Purrrfect

I have a flat in a 19th century townhouse. While I enjoy the space, 85" windows and the 20' ceilings, the seemingly bi-annual mice infestation was really getting me down. When you have the local pest control guy telling you there remains only three options; move, demolish the building and start over or get a cat. I broke down and got the cat. My grey tabbie, Rogue, has been a successfully mouser since 3 months of age and I have rarely seen a mouse since – or at least not a mouse which hasn't already been in his mouth first. I admit to feeling a little fooled with the whole cat ownership thing. I was lead to believe cats were independent disdainful creatures. Rogue is definitely more emotionally needy than any dog I have ever owned - which is saying something, but I just never thought he might be good for my heart. The Globe and Mail:

A new study should have cat owners purring with delight. It suggests they are somehow partly protected from the ravages of heart disease. "Over a 20-year period, people who never owned a cat faced a 40-per-cent greater risk of death due to heart attack than previous or current cat owners," said the lead researcher, Adnan Qureshi, a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Qureshi, who presented the findings at a medical conference in New Orleans yesterday, is at a loss to explain his study, which involved 4,435 volunteers. "The best theory we can come up with is that ... cat ownership leads to reduced stress levels which, in turn, lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease" he suggested. On the other hand, it is possible that cats don't directly shield people from heart attacks. Instead, cat owners as a group may share specific personality traits that reduce their chances of suffering from heart disease at an early age.

The study also produced another surprising and perplexing result: Dog owners did not have the same level of protection against heart disease as their cat-owning counterparts. "When we started the study, we thought we would find it [a lower heart-attack risk] in both groups," Dr. Qureshi confided. After all, taking a dog for a walk should be good for your heart. He speculated that personality differences between the two types of pet owners might account for the unexpected conclusions.
Or, the results may be related to how long people own their pets. Cats tend to live twice as long as dogs. That could mean cat owners have longer exposure to the potentially positive influences of their feline companions.