Study finds no evidence that cats cause mental health problems.
While owners of multiple cats may have some social issues to deal with in their lives, at least they are not at risk of any mental health problems caused by their feline friends. A new study managed to disprove the growing belief that parasites found in cat dropping have anything to do with conditions like OCD, schizophrenia, and other such issues.
The world is still divided between cat or dog lovers, with a few people managing to tolerate both, but at the very least, no cat owner will be at risk of suffering of serious mental issues caused by cats while this friendly debate goes on.
The study was published in the journal Psychological Medicine on February 21th, by a team of British researchers led by Dr. Fracesca Solmi, the lead author of the study as well as a researcher at the University College London Psychiatry.
According to Dr. Solmi, the study did not find any evidence that somehow cat droppings can pose a risk to the mental health of their owners and their children. This increasingly common belief, probably started by dog lovers, consisted in the fact that cats, which are carriers of an infectious parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii, may be able to pass it to humans through their droppings.
Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine if there was any association between kids coming in contact with cats and increased mental health problems during childhood. As such, the researchers analyzed around 5,000 people, who were born in the early 1990s, until they reached the age of 18 years old. The scientists specifically looked at cases where the mother of the participants had a cat during her pregnancy or if they grew up with a cat as a pet.
Previous studies have reported some links between cats and mental health problems, but mostly due to the fact that they failed to account for other possible explanations. The recent study found no evidence of any association between those two factors.
However, the researchers issued a warning to pregnant women, stating that they should avoid exposure to cat litter boxes since there is evidence that contact with the parasite may lead to serious birth defects as well as other health problems in their children.
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