How Cats Help Improve Mental Health By Chelsy Ranard, The Catnip Times For cat people it’s no question: the whiskers, the fuzzy faces, the meows, and the head nudges let us know our cats are definitely beneficial to our mental health. The rest of the world, however, has some catching up to do. Those who don’t have cats are missing out on the cats’ appeal. The reality is that behind all of the warm cuddles and purring is an animal that improves mental health by decreasing stress, offering companionship, purring the pain away, and serving as a therapy animal. Cats are Fuzzy Stress Relievers Adopting a cat is basically like adopting a walking, meowing, sassy, stress reliever. Cats are shown to relieve stress in a number of different ways by simply being themselves. When you’ve had a hard day, coming come and spending some time petting a fuzzy feline can cause your body to produce stress reducing hormones. When you do so, your heart rate and blood pressure decr...
