. . . and Tiddles can be every bit as dangerous

blindness in unborn babies, which is why pregnant women should avoid cleaning the litter box if they can — and use gloves if they can’t.

A third of the population will get the disease at some point in their life. But only three in 100,000 babies in Britain is harmed by the disease during pregnancy.

FELINE CONJUNCTIVITIS

CONJUNCTIVITIS — the infection of the membrane covering the cat’s eyeball — is a common disease, often caused by the cat version of chlamydia. This bacterial infection can pass from cats to owners, so it’s best to wash hands after handling a sick cat and not let them rub your face. If owners get infected, symptoms include sore and runny eyes. It can be treated with antibiotics.

CAT SCRATCH DISEASE

A NIP from a cat may not be a powerful as a dog bite, but their teeth are sharper and can cause deep wounds capable of penetrating bones and joints.

Even small bites or playful scratches from a kitten can spread the viral infection ‘cat scratch disease’. The condition is caused by the bacterium Bartonella henselae, carried by fleas.

It starts with a small blister or bump at the site of the wound, followed by swollen lymph glands and fever a week or so later.

In most cases the disease is mild. But a few victims get more serious symptoms, including lung or liver infections, eye problems and — most rarely of all — brain seizures.

VICIOUS BITES

IT MAY sound like a brand of buttery spread, but pastuerella is a bacterium found in the mouths, noses and throats of most cats.

It can lead to painful and poten- tially deadly infections if a cat bite breaks the skin.

It can cause sepsis — a potentially life-threatening condition in which the body’s immune system goes crazy and blood supply to vital organs drops.

If not treated quickly it can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

Doctors s ay people should always seek medical help if they’ve been bitten by an animal.

many cat bite victims are elderly women stroking or feeding strays. just one in five cat bites comes from a pet.

CAT owners shouldn’t be smug. For while felines are famed for their cleanliness, like dogs, they can carry a host of potentially nasty diseases. They can spread salmonella, campylobacter, ringworm, tapeworm, roundworms, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis and TB.

while their chances of picking up nasties are lower than dogs — cats are more hygienic — felines that hunt birds and rodents are exposed to more bacteria and parasites than pooches that rarely go off the leash, and so will spread more disease.

DISEASE MAKES BABIES BLIND

IF CATS eat raw meat or hunt, they are at risk of toxoplasmosis. The disease is spread by a microscopic single-celled parasite that lives in the guts of animals and which can be passed on in cat litter.

many infected cats show no signs of illness — though some may suffer fever, weight loss and breathing problems.

If the parasite spreads to people, one in ten will develop mild flu-like symptoms. more worrying, the parasite can cause brain damage or