On a sad note, I'm taking our 19 year old to the vet in an hour. I'm pretty sure she has developed diabetes and is generally failing fast. She isn't comfortable anywhere, does not seem to sleep, won't sit or sleep near us, isn't using the litterbox and cries at the door. I think she's telling me it's her time.

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I have already informed both my cats that they are never allowed to die. And I am not getting teary-eyed. Those are allergies.

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Sorry, I just got a kitty a couple weeks ago (named her Jezebel) and it's really kicked my fur-maternal instincts into overdrive.

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Just kidding, y'all. Plus, I love my kitty and she's not even friendly or playful.

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An estimated 33 percent of the U.S. population has already been exposed to toxoplasmosis without even knowing it. Experts believe that exposure comes much more often from eating undercooked meat than from living with a cat. In the majority of healthy people, toxoplasmosis causes nothing but immunity to future exposures.

It is actually difficult to contract toxoplasmosis. For one thing, not all cats carry it. About 50 percent of cats nationwide are thought to have been exposed, mostly outdoor cats who catch and eat mice or rats. For another, the transmission of the organism is very tricky. Dr. Lizel Salmon of New Carollton Veterinary Hospital explains in a recent Sunday "Journal" article:

* The cat must be infected with the toxo organism by eating something infected with it, most commonly mice or infected raw or undercooked meat.

* The cat must be shedding the organism in its feces, which occurs during a 10-day period ONCE IN A CAT'S LIFETIME.

* The toxo organism must "incubate" in the cat's feces for one to five days before it is ineffective to humans. That incubation must occur after the feces leave the cat's body and have access to oxygen (i.e., in the litter box or in soil).

* The toxo organism must be swallowed by the person being infected.

In other words, when the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

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