Cat owners may live longer
Lowers heart attack risk
Cat owners have something to rejoice about. A study found that owning a cat could reduce your risk of a heart attack by nearly one-third – a finding that provoked mixed reaction from heart experts and veterinarians.
The findings were the main result of a ten-year study of more than 4,000 Americans by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Stroke Institute in Minneapolis. Dr. Adnan Qureshi, executive director of the institute said, “For years, we have known that psychological stress and anxiety are related to cardiovascular events, particularly heart attacks.”
Qureshi commented that having pets probably help to relieve stress. Researchers said dogs probably had a similar effect, but there weren’t enough dog owners in the study to show this conclusively. Previous research has linked contact with pets to heart benefits, they said.