“Where’s the kitty?” X asks as she peers down our hallway on her way into my office. We both hear a little jingle, and suddenly, Siggy and Cymba have emerged from their nap spot. X smiles as Siggy and Cymba follows us and jumps at her boot laces. Our therapy cats have only been with us a short time, but for the folks who like them, they’re already a game changer.
If you’re a “cat” (or dog, or ferret, or fish) person, you’ve felt the benefits of having pet companions—they make us laugh, sometimes know when we are sad or sick, and just generally improve our space with their presence. It turns out that researchers have been able to find evidence to support these experiences we all know. Here are some of the scientific benefits of having, or spending time with, a cat:
Studies have shown that pet owners have lower blood pressure during stressful situations and that just playing with a cat (or dog, or ferret, or…fish?) can elevate a person’s serotonin and dopamine levels—these neurotransmitters are responsible for making us feel calmer, more relaxed, and generally happier.
Several articles reference the frequency at which cats purr, which is 25-100Hz. It turns out this frequency is the same, or similar, to healing frequencies in therapeutic medicine. It can calm us down, drop our blood pressure, and even help our muscles.
As we learned during COVID Lockdown 2020, loneliness is an epidemic in and of itself. The role of pets can be paramount in offering companionship and the opportunity for some kind of physical touch, which we know is important for reducing stress hormones, increasing immunity, decreasing heart rate and blood pressure, and increasing relaxation.
Whether it is jumping at the sound of a toaster or the “cats are afraid of cucumbers” phase on YouTube, many of us can agree that cats are weird creatures that do very funny things. When things are funny, we laugh, and in addition to it feeling good, laughing activates a whole lot of good stuff—it can stimulate your heart, lungs, and muscles, send more feel-good chemicals to your brain, reduce physical tension and stress, and improve your mood.
In several larger cities, public libraries have begun reading programs where animal volunteers are assigned to children who have struggled to read out loud—it turns out that the watchful eye of an animal offers support and confidence to kids so they can practice reading in a nonjudgmental atmosphere. Similarly, lots of hospitals and long-term care facilities have animal companions available—the companionship and physiological benefits just cannot be beat! Almost all of us at Resolve have pets of our own, so when the opportunity came to add furry staff members to our team, it was not a difficult decision. Siggy and Cymba makes us laugh when they are being wild (they are kittens, after all), and they curls up in our laps sometimes too. They even turned Janna into a cat person! Now it’s your turn. Tell us you cat stories! Do you like having a cat companion? What do they do that you love, or that makes you laugh?
REF: helpguide.org The Heatlh and Mood-Boosting Benefits of Pets
BBC.com The Complicated Truth about a Cat’s Purr
Greatergood.Berkeley.edu Why Physical Touch Matters for your Well-Being, The Science-Backed Benefits of Being a Cat Lover
Mayoclinic.org Stress Relief from Laughter? It’s No Joke