The Singapore Forum

no one is listening to me on the ghost idea!

My bloody mother, still causing me trouble

check this out!! Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short)
really rather fascinating

Well I was told a year ago that I have some old scarring on the back of one eye, caused by this, but after reading that article I suspect I don't have it.

"infected women tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing"

Here I sit in my 3 or 4 year-old tie-dye dress

Greebo does the yowling thing on occasion and being a loud cat that will keep you awake even with 3 levels between him and us. there's no reason for it, just 'Weltschmerz', i think.

BTW the link to the article http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... razy/8873/

Explains my schizophrenia but not Han's howling

I think yowling is sometimes caused by constipation. Seriously. Try adding a little unflavored psyllium husk or some such thing to his food.

Oh hell no, he came home from hospital with the runs!

Kooky wrote:BTW the link to the article http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... razy/8873/

Explains my schizophrenia but not Han's howling

Holy sh!t. Not liking the sound of that guy's theories

Edit: Of course, given Mr. S and I both grew up with cats in the house, I'm guessing we haven't been affected too badly up to now

I just had a moment to read the Atlantic article and Holy Crap that was fascinating. I was aware of the examples of these kind of behavior-altering infections in the insect world, but in humans! Very interesting!

I better read this then. I've been battling severe middle ear infections for more than 6 months now. Psuedomonas is my latest visitor

The guy comes across as a complete fruitloop, TBH.

Oh I was thinking the same thing Kooky!

Baloo, pseudomonas is a bacteria (I think)? The articles is talking about viruses.

So. On my own tonight and tomorrow, about to go to bed and can't be on two floors at once so wish me luck with the howling cat.

Baloo: ok i read that as "severe middle earth infections".

Kooky: does it help to leave lights on, and radio/tv playing, so it seems like daytime?

The article is talking about Toxoplasmodium, which is a single celled eukaryote. If you read to the end of the article, you'll see that the guy keeps two cats, anyway. The article also says Toxo is rare in indoor cats, so just keep them indoors. You can have yours tested if you're really worried about it. I'm a bit skeptical of the schizophrenia claims because Toxo exposure in the US is quite low (10% vs 50% world wide), yet schizophrenia rates are normal (about 1%).

How did it go K? I am thinking that you are maybe a very tired person this morning.

Well I got up 3 times in the first hour "finding" him, as he would not shut up, but after that I slept soundly until they all danced on my head just before 6am. Whether he was quiet or whether I was just comatose, I do not know.

Quick update - he's put on 300g this week and just back over 5kg - which is good as he wasn't much more to start with.

Still howling at bed time but either the diffuser is working or we're just crashing, as he seems to stop more quickly

For anybody wanting to try the diffuser it's http://www.feliway.com/au not cheap but worth every cent, if that's what's doing the trick.

Heh, heh, maybe the diffuser is working on you instead!

No, seriously that is good news. Perhaps he just needs time to settle back in again as well. Great to hear that he is putting on weight again too.

Glad to hear he's doing better, K.

Pinklepurr wrote:Heh, heh, maybe the diffuser is working on you instead!

Hey, if it works don't knock it

Something just said in TLC made me think of Han and all his troubles, so I thought I would post a quick update.

We've been getting slightly better sleep lately, although he still takes an hour or so to settle. We think it's because the nights here are cooling down that he eventually snuggles in. Fu is still jumping him and they wind each other up a lot during the day and at bed time, then they curl up and sleep together!

He hasn't been sick for ages - tolerates the prescription dry food very well, won't eat the equivalent wet food at all.

IIRC there was talk above about substances the cleaners may be using, and I said we chose them because they work for a company/franchise that uses enviro products. Well I had my suspicions they'd started using bleach (came back soon after they'd left one day and could smell it). Then Han developed a sore foot, and wouldn't stop biting it. Again we wondered about spider bites and suchlike but the vet said it looked like he'd been splashed with something. We know he stays well out of the cleaners' way but it's not beyond belief that he skates around the bathroom as soon as they've gone.

The cleaners were away for a month but on Saturday Neo had a word and asked them NOT to use bleach, and also to stop spraying the wood furniture or using anything on the floors. We'll monitor all that.

His foot looked quite nasty but an antibiotic injection seems to have sorted it. Let's hope it's the last upset for a while.

Well... you could always go the safe route and clean yourself...