QUOTE
Researchers ... found that cat ownership was related to a 40% lower risk of suffering a fatal heart attack.
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Cat owners have healthier hearts
40% lower risk of a fatal attack
BBC News: 'Healthier hearts' for cat owners
Well they're not talking about my cat. She brought me a live mouse yesterday morning.
Pets in general are meant to have a calming effect on their owners, especially for dog and cat owners who stroke them or groom them a lot. My cat's giving me headaches rather than de-stressing me though!
Cats cause Schizophrenia but at least your heart might be OK
http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1211/048.html
http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1211/048.html
QUOTE
The infectious agent that currently stands the best chance of being indicted as a cause of schizophrenia is Toxoplasma gondii , a protozoan parasite. Its definitive host is the cat, which is unaffected by the parasite. Humans become infected by inhaling or ingesting the cysts from cat feces from a litter box, garden, sandbox or children's play area. You can also get infected by drinking contaminated water or by eating undercooked meat from a lamb, pig or other animal that has become infected. In the U.S. 10% to 25% of people are infected. Transmission of T. gondii to the fetus of pregnant women is known to produce dire consequences for the developing brain such as mental retardation and retinal problems. Transmission to children or adults has been assumed to have no serious consequences, but that is now being reconsidered.
QUOTE (bobD @ Mar 19 2008, 3:02 pm) 
Humans become infected by inhaling or ingesting the cysts from cat feces from a litter box, garden, sandbox or children's play area.
You'd think it would be difficult for an adult to inhale or ingest cat faeces, unless they didn't wash their hands or took to snorting cat litter, earth or sand. Though they might be able to manage it if they let cats onto furniture or beds, or onto kitchen worksurfaces.
QUOTE (Lorelei @ Mar 19 2008, 3:42 pm)
You'd think it would be difficult for an adult to inhale or ingest cat faeces,
Putting it bluntly - if you can smell something then by definition the particles are in the air. Simple innit.
Not so simple, mr. flying taxoplasmosis gondii. You can smell volatile substances, but if you're not stirring up dust from dried up faeces I think you're on the safe side.
Other than that - the cat can contract T. gondii either from other cats (unlikely), their mothers, or by eating mice. If your cat doesn't get outside to meet other cats or eat other mice, and it's clean when you got it, you're OK.
Plus - the correlation to schizophrenia is really not established. In a scientific sense that is, of course for the sake of general hysteria-grenade lobbing anything will do.
Other than that - the cat can contract T. gondii either from other cats (unlikely), their mothers, or by eating mice. If your cat doesn't get outside to meet other cats or eat other mice, and it's clean when you got it, you're OK.
Plus - the correlation to schizophrenia is really not established. In a scientific sense that is, of course for the sake of general hysteria-grenade lobbing anything will do.
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