Cats can save your life if they aren't busy taking a nap PING!! :-)
Posted on 02/22/2008 11:25:09 AM PST by dickmc
(Dog owners eat your heart out: doesn't work with dogs!)
New study says they (cat owners) are less likely to die of heart attack or stroke
Cat owners are less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than people who, well, don't own cats, a new study suggests.
The study, by researchers at the University of Minnesota, found that felineless people were 30 percent to 40 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those with cats.
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotte.com ...
Yet dog owners had the same rate as nonowners. "No protective effect of dogs as domestic pets was observed," said the study, presented Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.
Dr. Adnan Qureshi, a stroke expert at the university, said he decided to raise the question because other studies have suggested pets can help reduce stress. He and his team analyzed 4,435 people who had answered questionnaires about pet ownership.
But the cat-dog differential came as a surprise. "We don't understand this completely," he said, but "it's probably not a coincidence."
Asked if he owns a cat, Qureshi replied: "No. Maybe I should get one, though."
Cats vs. dogs
• 90 million cats are owned in the U.S.
• 36 percent of U.S. households (or 38.4 million) own at least one cat.
• 56 percent own more than one cat.
• 74.8 million dogs are owned in the U.S.
• 39 percent of U.S. households own at least one dog.
.............SOURCE: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association
Have a fun discussion with this one!
Enjoy
kitty good for you ping
Cat owners tend to take the suggestions of their little friends a little more than dog owners.
After all, when a cat curls up on your chest or lap and goes to sleep, you don’t want to wake the cat up - so you take a nap as well. :D
Hope this works for me. I wonder if the effect is increased if the number of cats is increased?
Didn’t work for my Dad, though. He had 2 cats and had a massive stroke right before Christmas.
And forehead bumps! Don’t forget the forehead bumps! :-)
With nine cats, I do get lots of sleep, lots of sndpaper kisses, head bumps, an am never free of evidence tht cats have claws all over my body == should live to be at least 150.
> or stealing your clicker.
Yes, forehead bumps and whisker tickles and nose presses...I miss my kitty! :(
Gather your cats around the computer and visit this page -
http://www.kessels.com/CatSounds/index.html
ping
So if I have ten cats I’ll be what, 300 to 400 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease? Sounds like a good deal to me.
Great story! I wonder if people with an affinity for cats have adopted Feline Filosofy and take a less stressed approach to life, contributing to a lesser liklihood of stress-induced cardiovascular events. 5 or 10 minutes a day (usually at 3AM!) my cat zooms around, demon-possessed with the kitty-jitters...the rest of the time he’s either power-napping, nibbling, or perched on top of me buzzing his fool head off, i.e., just a typical cat. Dog people generally seem much more hyper, like their dogs (should bassett hounds be excluded?) - so perhaps it’s that someone will choose cats or dogs based on that person’s innate emotional makeup, Type A heart-attack people choosing dogs, Type B relaxed people choosing cats?
that is so true.
TRUE TRUE and unrelated
this is where looking at the data critically might help
Women have less cardiovascular events than men
more women own cats then men
more men have dogs (ie dogs dont appear to have the protective effect)
Thats all folks and plus the study is funded by a pet association u think there might be some bias?!
Good point that there might be a male/female bias here ... but that could easily be determined by separating owners by sex and looking at the data that way.
I personally think that the whisker kisses, head bumps, loving kneady paws, and purrs you can hear at the other end of the house (we have large cats!) that I get from our six kitties will keep me going to at least 100!
This may be true. You see so many very old ladies who have large numbers of cats.
BTW, how do the twins get along with the cats?
(We miss you on the AI thread).
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