Studies Show that Being a “Cat Lady” Is Healthy

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When most people think of “Crazy cat ladies,” they think of eccentric old ladies who are overly nuts with a house full of cats, such as the eccentric Big Edie and Little Edie of Grey Gardens. The term was adopted that cat people were “crazy.” There were also all the old tales of witches and black cats as their little sidekicks, and a kind of fear is thought to have developed with the witches and black cats and the crazy cat ladies, that with the cats, came toxoplasmosis, which is an infection that can develop due to a parasite that is found in a cat’s feces. This coupled with some undercooked meat, some contaminated water, and people just lose their minds and go “crazy.” You know, like the “crazy cat lady.”

To debunk that theory, studies published in Psychological Medicine says that there is no link to ownership of a cat and psychosis some time later in life. It is not proven.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 60 million people living in the U.S. may have been infected with this parasite through all the ways that it is possible to acquire the disease, and this includes by cats. This information was given by Dr. David Haworth who is a veterinarian and president of PetSmart Charities. He went on to say that there are few people that actually show any symptoms because people who are healthy and have a strong immune system, their bodies are usually strong enough to prevent the parasite from causing the illness to take effect.

He says that actually, cats do the opposite of making people sick. They can actually make people healthier and improve people’s lives. He encourages people to forget what they’ve heard all these years about crazy cat ladies and instead, think, “Being a cat lady is healthy.”

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