TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Pet Therapy: The Healing and Creative Powers of Cat Purring

I caught my cats being very good. They stayed in the house even though the door was wide open. I thought I'd blog about how they're behaving like the Scots who had been wanting freedom, but decided not to make the break.

However, the idea came to me to write about the healing and creative powers of their purring. I had heard about this but only did research now.

Listen to this, from Scientific American:

"Scientists have demonstrated that cats produce the purr through intermittent signaling of the laryngeal and diaphragmatic muscles. Cats purr during both inhalation and exhalation with a consistent pattern and frequency between 25 and 150 Hertz. Various investigators have shown that sound frequencies in this range can improve bone density and promote healing."

Cat purring can lower stress and blood pressure.It can help cure infection and swelling, help heal muscles, tendons and ligament injuries, and help cure infection and swelling. A "2008 study conducted over 20 years showed that cat owners were less likely to die of heart attacks than people who had never had cats."

This site talks about how cat purring can help decrease symptoms of dyspnea (shortness of breath), but I will have to point out that cat dander can trigger asthma.

The Mayo Clinic says that, "Animal-assisted therapy is a growing field that uses dogs or other animals to help people recover from or better cope with health problems, such as heart disease, cancer and mental health disorders." Animals are also used to provide comfort and enjoyment in nursing homes.

In addition to all this, I suspect cats can also enhance creativity, because I've had many creative moments in my office with my cats right beside me. I'd like to point out that the writer Ernest Hemingway had cats. Here are pictures of Hemingway and his cats. The solo picture of Hemingway's six-toed cat reminds me of my cat, Che, who's also a mackerel tabby.