Pregnant women wondering if it is safe to keep a cat around before and after the baby is born have been given some advice by a charity.
Cats Protection have provided this guidance after a survey found a number of mums-to-be thought it might not be a good idea to carry on feeding their kitty cat food and instead give their cat away.
The Netmums.com survey found that seven in ten women thought their cat could pass on a disease to them while they are pregnant and six in ten were worried about the cat giving something the baby.
Maggie Roberts, Cats Protection's director of veterinary services, said: "The chance of contracting the disease from your cat is very small indeed - in fact you are more likely to get it from handling raw meat.
"Of course all cat owners should practise good hygiene routines, especially hand washing after dealing with a litter tray and before handling food, but that’s just common sense."
Findings also showed that 35 per cent of pregnant women were being provided with wrong advice regarding their cat.
Roberts added that people should make sure they are getting advice from a sound source, rather than places like the internet.
