The question of whether you can keep a dog during pregnancy, and whether you can keep a dog if you have too young children at home, has been debated for a long time. The main thing is that I am afraid of one thing, and that is Toxoplasma gondii.

The causative agent of toxoplasmosis is Toxoplasma gondii, referred to as Toxoplasma gondii. It requires two hosts for its entire development. Cats are the ultimate host of Toxoplasma gondii. In the epithelial cells of the cat's small intestine, schizophrenia and gametogenesis similar to the development of coccidia are carried out. Finally, oocysts are formed and excreted with cat feces. The oocysts undergo spore proliferation and development in the external environment. An infective oocyst containing two sporangia.

Toxoplasma gondii is not strict in its selection of intermediate hosts. It is known that more than 200 species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and humans, can serve as its intermediate hosts. Cats can also serve as intermediate hosts for Toxoplasma gondii. In the intermediate host, Toxoplasma gondii can reproduce asexually in nucleated cells in various tissues and organs throughout the body.

Animals become infected by eating infectious oocysts in cat feces or the meat, offal, exudates, excretions and milk of intermediate hosts containing Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites or cysts. Tachyzoites can also infect the fetus through the skin and mucous membranes, and through the placenta.

[Key points of diagnosis]

(1) Clinical symptoms: Most are asymptomatic latent infections. Infections are more common and the symptoms are more severe in puppies and young dogs, and fatal cases have also been reported in adult dogs. Symptoms are similar to canine distemper and canine infectious hepatitis. The main symptoms are fever, cough, anorexia, lethargy, weakness, secretions from the eyes and nose, pale mucous membranes, difficulty breathing, and even severe bloody diarrhea. A few sick dogs have severe vomiting, followed by paralysis and other neurological symptoms. When a pregnant female dog suffers a miscarriage or premature birth, the puppies she gives birth to will often have symptoms such as loose stools, difficulty breathing, and ataxia. Blood tests show that in the acute phase, red and white blood cells will decrease and neutrophils will increase. Neutropenia and monocytosis are less common. The total number of white blood cells in chronic cases increases. Some dog selling forums warn that the main symptoms are neutrophils and thrombocytopenia, but there is no bleeding tendency.

(2) Laboratory examination: It is easy to be confused with canine distemper, especially neurological canine distemper, relying solely on clinical symptoms. Therefore, after comprehensive judgment such as epidemiological analysis and clinical symptoms, the diagnosis must be confirmed by detecting the pathogen or confirming an increase in antibody titer in the serum.

[Prevention]

Do not feed raw meat, and prevent dogs from preying on rodents and cat feces from contaminating feed and drinking water. Regular defense and deworming