In this article I report on two research projects which have been around for a while one of which confirms the health benefit of living with a cat with respect to your cardiovascular system and the other debunks the scaremongering that toxoplasmosis is a danger to humans.
Cardio benefits
This useful bit of scientific research should reinforce your belief that living with a cat or cats is beneficial to your health. There’s a lot of information on this on the internet but this research pointedly confirms that being a crazy cat lady is not crazy at all but wise.
The research looked at the benefits of living with a cat on the avoidance of cardiovascular disease.
“A decreased risk for death due to MI [myocardial infarction – heart attack] and all cardiovascular diseases (including stroke) was observed among persons with cats. Acquisition of cats as domestic pets may represent a novel strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in high-risk individuals.”
This quote spells it out in plain language as far as I am concerned. Living with a cat is good for your heart and reduces cardio diseases and the risk of stroke.
You can read this research project if you click on the link below:
Benefits of cats on human cardio system
Toxoplasmosis
There was a lot of talk online a while ago about humans being infected with toxoplasmosis because of their relationship with the domestic cat. The domestic cat is the primary host of the toxoplasma gondii protozoan and the talk was about cat poop containing oocysts which can infect you. Well, this study called, “Curiosity killed the cat: no evidence of an association between cat ownership and psychotic symptoms at ages 13 and 18 years in a UK general population cohort” should put minds at rest.
Some of the conclusions are repeated below.
“….our study strongly indicates that cat ownership in pregnancy or early childhood does not confer an increased risk of later adolescent [psychotic experiences].
“Cat ownership in pregnancy was not associated with psychotic symptoms at age 13 or 18 years…”
“There was no evidence that cat ownership at age 4 years was associated with PEs [psychotic experiences] at age 18 years..”
If you are so inclined you can read the study by clicking on the link below:
Research project on cat ownership and kids
Note
So, ladies, the next time some oaf tells you that cats give you diseases and make you mad due to toxoplasmosis, send them a link to this page.
