Yet another way that people become crappy drivers (housecats)

W800

W800

Noob
OK, so I have known about Toxoplasma gondii for a while. It's apparently a one-celled parasite that is found in cat poop. When rats get infected with it, they lose their fear of cats.

It also affects humans and can cause personality changes. I knew about that too. But what I did not know is that it can cause you to have more car accidents!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC117239/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014489418301814

https://www.qwant.com/?q=Toxoplasma gondii car accident&t=web&client=brz-brave

:laughing
 
W800

W800

Noob
DannoXYZ said:
Cats are eeeevil!!!
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LOL, I kind of like cats!

Where I share a room we have 7 ferals that we got fixed and that live in the backyard. They are fun to watch. One of them I think used to be someone's house-cat, since she likes to sneak into the house. She pretty much owns my car, and sleeps on it at night.

That being said - I love dogs too!

I think what I am getting at is that there are so many factors that affect drivers. Just off the top of my head are:

1) actual skill (are they just a crappy driver?)
2) age (attention span and reaction time)
3) distracted level (how distracted are they?)
4) drug use (every day when i ride home i smell hella flowers being smoked in cars, i am like "bro, wait until you get home!")
5) booze
6) pills (xanax comes to mind)
7) culture (example - people from new york city drive like crap, because they didn't drive there)
8) intelligence (ability to predict the actions of others)
8.5) common sense (understanding of physics)
9) now CATS!!!!

eeek!
 
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DannoXYZ

DannoXYZ

Well-known member
Yeah, long list! Infections are just like anything else that lowers your focus, awareness and reaction times. Like fatigue or booze, which are two major contributors.

Cats are ok I guess. Our dogs each have their own cats.

uc

uc


Us humans gets to sit on floor!
 
W800

W800

Noob
DannoXYZ said:
Yeah, long list! Infections are just like anything else that lowers your focus, awareness and reaction times. Like fatigue or booze, which are two major contributors.

Cats are ok I guess. Our dogs each have their own cats.

Us humans gets to sit on floor!
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I know the feeling!

I used to volunteer for a Rottweiler rescue group. They took in senior rotties and gave them a nice home for the last few years of their lives. Sometimes they would have too many and I would volunteer to keep a few. I remember one night when I had 5 rotties on my bed, and they all thought it was THEIR BED!

It wasn't like they would get mad if I tried to move, they just would not let me move. I actually slept really well. I think it was the safest house in the hood that night.
 
W800

W800

Noob
DannoXYZ said:
Rotties are so cute!!! Like giant teddy bears!! Yeah, they do take over!
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True!

I also used to volunteer for a pit bull rescue group, and most recently volunteered at City of Berkeley Animal Care Services. I had to take a bunch of classes and finally got my red dot, so I am qualified to handle their largest dogs. I need to get back doing that, BTW. It was rewarding, and the dogs loved it (I would take them for walks).

From years of owning dogs and doing volunteer work, I learned one interesting thing. Basically the dogs that are the worst biters are Cocker Spaniels. They just don't get press because when they bite, it's not really a life-altering event for the human, LOL.

I've never been bitten. The closest I came was when I was working with a dog inside of a pen and it got too excited when I was playing with it and started mouthing on me. I just turned my back to it and acted like it hurt my feelings. It stopped. I learned that's actually dog language that tells other dogs when they are done playing.

We used to own a couple of pits that always wanted to fight each other. They just did it when they were bored. We finally had to get a parting stick and learn how to use it. Basically it takes two people and you both have to have parting sticks. You use the stick to pry their jaws open as you pull them apart. The dogs always look at your like "you spoiled our fun!"

They don't even care if they get injured. This is why it's so cruel that people fight them. They will fight to the death and like it. But true fighting lines won't bite humans. It's considered a fault, because in the pit, there are always three people (both handlers and the ref). So biters were put down on the spot.

Probably TMI. I guess the point is that a lot of breeds are not understood. Rotties are like that too. They are really draft dogs bred to pull carts. They have some guarding sense. But not like a Bully Kutta or Caucasian Mountain Dog, or even a Dogo Argentino. Those aren't even pets. I know because I also used to own a Dogo.
 
W800

W800

Noob
N4teTheGreat said:
I've had cats my entire life. Might explain why I gravitate towards higher risk hobbies I suppose.
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Lol, at least you have an excuse! I think I must have been dropped on my head as an infant. Either that or genetics. My dad rode British bikes in the 60's.
 
N

N4teTheGreat

Noob!
W800 said:
Lol, at least you have an excuse! I think I must have been dropped on my head as an infant. Either that or genetics. My dad rode British bikes in the 60's.
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That could be it, I am told I rolled out of the baby scale during a Drs visit and smacked onto the floor 3 feet or so below. Parent are pretty sensible folks, so it's isn't genetics in my case!
 
FLH03RIDER

FLH03RIDER

Recedite, plebes!
Yeah, well all you doggies better clean up yer shit!

Dogs are a major reservoir for zoonotic infections. Dogs transmit several viral and bacterial diseases to humans. Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted to human by infected saliva, aerosols, contaminated urine or feces and direct contact with the dog. Viral infections such as rabies and norovirus and bacterial infections including Pasteurella, Salmonella, Brucella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter, Capnocytophaga, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira, Staphylococcus intermedius and Methicillin resistance staphylococcus aureus are the most common viral and bacterial zoonotic infections transmitted to humans by dogs.
(U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine )


So... don't be ragging on us Cool Cats! :twofinger
Sincerely,
Ace
 

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W800

W800

Noob
FLH03RIDER said:
Yeah, well all you doggies better clean up yer shit!

Dogs are a major reservoir for zoonotic infections. Dogs transmit several viral and bacterial diseases to humans. Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted to human by infected saliva, aerosols, contaminated urine or feces and direct contact with the dog. Viral infections such as rabies and norovirus and bacterial infections including Pasteurella, Salmonella, Brucella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter, Capnocytophaga, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira, Staphylococcus intermedius and Methicillin resistance staphylococcus aureus are the most common viral and bacterial zoonotic infections transmitted to humans by dogs.
(U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine )


So... don't be ragging on us Cool Cats! :twofinger
Sincerely,
Ace
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LOL - I like all animals!

:thumbup
 
Snaggy

Snaggy

Well-known member
FLH03RIDER said:
Yeah, well all you doggies better clean up yer shit!

Dogs are a major reservoir for zoonotic infections. Dogs transmit several viral and bacterial diseases to humans. Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted to human by infected saliva, aerosols, contaminated urine or feces and direct contact with the dog. Viral infections such as rabies and norovirus and bacterial infections including Pasteurella, Salmonella, Brucella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter, Capnocytophaga, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira, Staphylococcus intermedius and Methicillin resistance staphylococcus aureus are the most common viral and bacterial zoonotic infections transmitted to humans by dogs.
(U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine )


So... don't be ragging on us Cool Cats! :twofinger
Sincerely,
Ace
Click to expand...


If you get bitten by a cat, especially on a hand, just drop everything and go to urgent care for antibiotics. The risk of a cat bite getting infected is at least 25%, and it's not a small deal. I have seen a pretty aggressive cellulitis develop in less than 24 hours. It's normally Pastuerella multicida. Dog bites get infected less than 5% of the time, though antibiotics are still prescribed.

It's also surprising how often a kid comes in with ringworm and it turns out they just adopted a feral or shelter kitten or handled one somewhere.

OTOH, we had a big scare with our little momma Portuguese Water Dog. She lost a litter and her uterus and initial diagnosis was Brucella canis. For practical purposes, it's not really curable and can affect humans. In some states you may have to euthanize the dog. Final tests were negative though.
 
senpai71

senpai71

Professional troublemaker
I have a (non-motorcyclist) friend who is very risk-averse (he hated motorcycles) and tried to convince me that the only reason I ride is because I have toxoplasmosis from cleaning my cat's litter box, and I'm therefore becoming more accepting of risky things like bikes...

Fast-forward a couple of years, he and his wife get a cat, and lo and behold, he starts thinking about getting a bike!

He's only on a Vespa so far, but we'll see
 
W800

W800

Noob
senpai71 said:
I have a (non-motorcyclist) friend who is very risk-averse (he hated motorcycles) and tried to convince me that the only reason I ride is because I have toxoplasmosis from cleaning my cat's litter box, and I'm therefore becoming more accepting of risky things like bikes...

Fast-forward a couple of years, he and his wife get a cat, and lo and behold, he starts thinking about getting a bike!

He's only on a Vespa so far, but we'll see
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OMG - I think Vespas are more scary than motorcycles!

I remember how I got into motorcycles. I was riding skateboards, then BMX in I want to say 1974. Then my folks got me and my brother a minibike with a Briggs & Stratton. I actually rebuilt that motor in 1975, at age 14. Then in 1976, they bought us a Honda Elsinore MT125 for something like $600 new.

I really think it was the skateboarding that started all this. It was that feeling of moving on wheels. I also hung out with all the pot smokers and booze heads when I was a kid. So maybe just hanging out with bad crowd. Now I don't drink or use drugs, but that element of wanting to be "bad" has always remained.
 
Pushrod

Pushrod

Well-known member
Good thing my girlfriend's Weimaraner kept the litter box cleaned up back in the day. But that would also explain the dog's boneheadedness, eh?
 
D

DesiDucati

Well-known member
W800 said:
OK, so I have known about Toxoplasma gondii for a while. It's apparently a one-celled parasite that is found in cat poop. When rats get infected with it, they lose their fear of cats.

It also affects humans and can cause personality changes. I knew about that too. But what I did not know is that it can cause you to have more car accidents!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC117239/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014489418301814

https://www.qwant.com/?q=Toxoplasma gondii car accident&t=web&client=brz-brave

:laughing
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that high amounts of human populations are infected with this parasite.
 
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