https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Behavioral_d...
was thinking of getting a cat but maybe not anymore...
FWIW the health impacts of a rodent infestation are probably worse than the cat parasite thing. Best defense against mice/rats is a feline friend.
Maybe if you have a big house, but I keep seeing people keep cats or dogs in small houses or even apartments and it feels so sad, it's a kind of animal abuse. If you can't give your pet a good life you should not get a pet.
Please note that I’m on purpose phrasing this to be a bit contrarian. Not trying to rattle any cages (no pun intended), just found myself initially agreeing with you and then not being sure anymore.
Growing up my cat would get antsy and stressed if she hadn’t gone outside in a day. I can see how people can mistake this for needing space, but it wasn’t relaxing for her. She had to go out to remark her territory, and seek out any stray cats encroaching on her space. Noticeably very stressful for her! In the end when she couldn’t retainer her territory anymore, she went in fast decline.
I have some questions about the goals…
Damn clickbait… it took title, 5 paragraphs, and an ad break before they even mentioned what the parasite is.
Aurornis•1mo ago
> Gaji and his team might have found a lead, though: in a new study, they have shown that switching off just a single protein inside the microscopic parasite can kill it.
> The protein, TgAP2X-7, appears to be essential to the parasite's ability to invade a host, form plaques, and self-replicate. To prove this, the team genetically modified some parasites so that their TgAP2X-7 proteins function normally unless auxin (a plant hormone that regulates growth) is added, in which case the proteins would quickly degrade.
So it could be helpful research for something, but there are a lot of proteins within parasites that are necessary for growth and survival. Turning any number of proteins off could end the parasite's ability to do something, but that's not helpful unless you also have a mechanism to induce that change without harming the host.