Fluffy to the Rescue! (Suzanne Forster)

First, let me give credit where credit is due. I didn’t come up with the title for this blog. I saw it in a magazine and the picture next to the title caught my eye immediately. Clearly meant to be the Fluffy of the title, it was the sweetest, wide-eyed, perky-eared calico kitten in existence, except for my Mandy, of course.

Apparently, Fluffy is a lifesaver—and so is your cat and mine and all cats. According to the article, if we own a cat, it may cut our risk of dying from a heart attack. And here I thought Mandy was trying to give me a heart attack by racing like a mad thing between my legs as I pick my way down the stairs, balancing a tray of dirty dishes from my lunch at the computer and squeezing the hastily read morning paper in the pit of my arm.

Do cats have radar that tells them when we’re easy pickins’? Mandy seems to sense when I’m most likely to be knocked on my keister by a streak of black and white with flat ears and a furry tail. But she also seems to sense when I’m feeling blue and need the warmth of silky fur against my arm or my leg. I’m convinced the caress of cat fur is more healing than the most expensive medicine there is. And Mandy’s purr works like biofeedback for me. I breathe easier as soon as she starts that rhythmic sound. I’m conditioned. Pavlov’s cat owner.

The article actually says that researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Research Center found during a ten-year study that “subjects with cats were 40 percent less likely to die from a heart attack than their catless counterparts. Feline companionship may actually help combat heart-harming stress and anxiety.”

I guess we probably all knew about the stress and anxiety relief for pet owners. That information has been around for awhile, but there is one significant new finding: A 40% reduction is huge. I don’t know where that number came from, but I’m wondering if two cats give you an 80% reduction. Could several cats make you immortal?

The study also says that dog owners show a comparable effect, and I mention that just so all you legions of dog lovers out there know that I’m not trying to fuel the fires of cat versus dog ownership. Actually, I would think dogs might increase the effect because you have to walk a dog. To keep a cat company, all you need do is be a good napper and as our Lynn likes to say, a can opener. I’m quite adept at both by now.

Now if Mandy would just stop trying to upend me, I might actually survive to enjoy some of the advantages of having her around!

Suzanne