Cats and the healing mechanism of a purr , what does your animal do for you???

jacintaobrien

I just read recently that cats have a healing mecahanism in their purr,it has great medicinal value from curing all sorts of ailments to lowering blood pressure,and those who own cats and snuggle up to them when they purr,have 40% less chance of heart disease.


What does your pet do for you,or think your pet does for you?


I didnt need an article to know that my cat does great things for me,he is certainly worth the kitty cat i spend on him every week and the very rare vet bill!

Pumpkinseeds

Cats are incredibly sensitive animals. My mum has problems with her knee and one of her cats would always sit on that knee when it was flaring up. She swore it eased the pain and that he only ever sat on her when the knee was painful. My own cats are always more inclined to give me snuggles if I'm not feeling great or am a bit down. A couple of years ago I tore a ligament in my ankle and was in bed with the leg raised, one sat either side of my leg and surprisingly didn't squabble.:D

DforDisaster

i'm pretty sure the sound of Percy snoring has sedative effects - everytime he has a nap I end up conking out on the sofa!

aonb

There has been scientific research done proving that people who love their pets, tend to have lower blood pressure, are less depressed, and less anxious/stressed.

There was an article on the radio a while back, about a cardiologist in Ireland (Dublin?), who swore by the theraputic properties of having a dog - the exercise/walk especially - when he discharged one of his heart patients, he would pop next door to some sort of pound/animal rescue, and line up a dog, telling the discharging patient that he had a dog for him, and off with him

baby and crumble

I got Isabella (syrian hamster) when I was really depressed a couple of years ago. I wasn't eating, I wasn't getting up out of bed hardly at all. I didn't care about anything, really. Then my gf suggested getting a pet, and we decided on a hamster. Having to get up every day and make sure she was ok for food, water, and get her out and give her a run made me actually care about something other than myself. I know that might sound extreme, but it's true. And it got me back up out of bed for longer periods because she'd get up around 9pm and she was a lively little thing! She'd stare at me until I took her out on the couch for a run, and sometimes she'd just end up falling asleep beside me watching tv. It was nice to have another living thing in the house for company.

When my godson died, I remember getting the call at about 7am, and she was asleep. I sat down in the chair beside her cage and I was crying. She woke up, came up to the doors of her cage and just stared at me until I let her out. She then sat on my chest, with her nose almost touching mine for a good 5 minutes. (Which if you know hamsters, it's not often they do stuff like that!!!).

As for Twitch, he just makes me smile all the time. If I hear him up having a drink I smile. When I see him trying to climb onto a cushion I smile. When he sits in my hood as I walk around the house I smile.

Yay pets!

Tordelback

jacintaobrien wrote: »

...have 40% less chance of heart disease

While that particular statistic sets my quackery alarm to blaring (as the number one cause of death, surely life insurance companies would demand you have a pet?), I can't disagree with the general sentiment. Pets do a world of good for mood and even self-esteem, so are bound to be good for your health, even setting aside the specific exercising possibilities of dogs.

ShaShaBear

Opie does nothing but hurt my life :pac:

He waits until I am on the stairs before he barrels past me, he sits ON my lap when I use the toilet, he intentionally swings his rope toy to smack my legs so I'll try to take it off him, he only ever digs the garden when he knows I've had the carpets cleaned and will knock my mug of tea over so he can lick the desk while I run for a teatowel literally every chance he gets.

But when its late in the evening and he potters up beside me and throws his nose into my open hand for a pet, I realise I love him to pieces

Still does literally nothing for me, though

onethreefive

Even looking at my cat makes me feel so much happier if I'm having a bad day, she's forever trying to sneak into every bed in the house as opposed to her bed but she's still amazing. Her and the dog are fully fledged members of the family!

Shivi111

My cat is not a cuddler at all, but when I hurt my back she sat on my knee and purred, and purred. I think they sense your distress, they can be very comforting.

Also, I have a friend who swears that her cats saved her when she was having a very bad bout of depression, having to get up and feed them, take care of them etc. kept her going and they kept her company when she was very down.

SillyMangoX

I have Peach who likes to sit on me and fend off anyone coming near me when I'm sick, it's happened a good few times she'll growl at anyone walking past me, only ever if I'm sick though! Then I have cream, the appendix detecting cat, who would constantly knead the spot on my stomach where the appendix is for a couple of weeks before I got it removed.. Though maybe it was the kneading that inflamed it :pac: and finally dude who has proven to be the most valuable of them all. I used to get very bad panic attacks out of the blue for no reason, they were so bad I would feel like I couldn't breathe and would spend a couple of hours shaking afterwards. From the time he was a teeny kitten if I felt one of these coming on, he would appear by my side and knead/cuddle me until they went away. The only time he didn't do it was when he was locked in a crate during his recovery and even then he started yowling and trying his hardest to break out of the cage which he normally never does. But whenever he does it, instead of them coming on full blast and having the effects for hours after, they wouldn't even set in fully and id get over it a lot quicker. So I'm always going to be thankful to my little Dudester

reallyrose

The cat/purring thing could be true. When I get a migraine, I feel like having a purring Swanson sitting on me helps. It could be just the comfort of having him being nice but ...
if it helps, it helps, right?

SingItOut

Like other posters have said, without going into too much detail - I got my now 4 year old dog Moone as a 12 week old puppy when I was going through a really rough patch with depression and anxiety, I weighed less than 6 stone from not eating among other things. From day one she has just "got me" she understands when to give me a cuddle, she knows when I need some space, she's the funniest dog I've ever had. When we came back from having our Labrador put to sleep, I was crying and she came into my room and lay down beside me quietly. I still have bad spells but She's just amazing and I'd be lost without her.