Childless cat ladies may have less stress
Research links cats to heart health, cat videos to happiness
A childless cat lady friend just left my house after two days.
She came to swim in Lake Huron, paddle under the sun and enjoy summer.
She laughs at the idea of anyone mocking women with cats and without children — as someone with two cats and an adoring nephew and niece.
My friend is a swing voter who elects candidates based on ideas vs. party affiliation.
Politics aren’t her jam — but cats are.
She’s not planning to vote for Kamala Harris for president because of catty comments from Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
But the remarks reveal a disconnect that women say is indicative of bigger issues.
It seems bizarre to use “childless” as a disparaging adjective when so many women struggle to get pregnant. And why anyone would drag felines into politics, as part of a description meant to diminish Democrats and women in particular, is a mystery.
Cats are not Democrats or Republicans.
Cats belong to the party of feed me, pet me, and change my litter box.
Cat interview inspires cat swag protest
Comments about cat comments made on Fox News by Vance, a father of three children, and husband to Usha Chilukuri Vance, flow with no end in sight.
After announcing his bid for VP in mid-July, a 2021 discussion with Tucker Carlson resurfaced. Vance has sparked bipartisan anger by dismissing Vice President Harris as one of a group of unhappy "childless cat ladies” in political leadership.
"We are effectively run in this country … by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance said, according to the video.
The comment has inspired swag amid the social media firestorm.
You can now buy “Proud Childless Cat Lady” swag from online shops that offer T-shirts, hoodies, ball caps, nightshirts, stickers, posters, pins, tote bags and candles.
Scientific data: Cats improve health, save lives
While the insanity of politics in recent years has led to chest pains and anxiety for some people, the presence of cats actually alleviates stress and cardiovascular events, research shows.
Cats “relieve our loneliness, provide comfort … and special unique permission to stroke/ pet them and keep them on our laps, which we know releases oxytocin, which in turn suppresses the production of cortisol, a stress hormone.” — Dr. Patricia Pendry of Washington State University, co-author of a study published in 2022
Owning a cat could reduce your risk of a heart attack by nearly one third, researchers told delegates of the American Heart Association’s International Stroke Conference in New Orleans in February 2008.
“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,” according to MedicalNewsToday.com. Reports from ABC News and others followed.
Some 3.4% of those who owned a cat during the duration of the study died from a heart attack, compared with 5.8% of those who did not, according to the BBC News.
Benefits held true even after the researchers adjusted for risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol, age, gender, ethnicity/race and body mass index.
Professor Adnan Qureshi led the study that “extracted data on 4,435 Americans aged 30 to 75 from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Study that took place from 1976 to 1980. 2,435 of the participants were current or former cat owners, while the remaining 2,000 had never had a cat,” according to Medical News Today.
A follow-up study by Qureshi posted by the National Library of Medicine said people with cats had a “decreased risk” for death due to cardiovascular disease, including stroke.
“Acquisition of cats as domestic pets may represent a novel strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in high-risk individuals,” said the second study.
Cat people emerge in Detroit for cat week
The Detroit Institute of Arts sells out its cat fest every single year, and this week should be no different.
The 73-minute CatVideoFest2024 is August 2-4 at the Detroit Film Theater.
“CatVideoFest is a joyous communal experience,” the DIA said on its website.
Cat video fest is recognized by the American Film Institute now.
“In these troubled times, there is not much we can all agree on. Likewise, in these frenetic times, it’s hard to find entertainment that is truly relaxing and life-affirming. But everyone can agree about and enjoy cat videos, a new form of entertainment that has captured the imagination of the YouTube-watching world.”—Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, February 2020
Calling all crazy cat ladies & people who love them
Will Braden of Seattle, Washington screens 15,000 cat videos every year to bring the festival to life. He took the helm in 2016, four years after it debuted as the InternetCatVideo Festival at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.
“We have had a show in every state,” Braden told Shifting Gears.
They’re held at museums, indie theaters and on outdoor screens.
Every year, the festival sells out in 48 states or so — maybe missing South Dakota or Kansas every once in awhile.
“This is something people enjoy unironically,” Braden said. “Taylor Swift was Person of the Year on the cover of Time holding a cat. The last thing we want to do is demonize cat people.”
In fact, 2023 was the biggest year ever for cat video fest, he said.
More than $200,000 has been donated to local shelters to date, Braden said.
Note: Cat videos improve health (seriously)
While dog videos are popular, cats seem to be in a league of their own.
“Watching silly cat videos is good for you.” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4, 2016
Jessica Gall Myrick, an assistant professor at Indiana University Media School in Bloomington, studied the energy and emotions of nearly 7,000 people who watched cat videos, and she documented that positive feelings increase while negative feelings decrease.
The study, published in 2015, cited data that showed there were more than 2 million cat videos posted on YouTube in 2014 with nearly 26 billion views. Current data is mind-boggling.
Cat videos had more views per video than any other category of YouTube content at that time, according to an Indiana University news release.
In Myrick’s study, about 36% described themselves as a “cat person,” while about 60% said they liked both cats and dogs. Participants in the study reported:
They felt more energetic, positive after watching cat-related videos.
They had fewer negative emotions, such as anxiety, annoyance and sadness, after watching cat-related online media than before watching.
They often view cats online at work or during study period.
“Even if they are watching cat videos on YouTube to procrastinate or while they should be working, the emotional pay-off may actually help people take on tough tasks afterward,” Myrick said in the news release.
The results also suggest that future work could explore how online cat videos might be used as a form of low-cost pet therapy, she said at the time. Myrick is now a Donald P. Bellisario professor of health communications at Penn State.
Meanwhile, Robin L. Nabi, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, researched whether a video a day could help keep stress away, and findings published in 2022 indicated that watching either comedic or inspiring media clips generated amusement and hope, “reducing perceived stress over time.”
Editor’s note: As a former political reporter at The Des Moines Register and a guest lecturer at the annual Okoboji Writers Retreat in Iowa, I’m grateful to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. See below for a collection of smart, funny and fabulous work by good people.
Loved your childless cat ladies article showing all the scientific facts on how having cats lower stress, relieve loneliness, they comfort calm many human ailments! I'd enjoy seeing the Cat video fest sometime. Sharing with other cat friends. Cute pics of your kitties ❤️
Thanks, Phoebe for the great article - and particular thanks for the great photo of cat ladies lining up to vote. Just copied and pasted that one on my Facebook page. Not childless, and without a cat at the moment, but definitely have been a cat lady! Of course, my spouse has been a cat gentleman (you never hear about them, but they are out there).