Purrr-fect Healing: Maybe those crazy cat ladies may be up to something

Cats date back to the ancient Egyptian era of 9000 B.C. They were depicted in hieroglyphics and even buried with their owners in tombs. Cats were like Gods, as people worshiped to them and even killing these physic felines by accident was a death sentence among that ancient-egypt-catperson. They were believed to bring justice and kill of vermin that would attack their food supply, able to tell the weather by the twitch of their whiskers and internationally believed they could see past visible light and read different frequencies. Even today, cats treat their body as a temple and they spend hours grooming themselves. They make a great household pet not only for their independence and their low maintenance requirement of just food and water, but they still seem to have that notion of having special powers attached to them. Instead of predicting the weather, cats are able to cure humans mentally.

 

Cats are linked to:

  • Lowering stress
  • Decrease the likeliness of dyspnea, which is having difficulty breathing
  • Less likely to have heart attacks by 40%
  • Strengthen bones
  • Longer life span than those of non-pet owners
  • Produce more oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin
  • Speedy injury recovery
  • Pain reducer
  • Boosts immune system

2Cat’s purrs is power. Currently used widely as a way of mediation and healing for those mentally and physically ill, a cat’s purrs ranges from 20-140 Hertz. Studies found a cat purr frequency of 25-50 Hertz helps bone strength, 50-150 Hertz helps relieve pain in 82% of people, and 18-35 Hertz is used for muscle relaxation in Russian sport’s therapy. In society “cat ladies” are frowned upon for their anti-socialness, but cats are your answer to every stress and depression related illness and well as physical attributes of healing fast.  Some logical reasons other than their purrs to why cats are healers is that just their existence fulfills the basic human need to touch. No matter the severity and the conditions, such as depression or anxiety, this is the go to in any psychiatric hospitals. This does not mean because you have a cat that previous people that used to go to therapy do not have to go anymore, it just implies that though formal therapy is still needed, cats can aid in that therapy process. Just like dogs, cats are used as emotional and/or comfort animals, which are usually given to kids with developmental disorders like autism or to elderly people with Alzheimers or dementia.

Study

A study by Karen Allen, a social psychologist, studied 48 women and men who were stockbrokers, with high salaries and high stress. Each was given high blood pressure medicine but a random selection was used to determine who got a pet. The study concluded the stockbroker’s blood pressure without pets rose higher than those with pets, thus concluding that from the study they were rejecting the null hypothesis because they found an association between cats and high blood pressure.

 

Even if the study is a false positive and cats do not really have an association with humans mental and physical healing, something about their presence that make humans brains re
acts by releases such critical mood areas in the brain is key. The brain produces dopamine and serotonin, which associated with the cats creates happiness, but if not functioning properly can cause great depression. The
re is not a lot of studies that discuss purr therapy, but the increasing number of sales in cats that make them the most popular pet over dogs, shows people cannot get enough of cats. Since cats help you live longer due to the less stress and high immune system and etc., it is ironic how out of 463 cat owners, 80% are women and women tend to live 5 years longer than men. This could be another study in itself that since women are more likely to own cats, does this create the disparity in longevity between men and women.

Pondering  Questions

From the lack of studies, there are so many questions I have that I could not find answers for. So since some studies believe cats bring healing, what if you are allergic to cats? Should you settle for, some might say less attractive, creepy, hairless cat, or should you invest in a purring machine. A purring machine is just a machine that sounds like a cat and emits the same sound frequencies as a cat. If so, would that machine work as well as the real life cat? Also, since the average number of cats per household in the U.S. is approximately 2, for the people that have multiple cats does that equal more healing and/or faster healing than just having one? Finally, since cats are known for their supernatural powers, can they help heal other animals?
funny

5 thoughts on “Purrr-fect Healing: Maybe those crazy cat ladies may be up to something

  1. ngf5020

    This is a very interesting blog topic. I have always love cats, but I never knew that they had such a positive effect. According to mritechnicianschools.net, there are many benefits to having a pet cat. For example, owning a cat can help your boost your immune system function. Cats, like other pets, often know when you are feeling sick. They come and provide comfort, which helps you get better faster and also boost up your immune system. To read other positive effects of having a cat, visit this link:
    http://mritechnicianschools.net/2010/17-health-benefits-of-owning-a-cat/

  2. Amy Rosenzweig

    This is a very unique topic that i’ve never given much thought to. You provide great insight on why despite popular belief, cats are good for healing purposes similar to those of dogs. Also, I really like how at the end you pose questions that you couldn’t find the answer because it shows that you’re still curious and really thinking about the topic. I wonder where the thought process behind cats being scary, gross, or weird came about. I have personally always wanted a cat but no one in my family likes cats. I wonder where these thoughts about cats came from. Maybe it’s society, history, science, but is definitely puzzling to me.

  3. Makeda A Drew Post author

    Thank you, i had read some article about this cat that got rescued at the vet, and ever since he got his health, all the animals that were injured or just got out of surgery the cat would go over and comfort. i was debating if i should have added it to my blog, but iguess i decided to get it out because it did not seem wide spread knowledge supported by studies like everything else in my blog post.

  4. Elizabeth Sweitzer

    As an owner of 3 cats, and always being called the crazy cat lady by almost everyone, I found this post so fascinating! I had absolutely no idea that there were serious health benefits from having cats, I figured it was probably more so dogs. Your questions at the end were also very interesting so I figured I would try and research them since you said you couldn’t find anything. I found here that cats actually can help to heal other animals who are sick or injured that they are around!

  5. Amanda Lynn Graham

    I had no idea cats could be so useful in this sense. Many people, when they think of cats, think of a boring animal that does nothing. In all reality a cat truly does not do much in a day. I used to have a cat, and it was really fat and would always hide in the toilet, even when we closed it. To this day we don’t know how, and I wonder if my cat ever had this effect on me and I just didn’t know it! I have read a little on how dogs are used for therapy. To get to a website I found that talks briefly about this click here .

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