While we may not think it's a bad thing there is a primary reason for this and that is Toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma gondii is a parasitic organism that an expectant mother can contract just by cleaning a cat box. This infection can cause congenital defects and serious harm to a fetus in the first trimester of life. This is why pregnant women are told not to clean the cat box themselves, but rather have someone clean the litter box for them.

While not all cats have this, some indoor-outdoor cats will eat wildlife that may be contaminated by this parasite and this is where the problem starts. Not all cats will come down with symptoms, and the parasite may live undisturbed in the cats digestive tract, but it will pass its eggs through the excrement of the cat and into the cat box.

If you have a man about the house he can clean the cat litter box, or you can have a paid assistant do it as well. If you have multiple cats you definitely should have someone else cleaning the cat litter box for you. The more litter boxes you have the higher the chances of Toxoplasmosis being present. Sometimes cats can be finicky and will need an extra cat litter box or two if there are multiple cats in the house, and this can present a small problem not only to the expectant mom, but to the person doing the cleaning.

Automatic cat boxes or self cleaning cat boxes are one simple solution to a dirty, stinky situation. If a person who is cleaning the cat boxes has a bad back, cleaning one or more cat litter boxes can wreak havoc on these persons back. Bending over and scooping out the feces is a great way to hurt your back. However, when using an automatic cat box, the self cleaning litter box does most of the work, except taking it out to the trash.

With a self cleaning litter box, the feces is scooped up and put into a bag where it awaits the removal of the bag, usually every other day or so. The attendant will come and open the box, lift out the bagged feces and deposit it in an outside trash can. Upon return, the only thing left to do is to insert a new waste bag and add some fresh litter.

Expectant mothers can get someone to take out a self contained bag of cat waste easier than finding someone to manually scoop the poop and clean the cat box. Aside from this, the health risk is minimalized as the cat feces is usually also held in an out of site waste container until it is time to remove and dispose.