Health Benefits of Cats: 10 Facts

Cats and people

Surely you remember Rudyard Kipling's fairy tale “The Cat That Walked By Itself.” In it, animals, one after another, come to man, and man tames them. The last one to arrive is the cat. She catches mice and plays with the child - and for these skills she gets the best place by the fire and milk.

Oddly enough, this is approximately how it all happened - cats actually came to humans a little later than other domestic animals. This happened, according to scientists, at least ten thousand years ago, or even earlier, in Asia, from where the cat population gradually spread, scattered and dispersed to all other parts of the world.

Our cooperation with cats has always been mutually beneficial, and it began, as you might guess, with mice. Man mastered agriculture for a long time and gradually, but over time he learned to grow enough food to stock up. These supplies had to be stored, and barns arose, and lazy, well-fed house mice appeared in the barns.

And the cat came to the man with an offer that was impossible to refuse, because as a result, everyone won: the cat received for his use not just hunting grounds, but a real nature reserve, and the man got rid of annoying pests.

Much water has passed under the bridge since then, but the mousetrap instinct does not disappear in our pets, and the most respectable Barsik or Murzik, who has spent his entire life on pillows and in a nightmare has not seen a single rodent, is able to greatly surprise his family when he goes to the dacha for the first time.

Quite quickly, however, it became clear that the mutual benefit of a cat and a person may not be limited to prosaic mice. Because the cat turned out to have a lot of other talents.

Harm to cats

There are also negative aspects when keeping a kitten at home - most are easily resolved and do not lead to serious consequences:

Many parents fear for their child - cats love to scratch and bite when playing or defending themselves. It is necessary to raise a kitten correctly in order to avoid such problems, choose a breed that is not characterized by aggression. Adult pets, competently brought up, usually instinctively understand that children should not be offended - they treat them with love, even protect them.

A cat brings joy to the house and creates a comfortable atmosphere. You should treat your furry ball with love and care, and he will respond the same way.

If you have already become the happy owner of a cat at home, then you need to take care of it, feed it with high-quality food and care so that the cat brings only benefits.

Cats are the most mysterious and independent pets. They have a changeable temperament and, despite their attachment to their owners, cats remain free and independent. They can be loving, gentle and affectionate, but sometimes they let out their sharp claws. The mystery of their origin has not yet been fully revealed.

They have lived next to us for many years, but are still mysterious and unpredictable. “While she is in the house, she catches mice and is affectionate with children. But just as soon as night falls and the moon rises, she says: “I, the Cat, walk where I please, and walk by myself,” wrote Rudyard Kipling in the fairy tale “The Cat Walked by itself.”

They have experienced a lot in their lifetime: in Ancient Egypt they were worshiped, and during the Inquisition they were considered the offspring of the devil. By the way, the famous Cardinal Richelieu was an ardent cat lover. There were many of them in his palace, these were the only creatures to whom Richelieu felt affection and only with them he rested his soul.

And nowadays, despite their changeable temperament, cats are the most beloved pets. Looking into their bottomless eyes, we forget about loneliness. By stroking their soft fur, listening to their quiet purring and calm breathing, we ourselves become calmer. By the way, it is considered a scientifically proven fact that a cat’s purring lowers blood pressure. Children who have a cat or dog in the house are less susceptible to stress, they are kinder and more affectionate than many of their peers.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota at the American Stroke Association conference released the following data: cat owners have a 30% reduced risk of death from a heart attack. Scientists cannot yet give a scientific explanation for this fact. But most likely this is due to the fact that the presence of a cat creates a comfortable, calm environment in the house, and this normalizes the body’s functioning and helps to better cope with stressful situations. Cat owners are also less likely to suffer from arthritis and atherosclerosis. By the way, cats themselves do not have such diseases.

And scientists from the state of Virginia came to the following conclusion: having a cat in the house significantly prevents the occurrence of asthma in children, if the child does not have a severe allergy to cats. The cat helps the child’s body develop an immune response, which prevents the occurrence of asthma and other bronchopulmonary diseases.

This is because over time the child develops antibodies that prevent the onset of asthma and protect him from cat allergens. By the way, the only argument against keeping a cat at home is a pronounced allergy. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this, and there are no hypoallergenic cat breeds yet.

Many people think that allergies are caused by animal fur, but this is not true. Allergens are secreted by the cat's sebaceous glands, which are located on the surface of the skin. By licking, the cat seems to smear these allergens over the surface of the fur, and after that they are spread throughout the apartment, sticking to clothes, furniture and even dust particles, which is why fluffy cats are more likely to cause allergies.

We suggest you read: The cat is allergic to litter

All other cat diseases: fleas, worms, lichen can be easily cured in our time by contacting a veterinarian or pharmacy for the necessary medications. And if you regularly get vaccinated, then your cat will definitely not cause any harm to your health. The main thing is that you do not offend your fluffy or smooth-haired beauties and beauties. Because everyone knows that cats do not forgive insults.

Our pets love us not because of our achievements, but simply because they have us. They know the time we return from work, and as soon as the elevator opens, they joyfully rush to the door. Moreover, they know with one hundred percent certainty that it was you who came. When someone stranger rings the doorbell, my cat doesn’t even move.

And, of course, we must remember that loving animals is not only fun, it is even more responsibility and work. Your pet needs good care and education, then it will cause less household inconvenience. And you also need to learn to understand him, learn his language. And then you will experience only pleasure and joy from communicating with your friend.

The benefits of cats for human health

The ability to positively influence the well-being of the owner is one of the most famous abilities of cats.

Numerous testimonies from their owners testify to the benefits that cats have for human health. You've probably heard stories about their beneficial effects on sleep, stress resistance, and blood pressure. The warm and rhythmic purring of a beloved cat relaxes a person, helps him get rid of nervous tension and overwork.

Many cat owners feel that after communicating with their pet, various pains disappear, in particular headaches, as well as painful sensations of a neuralgic nature.

Scientists could not ignore these facts without attention and explanation, because many of them also have favorite cats. Therefore, research into the healing abilities of cats is appearing more and more often.

Beneficial for the heart


For example, interesting statistics collected over many years by Columbia University.
It shows that cat owners live longer, suffer fewer heart attacks and strokes, and have lower cancer rates than those who don't own pets. Many researchers speak and write about the effect of cats on the human cardiovascular system. Such data are presented in the Waltham Book of Human-Animal Interaction, Elsevier science, 2013.

In the course of research, specialist Erica Friedman was able to obtain reliable data that cardiac patients recovered faster after a heart attack if they had the opportunity to constantly communicate with their cat.

According to the observations of American cardiologists, even briefly stroking a cat helps to normalize the heart rate; in addition, pet owners have lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure on average than those patients who do not keep animals at home. Therefore, if your cardiologist advises you to get a cat, do not be surprised, this is completely scientific!

Improves psycho-emotional state

The presence of an animal in our lives has an overall beneficial effect on our immunity, psychological and emotional state. There is evidence that cat owners are much less likely to suffer from severe disorders of the digestive and endocrine systems.

Moreover, cases from medical practice are described when communication with a cat and the resulting attachment to the animal allowed a patient at a drug treatment center to overcome his drug or alcohol addiction.

Felinotherapy has long been no longer something marginal in medicine. This method is often used when working with people who suffer from mental illness or developmental disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cats provide significant assistance to sick children, in particular young patients with diagnoses such as autism, attention deficit disorder, and Down syndrome. The presence of a cat nearby calms such children; they gradually learn to express their emotions easily and naturally, and attachment to their pet becomes for them a bridge leading out into the world around them.

How a pet calms you down by purring

There are several reasons why a cat starts purring. The main one is the pet’s good mood, which encourages him to communicate with people. The cat happily allows itself to be petted, wants to lie down next to it and just be with its owner. Cats make sounds similar to purring when they are scared or when they are trying to warn a stranger that they are ready to attack.

There is a lot of convincing evidence that a cat's purring is beneficial for humans.:

  • This sound creates an atmosphere of comfort in the home, similar to how people relax when they hear a cricket chirping or a crackling fire.
  • The owner approaches his pet more confidently if he hears purring: as a result, such contact brings positive emotions and calms the person, forcing him to take his mind off unpleasant thoughts.
  • The benefit of sounds is that these vibrations stimulate cell division, which leads to faster recovery from injuries.
  • Finally, the frequency of the purring sounds roughly corresponds to the frequency of radiation from some physical therapy machines. Sounds tone muscles and activate blood flow, which benefits the entire body.

© shutterstock

Kittens and guys

“The woman tied a clay spindle to a thread and pulled it along the floor, and the Cat ran after it, and grabbed it, and tumbled, and threw it on its back, and caught it with its hind paws, and deliberately let it go, and then rushed after it, - and then the Child laughed even louder than he cried; he crawled after the Cat throughout the Cave and frolicked until he was tired. Then he dozed off along with the Cat, without letting her out of his arms. “And now,” said the Cat, “I’ll sing him a song and lull him to sleep for an hour.” And as she began to purr, now louder, now quieter, now quieter, now louder, the child fell into a deep sleep.” (R. Kipling)

A separate word needs to be said about children and cats. Sometimes it seems that they were deliberately created for each other. Adults do not always have time to play with their pet as much as they need to release their energy, especially at a young age. Children are tireless in this matter, and their joint games with a kitten can become a constant source of joy, if, of course, both are taught to treat their play partner with respect.

It's hard to find children who don't like cats. For a baby, a cat is a whole world, both frightening and attractive, with fluffy fur, a cold nose, a bright personality and hidden claws.

You have probably observed how children of animal owners sometimes differ from their peers in responsibility, mental maturity and kindness. The impact of pets on the formation of a child’s personality has more than once become the subject of serious research. Their results suggest that pets help children feel confident, become happier, and even overcome problems such as excessive shyness and speech dysfunction.

The undoubted benefits of cats for parents of small children, such as their ability to put the baby to sleep with their purring in a matter of minutes, should not go unnoticed.

The benefit to humans from the home cat healer, which we very briefly discussed in the paragraph above, fully extends to children, but with one significant addition.

Prevention of allergies in children

Scientists from different countries who worked on the problem of childhood allergies, which in our time have acquired unprecedented importance, came to the same conclusion: children born and raised in a family whose members were animals are ten times less likely to suffer from allergies, as in childhood and in adulthood.

In addition, children who freely communicated with at least one animal from the cradle are, in principle, less likely to suffer from any diseases, including viral infections.

The recent discoveries of Danish scientists have become a big sensation in the scientific world. The study, which took place in Copenhagen, involved children who were found to have a genetic predisposition to asthma. During the observation, it turned out that in those children who lived in the same family with a cat from birth, this predisposition did not manifest itself subsequently.

The mechanism of the effect of cats on the development of asthma in children has not yet been fully studied, but scientists suggest that this discovery will help humanity overcome this serious illness.

Keeping a cat at home - good or bad?

For a long time, many psychologists strongly discouraged single women from having this pet, because it was believed that having a cat in the house created the illusion of having a family. And this, in turn, can lead to the fact that a woman will never be able to get married and will forever remain an “old maid.” But these prejudices are a thing of the past.

All studies and studies of cat behavior and their impact on humans prove that keeping a cat in the house is beneficial. American scientists conducted a long-term experiment, the results of which proved that when a cat is in the house, the risk of a heart attack in the owners is reduced by 30%.

Scientists also claim that having at least one cat in the house helps reduce the number of cases of not only heart attacks, but also diseases of the cardiovascular system.

A scientific explanation for this fact has not yet been found, but most likely, a cat, which is a soft, fluffy little ball, ready to gently purr in gratitude to its owner, is able to create a feeling of comfort and serene coziness in the house, helping to more easily cope with stressful situations that arise during life.

A cat lying on your lap, the warmth of its body, the softness and silkiness of its fur, all this gives rise to a feeling of relaxation, leads to the disappearance of problems and calmness.

Brightening up loneliness


Loneliness is the scourge of the modern world, in which people become increasingly withdrawn into themselves, trust others less and less, and increasingly hide from life. And for a lonely person, a pet can become a real salvation, replacing the whole world and not allowing him to plunge into the quagmire of despondency.

Interaction with an animal, as already written above, harmonizes a person’s psycho-emotional state, compensates for the lack of affection and communication, and the need to take care of it does not allow one to withdraw into oneself and lose the desire to live on. After all, your pet will be lost without you, he has no one but you, and this means that you are needed, that is, you are no longer alone.

Young single people, of course, can get a dog. They are physically active and are able to provide her with regular walking, as well as proper attention on the street. For older people, this is often an unbearable burden, especially if they are inactive for health reasons.

For them, a cat will be the best choice, because you don’t need to walk with it, it is balanced, calm and self-sufficient. But at the same time, cats love communication, they are affectionate and willingly give people their warmth.

Lonely old people living next to cats feel much better, because they have someone to give them love and care. And cats, responding with tenderness and gratitude to their owners, thereby prolonging their lives and making them happier.

It’s no wonder that one of the most successful areas of therapy cat work is nursing homes. According to German gerontologists, elderly people who have a cat can sometimes live as much as 10 years longer than doctors predict.

The effect of cats on health

​Cats are considered a symbol of home warmth and tranquility. They adapt well to various living conditions and fit harmoniously into the human environment. Cute furry creatures are sociable, friendly, and have a positive effect on our psychological, emotional and physiological state. The beneficial effects of cats on human health have been proven since ancient times.

Cats are intelligent animals that subtly capture the mood and emotional state of their owners. Despite their independent nature, domestic cats are very affectionate creatures by nature. There are many known cases of cats helping people, including stories of saving lives.

If a pet feels care, attention and affection, it will definitely reciprocate. Cats can make a person’s life positive, active and kind, giving positive emotions and joy.

The benefits of cats for human health are multifaceted. According to bioenergeticists, in the process of communicating with mustachioed purrs, an exchange of energy impulses occurs, and positively charged biocurrents enter the central nervous system. Numerous scientific studies have proven that a person who constantly communicates with these unique animals is less likely to suffer from depression, hyper- and hypotension, and is less susceptible to stress and bad mood. For lonely people, cats become devoted, true friends and literally the only interlocutors.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the Comparison of cat food: classes, compositions, brands

Cats sense negative energy and can “point” to a bad person. If you let a cat into the house, examining every corner of the apartment, the animal chooses the most unfavorable place for itself, located at the intersection of nodes of the Earth’s geomagnetic grid.

Biologists believe that cats need to be fed negative energy. Indeed, they prefer to lie down or sit next to a PC, on operating electrical appliances that emit negative electromagnetic waves.

Black cats feel negative energy acutely. But cats with white, light, or red coats, on the contrary, feed people with positive energy.

Special abilities of cats

In the course of biological evolution, which followed the path of active growth and development of the brain, man lost many abilities that allowed him to navigate living nature. Our hearing and sense of smell have been greatly reduced, and technological progress has made the ability to notice the slightest changes in the surrounding space insignificant.

Cats have retained ancient instincts, and most importantly, biological “tools” that allow them to sense the approach of danger before the inevitable happens. A sensitive and observant owner, who is always attentive to the condition of his tailed friend, may, without realizing it, receive a very important warning from him.

Feel slight vibrations

As an example, there is countless evidence that our pets sense seismic activity.

A smart person will certainly be wary when he sees that his cat is rushing around, not finding a place for itself, and is trying to take everyone it can away from the house. Often cats saved entire families from imminent death under the rubble of a house in this way.

In the nineties, a story was passed down from mouth to mouth about a cat that persistently rushed into the children's room and called other family members to follow it. As soon as they entered there, there was an explosion and part of the entrance collapsed. Of the entire apartment, only the room chosen by the cat remained intact.

Hear sounds elusive to our ears

During the world wars, cats saved many lives by warning their families in advance about bombings. It can be assumed that the cat's keen hearing allowed it to hear the distant rumble of approaching bombers.

Particularly well known is the story of the cat Sally from London, who, sensing the approach of an air raid, ran to the gas masks hanging on the wall and persistently made it clear that it was time to go down to the bomb shelter.

Fires and floods


An equally interesting story happened in the nineteenth century in St. Petersburg. A stray cat came into one of the houses from the street and brought her kittens. She dragged the kids to a fairly high step of the stairs and did not allow anyone to take them down from there. The next day, a terrible flood began in St. Petersburg, but the water level did not reach her kittens.

There are countless examples of cats saving people from fire. The extremely high sensitivity of cats allows them to smell a fire much earlier than people, and often it is cats that wake up their owners who are sound asleep and unaware of the danger.

As you can see, a lot can be said about the benefits that cats bring to us. But we get them not only for the sake of benefit, because a beloved pet gives us a feeling of joy and happiness. And any cat brings happiness to the house.

Any size, breed and gender, with any tail and ears, regardless of its color and degree of fluffiness. Because a cat is concentrated happiness. No wonder they say that your home is where your cat is...

What are the benefits of having a cat in the house?

The benefits of its presence around people have long been noticed, both cat owners and research results speak about this.

1. Strong emotional support, help in difficult life situations, with the loss of loved ones.2. Production of oxytocin in the body. The person becomes calmer and happier.3. Strengthening the immune system.4. Reducing the risk of heart attack.5. They make the emotional background positive, force us to be better.6.

Positive impact on family relationships, improving the environment at home.7. The presence of positive energy in the house. Help with various headaches. Stress relief.

8. Positive effects of healing purring on the body: treatment of depression, reduction of high blood pressure, healing of wounds.

Cats in the house: signs

A large number of different signs are associated with cats, which were born due to the special character of cats, characterized by independence and love of freedom. Since ancient times, many beliefs and signs have been associated with domestic felines.

In Ancient Egypt, the cat was almost a sacred animal. Killing a cat was punishable by death. The Egyptians believed that a cat was the good spirit of human habitation, and after the death of the owner, her soul settled in the cat. It is believed that evil spirits or dark forces will never come to the house in which a cat lives, since the cat is able to see and drive them away.

There is still a very popular sign according to which the cat is the first to enter the house. This should guarantee the family prosperity and good luck. At the same time, where the cat falls asleep in the new house, a sofa should be placed there, since this is the place that has the most favorable bioenergy. But there is another sign: a cat came into the house - expect trouble, since it is believed that a strange cat or a cat that wandered onto the threshold is a harbinger of misfortune.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with Stronghold for dogs – purpose, instructions, reviews

The cat is not only a character in a large number of signs and superstitions, it is also considered a talisman, the effect of which will directly depend on the owner’s attitude towards his pet.

What a cat brings with it is associated with its color. Black is money, red is love, white is health and attracting sincere people to the house. A tricolor cat in the house will be a universal amulet that can attract money, love, health, and good luck into the house.

Cats are the original pets. Practical benefits are kept to a minimum. In rare houses they are kept for their original historical purpose - catching rodents. Most people get cats for aesthetic pleasure and to entertain children. Affectionate pets solve the problem of loneliness, requiring minimal care.

Not all people treat them the same - some appreciate their benefits, while others are afraid of the problems that may arise when maintaining them, especially if there are small children at home.

What benefits do cats bring?

1. The very first thing is the joy of communicating with a cat.

Most of them are gentle and affectionate creatures. These furry animals can lift your spirits, relieve fatigue and set you up for positivity.

When I came home from work, my cat literally followed on my heels, and as soon as I sat down, he immediately ran onto my lap so that I could pet him, and began to purr. At such moments, all fatigue and bad mood go away.

2. Cats have a beneficial effect on human health.

When stroking cats for several minutes, blood pressure normalizes and heart rate returns to normal.

The purring of a cat reduces a person’s stress level, calms them down, relieves tension, and helps them cope more easily with unpleasant life situations.

By the way, the purring of a cat is similar to therapeutic ultrasound; these vibrations at a certain frequency promote faster healing of fractures, are an excellent prevention of osteoporosis and joint diseases, and simply calm you down.

At the energy level, cats are able to detect changes occurring in the human body and prevent the development of many diseases.

When the owner is sick, the cat likes to stay nearby or climb on him and lie down on the sore spot, purrs, sometimes gives a “massage”, releasing its claws, and the person feels relief.

They say that cats need negative energy for normal development of the body, and humans need positive energy.

Some scientists believe that cats, when lying on a person, take away negative energy from him and give back positive energy.

But it is impossible to force a cat to treat a patient. She herself must want it.

These furry animals have a good sense of how each family member treats them, and will only help those who truly love them.

I experience all these healing cat abilities on myself every day. As soon as I lie down, Levik immediately runs and lies down on me, purring, almost always in the same place. During such a “session” I feel on the physical level how I am saturated with positive energy. After lying there for a few minutes, he calmly leaves.

3. A cat is capable of clearing the space of the house from negativity with its presence.

, taking on bad energy.

It was not for nothing that before, and even in our time, when moving to a new house, the cat was first let in, and then the residents themselves came in.

4. Helps a person get rid of harmful rodents: mice and rats.

This is especially true for those who live in private houses. Also, some cats catch insects that accidentally fly in: flies, mosquitoes and others.

5.Cats are able to anticipate earthquakes, floods, fires and other tragic events a little earlier than they begin.

Sometimes, while saving people’s lives, they begin to show strong anxiety and try to leave the apartment as quickly as possible.

6. Some cats are stubborn alarm clocks.

If every day you get up in the morning at the same time, then the cat usually gets used to this regime and begins to wake you up with its meows, if suddenly you didn’t get up on the alarm clock.

The downside is that not all cats can feel the difference between weekdays and weekends, and continue to wake up their owners even on weekends, when they want to sleep longer.

7. Many cats are capable of showing heroism, saving people.

There are known cases where cats caught poisonous snakes, saving a person from a fatal bite, woke people up during a gas leak or fire, found infants abandoned on the street by cruel mothers, and saved them from dog attacks.

This is exactly what these two videos are about, watch it, it’s very interesting.

I hope I was able to tell you what benefits cats bring.

I can no longer imagine my life without our fluffy, affectionate animal. Love your pets, take care of them, and they will definitely repay you in kind.

There are people who do not accept the presence of animals in the house. I sincerely feel sorry for them, because pets make our lives more beautiful in every sense of the word. Cats stand out from all domestic animals for their independence. Sometimes it seems that they live their own lives and do not obey the person in any way. In fact, they do a lot for us. You just need to find out in detail how cats are useful in order to use their “gifts” to the fullest.

Reduce blood pressure

Scientists from Brooklyn College and New York University conducted a joint study. 48 people suffering from hypertension took part in the experiment. Their health status was studied for six months.

All subjects took medications to lower blood pressure. Half of the experiment participants were asked to have a cat at home. The results of the experiment showed that blood pressure decreased in all subjects. But stress spikes disappeared only in those participants who kept cats at home.

If you are prone to hypertension due to stress, then the cat will become your little healer. Stroking your furry pet can calm you down and your blood pressure will return to normal.

Scientists from Tomsk have found that medicinal plants can cure viruses

In March, the coronavirus vaccine from the Center will be introduced into civilian circulation. Chumakova

Look for a holiday and an interview: Nastya Ivleeva showed teenage photos

Increases immunity in children

Many parents mistakenly believe that a small child and a cat in the house are incompatible. However, scientific research proves that children living next to furry pets have stronger immunity. They get sick much less often than their peers who do not have animals.

We flew to India: we chose the best cities to visit in this sunny country

Gluten in cosmetics is not the same as gluten in food. 9 myths about the gluten-free diet

Rospotrebnadzor: the level of antibodies after COVID-19 decreases, but the body is protected

Such children are less likely to suffer from allergies and asthma. After all, from an early age they come into contact with cat fur. Children's bodies produce antibodies against this allergen and form a strong immune system.

Rating
( 1 rating, average 4 out of 5 )
Did you like the article? Share with friends:
For any suggestions regarding the site: [email protected]
Для любых предложений по сайту: [email protected]