I love Cats

Especially Kittens

Why are cats so special?

Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats and associated them with the goddess Bastet, who represented home, fertility, and protection. In Norse legend, the goddess Freyja, associated with love, beauty, and fertility, rode a chariot pulled by cats. Cats were thus linked to good fortune and protection. They were also believed to ward off evil spirits and safeguard the home. Their presence is often associated with a protective energy, creating a safe and secure environment. They bring peace and tranquility to any space they occupy.

The Science-Backed Benefits of Being a Cat Lover

1. Well-being

According to one Australian study, cat owners do have better psychological health than people without pets. On questionnaires, they claim to feel more happy, more confident, and less nervous, and to sleep, focus, and face problems in their lives better.

2. Stress

In one study, researchers visited 120 married couples in their homes to observe how they would respond to stress—and whether cats were any help. Hooked up to heart rate and blood pressure monitors, people were put through a gauntlet of daunting tasks: subtracting three repeatedly from a four-digit number, and then holding their hand in ice water (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) for two minutes. People either sat in a room alone, with their pet roaming around, with their spouse (who could offer moral support), or both. Before the stressful tasks began, the cat owners had a lower resting heart rate and blood pressure than people who didn’t own any pets. And during the tasks, the cat owners also fared better: They were more likely to feel challenged than threatened, their heart rate and blood pressure were lower, and they even made fewer math errors. Out of all the various scenarios, cat owners looked the most calm and made the fewest errors when their cat was present. In general, cat owners also recovered faster physiologically.

3. Relationships

Cats are beings we care for and who care for us (or at least we believe they do). And people who invest in this cross-species bonding may see benefits in their human-to-human relationships, as well. For example, research has found that cat owners are more socially sensitive, trust other people more, and like other people more than people who don’t own pets. If you call yourself a cat person, you’ll tend to think other people like you more compared to someone who is neither a cat or dog person. Meanwhile, even people who watch cat videos feel more supported by others than people who aren’t such big fans of feline digital media.

4.Health

In one study, researchers followed 4,435 people for 13 years. People who had owned cats in the past were less likely to die from a heart attack during that time than people who had never owned cats—even when accounting for other risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, and body mass index. This was true of people even if they didn’t have cats currently, the researchers explain, which suggests that cats are more like preventative medicine than treatment for an ongoing disease.