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A cat, especially during a pandemic, can be a very useful companion at home. Cats help reduce stress, reduce the risk of a heart attack, and are helpful in the therapy of people on the autism spectrum. – Contact with the soft fur and plastic body of a cat stimulates our nervous system and causes the release of happiness hormones – says Aleksandra Matylla, cat behaviorist and felinotherapist.
- On February 17 we celebrate the World Cat Day
- The presence of a cat is reassuring. Contact with a cat helps to reduce stress. However, the therapeutic effect of cat purring on human well-being has not yet been scientifically proven
- The cat’s touch is also healing. Cat’s hair is negatively ionized, and human disease is positive. When we put a cat in such a place, we feel relieved, because these ions neutralize each other – convinces felinotherapist Aleksandra Matylla
- The constant presence of a cat nearby reduces the level of cholesterol in our blood and reduces the risk of a heart attack
- Check your health. Just answer these questions
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Cat in the house. Why is it worth having a cat?
Adrian Dąbek, MedTvoiLokony: Why is it worth having a cat?
Aleksandra Matyla: For the same reason it is worth having a companion animal at home. Contact with an animal, be it with a cat or a dog, is very developing in humans. You can see it especially in children. It evokes empathy, a sense of duty towards another being, delicacy, subtlety. Cats may be even more suitable for this than dogs, because they are quiet creatures who like peace, who like everything to happen very slowly, without any violent behavior. Certainly the presence of a cat is very calming. A cat is a graceful, unobtrusive companion, it is good for a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Anyway, it was very clearly visible during the pandemic.
I can say for myself that without cats or other creatures at all, in these last strange pandemic times, it would have been much more difficult for us.
It was also a very big change for cats. Not all cats could cope with the fact that people were suddenly functioning all the time in their homes, where there was peace and quiet for most of the day. But during the pandemic there was a huge number of adoptions and purchases of cats, a lot of people decided to take cats under their roof. We are subconsciously looking for this company. It’s nice when the house is not empty, when we have extra work that is rewarded with a warm purring compress on our knees. An animal, not only cats, is a remedy for many hardships that have been facing us recently.
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A cat reduces stress in humans
The cat is said to reduce stress in humans. How it’s working?
There are several mechanisms. The first is that the presence of a cat is calming. The cat is an unobtrusive personality, who likes silence, and it has such a soothing effect on us. But there are also biomechanical actions that take place in our body when we come into contact with the cat. This is happening at different levels. The very fact that you touch a cat and come into contact with its soft fur and flexible, flexible body stimulates our nervous system and causes the release of happiness hormones, especially serotonin. At the same time, it inhibits the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol.
- The editorial board recommends: Stress – how to prevent it?
Studies have also found that intercourse with a cat lowers blood cholesterol levels. People who have constant contact with cats, who live with them under the same roof, reduce the probability of a heart attack or other atherosclerotic diseases by several percentage points. So we are dealing with an emotional as well as a biological influence. In contact with the fur, processes take place in us that have a positive effect on our health.
The rest of the text is below the video.
Cats and allergy
A cat can also reduce an allergy in humans, although it is commonly believed that cats can only aggravate it.
Early exposure to the allergen contained in cat’s saliva (because we are not allergic to cat hair, but any secretions, including saliva that spreads on the fur), causes the body to become immune. Allergic reactions related to contact with animals generally appear in pre-school children between three and five years of age. So if a child comes into contact with a cat earlier, its body often becomes immune, has such a large exposure to this allergen that when it reaches the age when this allergy could appear, the body is so used to the allergy. does not appear.
It is different for adults. Some cats sensitize us more, others less. My husband, for example, was allergic all his life, he couldn’t have a pet at home. When our first kitten appeared with us, it magically passed over her husband. Then more cats appeared, at the moment we have four and my husband has no allergic reaction to any of them. I suspect it’s a matter of some adaptation.
- Find out more: Dogs and cats can reduce the risk of allergies in children
What is worth adding, research was conducted on people suffering from asthma in 2019, which showed that the presence of a cat in the house does not increase asthma symptoms, of course when asthma is treated. Because it is known that when you stop taking medication, then a reaction may occur. It is more difficult to breathe the air in which the cat’s fur or secretions are flying. With normal therapy, the presence of a pet does not exacerbate symptoms. The cat itself is not a trigger of an allergic or asthmatic reaction.
Cats and people on the autism spectrum
The cat is said to be of great help in dealing with neurological disorders.
The cat works best with people on the autism spectrum. It happened quite by accident when – if I remember correctly – a cat got tangled in a Brazilian psychiatric hospital and started to reside there. And it turned out that his presence has a very positive impact on opening up to the world of local patients. One of the doctors started using cats as therapists. Because the cat, through its non-imposing personality, completely different from the dog, encourages those people whose direct contact is very intimidating. Children on the autism spectrum have trouble establishing relationships with other people. The easier it is to transfer certain behaviors into relationships with an animal that expects human activity and does not take any action itself. There are, of course, cats that push themselves to their knees, but many will sit and watch.
Source: PAP Infographics
This is the difference between dog therapy and felinotherapy. In the latter, the cat is only an accessory, we do not perform any specific exercises with it, as in the case of a dog, it is just about being present. A cat attracts the attention of a sick person and determines to act. And where it is difficult to establish contact, the cat fills the gap between the therapist and the sick person.
Cat purring – what does it mean?
Cat purring is also said to have therapeutic or even healing properties.
Yes and no. There is no research that conclusively supports theories that purring affects humans. We know much better how purring affects the cat itself. And sometimes we try to transfer these activities to human relations. Purring is not intentional with a cat. It is a kind of reflex that occurs both when the cat is relaxed, for example when you come to hug, but also in situations of pain, illness or even death.
What the exact process of making this purr is still one of the mysteries. This is most likely the contraction of the laryngeal muscles at which the cat normally breathes. And it is this contraction of muscles, up to 30 times per second, that makes the cat emit this characteristic sound.
- Read also: How many pets get COVID-19? Can they transmit the virus to humans?
And the frequencies of this sound have a therapeutic effect on the cat. It regenerates faster, heals faster, it even affects the density of the bones, which heal faster. But there is no confirmation that it has the same effect on people. Just a guess.
When it comes to the therapeutic effects of cat touch, another is the case. Cat’s hair is negatively ionized, and human disease is positive. And when we put a cat in such a place, we feel relieved because these ions neutralize each other.
The rest of the text is below the video.
But back to this purring. This sound relaxes us incredibly. The frequency of purring puts us in a state of calm, the heartbeat calms down, blood pressure may drop. But there is no link between purring and treating human disease, and more precisely, has not yet been adequately explored. However, it’s not likely that if we put a purring cat on a broken leg, that leg will heal faster.
This is clearly seen in advertisements involving cats. Always listen to the purr, which is meant to mean everyone is happy. Both the cat and the human.
But there are also times when cats purr when they are sick. And you have to be aware that when a cat starts to purr in strange circumstances, unheard of before, it may not be a signal that it lies exceptionally well on the windowsill, but because it has found a shelter there, because it hurts something. For an alert caregiver, this should be a signal that you may need to see a doctor with your cat.
Are you worried you might be allergic to your cat? At Medonet Market you will find Imutest Allergy – a home cassette test – for cat allergy.
Finally, I want to highlight something important. For our relationship with the cat to have a therapeutic effect on us, our cat must be healthy. Both in body and mind. As a behaviorist, a person who travels to people who have a problem cat, I see a lot of frustration in such handlers. Besides, I have such cats myself, where everyone has something wrong. And if a cat has a health failure or is under stress, i.e. its needs are not met, then such a cat will not have a therapeutic effect, because it will not feel well on its own. It is very important. It is a win-win. If we want the cat to work well for us, we have to take care of it ourselves. An animal is not a piece of furniture. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we talked about supplementation. What is their phenomenon? How to use it to help yourself and not to harm? What is worth paying attention to in supplementation with thyroid problems? Why you need to be careful with biotin? You will hear about this and many other things below.
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