Cats are one of the most prolific pets in the nation. As you know, one pair of cats can quickly turn into a horde unless they’re neutered. As a means of population control, many good-hearted citizens drop off cats in the wild, hoping they will survive. The problem is, the cats often do survive, but at the expense of smaller wildlife species who already face a host of natural predators.
Cats are prolific killers and often kill for fun, a major detriment to ground-nesting birds and fledglings fresh from a nest. Now it appears that feral cats spread disease among whitetail deer. Here’s the latest from the Billings Gazette.
If you’re deer hunting in an area known to have a lot of feral house cats, you might want to make sure you cook your venison properly.
That’s because a new study published in the journal EcoHealth has found that a large percentage of whitetail deer in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area are infected with a parasite associated with feral domestic cats.
“This study documents the widespread infection of deer populations in northeastern Ohio, most likely resulting from feral cats, and highlights the need for consumers of venison to make absolutely certain that any deer meat planned for consumption is thoroughly and properly cooked,” said Gregory Ballash of the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at Ohio State University and lead author of the study.
Two hundred free-roaming cats and 444 white-tailed deer were tested for the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis. Almost 60 percent (261) of the deer showed evidence of infection and more than 65 percent (164) of the studied cats tested positive.
