Owning a cat at home reduces the risk of heart attack by 40% and stroke by 30%.
The finding was the main result of a 10 year study of more than 4,000 Americans by researchers at the University of Minnesota's Stroke Institute in Minneapolis. Executive director of the Institute, Dr Adnan Qureshi, who is also senior author of the study, was reported by US News & World Report to have said:
"For years we have known that psychological stress and anxiety are related to cardiovascular events, particularly heart attacks."
"Maybe cat owners tend not to have high-stress personalities, or they are just the type of people that are not highly affected by anxiety or high-stress situations," he said.