Hi Bill!
My wife and I have cats -- we've had them for 27+ years and we've gone through a number of them (they don't live forever...) We've usually had two or three at a time. We've adopted kittens through adults and our oldest passed at around 19... We have two now -- one is diabetic. Fortunately, he takes the same insulin that I take, so we share. (clean needles for each of us though...)
Yes -- the cat box is a bit of an issue... My wife takes care of that. I think we're supposed to be concerned with toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that can be harbored by cats... It's the same one that makes it unsafe/undesirable for pregnant women to change the litter... If/when you get a cat -- it should be titered for toxoplasmosis to see if the cat is positive -- if it is positive, you really shouldn't adopt it... You should also keep it as an indoor cat -- so that it is not exposed to toxoplasmosis...
I rarely clean the litter -- but I occasionally do, when my wife is gone for a period of time and she hasn't arranged for a neighbor/friend to do it... If I do, I mask up (and usually glove up too) -- it might be overkill, but better safe than sorry...
You're 16 years out -- I'm 14 years out (congratulations!!!) -- you may want to check with your center too... They may have an opinion. Sometimes their rule of thumb seems to be that if you've had dogs or cats or other animals all of your life -- you can keep having them... But sometimes it seems they shy away from transplant recipients getting new animals if they've never had them in their lives... (And they usually caution strongly against birds and reptiles...) My take on things (and this is more my judgment than actual knowledge...) is that if you've had dogs or cats or horses all of your life -- you probably have an immune system that has developed some protections towards what they might share -- so being re-exposed to them isn't as bad as if you've never had these animals and introduce them...
My gut feel is that it would be safe... Kittens and puppies, in my opinion, are wonderful ways to help children understand responsibility -- and to have someone depend upon them for love and care... It's sad when it's a phase and the child loses interest in the animal after some months -- but it's a beautiful thing when they and their pet form a life-long bond... There is so much to learn from having a pet... I hope your six-year-old gets her wish...
Love, Steve
