By: PENNY MACIAS
If you have an obsession with cats, many will call you a “crazy cat lady.” In fact, it turns out that the cats in our lives are doing the opposite of making us crazy. They actually may be improving our health.
It is proven that the sound of your cat’s purr can calm your nerves, lower blood pressure, and reduces the risk of heart disease. Cat owners have 40% less risk of having a heart attack, according to a 2008 study from researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Stroke Institute. Monitoring nearly 4,500 people (three out of five participants owned a cat) for a 10-year period, the researchers were able to determine that the cat owners experienced a 30 percent reduced risk of death by heart attack than the participants without cats.
Also, owning a cat is not just good for you, but also for the environment! A 2009 study found that the resources needed to feed a dog over the course of its life create the same eco-footprint as that of a Land Cruiser. Studies show that the lifetime resources needed to feed and care for a cat have a smaller carbon footprint than for other animals. Plus, most cats prefer fish to beef or corn, which is better for the environment.
Cat owners are also scientifically proven to be smarter. A 2010 survey of British pet owners by the University of Bristol found that people who owned cats were more likely to have college degrees than their dog loving counterparts. In 2014, a researcher in Wisconsin surveyed 600 college students and found that cat owners were actually more intelligent as well. Although it’s not the cat making the owner smarter, the researchers conducting the Bristol survey said that smarter people tend to work longer hours, and since cats require less attention than dogs, they are a better choice for the busy intellectual.
Therefore, if you’re looking to adopt a cat, you can see there are many benefits in doing so! Cats can help you as well as the environment. Some may say that cats are aloof and don’t care about humans, but they have actually saved countless lives! One cat in the United Kingdom warns her human when he’s about to have an epileptic seizure, while a cat in Montana woke up its two humans when a gas pipe started leaking. Firefighters told the couple that the house could easily have exploded if not for the cat’s intervention. If somebody ever calls you a “crazy cat lady” again, take it as a compliment!