Harmful effects of raising cats at home

Raising cats at home has many benefits that benefit the breeder of this pet, such as reducing anxiety or feelings of loneliness that many people may suffer from if they do not find a comfortable psychological atmosphere around them, and other benefits that we are not going to mention in this article, but rather we will address the aspect. The other part of the topic is the harms of raising cats at home, which are generally represented in the health aspect, as they may cause the transmission of many diseases to humans, such as eye inflammation, rabies, and cat scratch disease, which we will discuss in some detail in this article.

Conjunctivitis infection

Cats transmit many diseases to humans, such as conjunctivitis, which appears in the form of redness in the eye, with the occurrence of pus secretions, but it is not a serious problem, as it is easy to treat cats and humans using drops and ointments, and as for preventing it, it is by washing hands with soap and water. After touching the cat if it is proven to be infected with the disease. If the cat is proven to be infected with the disease, it must also be prevented from moving around the house, and care should be taken to keep it away from the beds of all family members and their sitting places until it is treated for the disease.

Rabies infection

Cats transmit rabies to humans, but it can be said that cats transmit this infection less overall than dogs. Because they are usually calm when they are infected with the disease, they do not become agitated as dogs are when they are infected with the same disease. Viral rabies is considered one of the dangerous diseases, and is fatal in most cases for whoever is infected with it, whether a human or an animal. It is rare for anyone to survive it, and the animal is infected with it. This disease is the result of scratching or biting another animal infected with rabies, and the same is true with humans, as it is transmitted to them in the same way mentioned above, in addition to an additional factor, which is the contamination of human wounds with the saliva of an animal infected with the disease. Once infected with this disease, the virus reaches the nervous system, and its effects begin. From the occurrence of severe convulsions to a change in personality and other symptoms that often result in death, but with scientific progress, there has become a vaccination available for both humans and cats.

Cat scratch disease infection

Bartonella bacteria cause cat scratch disease, which is transmitted to the cat via fleas, and small cats carry this disease to a greater extent than large cats. If the cat carries this microbe and then scratches a person, it transmits the infection to the person, and the symptoms of infection are represented by swollen lymph nodes. Fever occurs sometimes.