trees in the back yard that she didn't like. One of the neighbors had a very fluffy cat they would let outside, who liked to loaf in the lower branches of our orange trees and my wife likes watching cats lounge about. Well that particular morning she witnesses a coyote appear from nowhere and snatch the cat. By the time I ran it off, the only thing left of the cat was a pile of fur and it's tail. The coyote jumped over the 6ft tall cinder block fence with the rest of the cat like it wasn't there and ran off. It was pretty common for cats to go missing in the area and very few folks would heed the warnings about small pets being allowed out.
- 3np 5y ago
  There are roughly 0 coyotes and very little in terms of predators dangerous for cats in, for example, Norway.
  - abraae 5y ago
    Cats are literally the apex predator in New Zealand.
    - dragonsky67 5y ago
      Same in Australia, is considered irresponsible to let them roam unrestricted, especially at night.

gadders 5y ago

How did that not wake you up?

gilbetron 5y ago
Oh it did, but apparently he would jump on me and then quickly scamper away without me realizing it. Consciousness is weird.

bregma 5y ago

A 15 lb cat? You need to see a vet, not a doctor.

gilbetron 5y ago
He's down to 12 lbs, we adopted him when he was 7 years old and weighed 17 lbs as his previous owners kept him in a single room. But thanks for judging me sans facts, internet stranger!