The Health Benefits of Owning a Cat

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This is a guest post by Raven Flanigan

The love and support a cat provides their owner can be a calming experience; a heartwarming head nudge or a soft purr on the lap are simple affections with a lot of impact! Cats are often looked upon as being unaffectionate and selfish, but that is far from the truth. Of course, they may act selfish and sometimes only rub up against your legs when they’re hungry, but they can provide a lot of comfort when you’re feeling stressed or even so much as having an anxiety attack or depression. The love provided from a cat is a rewarding experience regardless!

Cats can offer emotional support and science can prove this statement! When a cat purrs, the vibrations given off fall into the range of offering therapeutic effects for various illnesses; the frequencies fall between 20 to 140 Hz, which is medically known to be therapeutic. For this same reason, purring can promote bone strength, as the best frequencies are 25 and 50 Hz and the second best are 100 and 200 Hz. Purring also aids in the healing of numerous injuries, swelling, and infection! Their purrs alone can provide even more medically, such as lowering blood pressure, general stress levels, and even decrease the symptoms of dyspnea. Calming cat purrs are the most effective with people suffering from PTSD and anxiety who struggle with calming themselves down. Petting the cat and feeling its reaction change teaches emotional regulation in a way that’s easy to focus on due to petting the cat in a rhythmic motion. Cats also don’t purr at every stroke, so creating a goal to strive for (petting in a way the cat likes to produce a purr) can also aid in regulating emotions.

Of course, spending time with most animals can give positive affects regardless, not just cats; however, cats play a significant role in aiding mental health, as their attitudes are quite unique! What happens when you pet an animal? Your body produces the oxytocin hormone, and can increase serotonin and dopamine levels, which all provide positive feelings and lower stress. What cats help their owner’s most with are mental illnesses like anxiety, social interaction issues, and depression. Therapists have agreed that dogs are perfect to begin therapy with, however they won’t produce the same changes that a cat can. The reason is thought to be that dogs will put up with bad behaviors whereas cats will not; this means that bad behaviors and thoughts can change, as a cat provides a more life-like human interaction than a dog due to their human-like independency. Cats serve as a guide to healthy relationships in a way that no other animal can!

Cats provide a different kind of companionship to people than other animals do. Because of their independency like previously stated, interactions with them are more human-like, and this is what makes a huge impact to people who struggle socially, have had bad home experiences, or are even suffering from a loss. When struggling with any issue, you can feel lost or even like you have no purpose, but coming home every day to a cat that you must feed a few times a day and keep an eye on their litter box often creates a routine and sense of purpose that can help ease the symptoms of emotional distress. They also offer a quality distraction, as stated before that petting them appropriately will reward you with purrs, as well as focusing on playing with them correctly (they are hunters by blood, so to see them be as active as possible, there are some techniques to the feather wand!) can offer a distraction that not many other things can.

Cats can be registered as emotional support animals! An emotional support animal is a pet that helps ease emotional distress and is a vital part of treatment to help a person’s well-being. You can consider the support cat info here to find out how you can get your cat registered as an emotional support animal for mental health! Cats can’t be registered as service animals, but fortunately if your cat can become an emotional support animal, they’ll possess more rights than an unregistered pet. This means your cat can accompany you where they usually wouldn’t be able to and prevents you from being turned away from housing that prevents pets from living there. Of course, public areas and businesses aren’t required by law to allow your emotional support animal to accompany you since they’re not service animals. In fact, may places are looking down upon those with service animals and emotional support animals both due to an influx of irresponsible owners registering their pets just to take them around; a group of reporters were able to register a stuffed dog as an emotional support animal for a plane ride. This kind of irresponsibility makes getting your pet registered even more difficult and looked down upon in public for those who truly need them. Because of this, it’s advised that you take care in registering your cat as an emotional support animal and only doing so if you truly need them for support, as this can aid in making it less difficult for those who are currently struggling with mental and emotional stress who need their cat (or any pet) registered as an emotional support animal.

Cats are very helpful and comforting; they possess traits that can aid those with mental and emotional distress on the path to recovery. Cats have so much to offer with their healing purrs, charming independency, and unique companionship to help those struggling with stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, social issues, and various other emotional and mental illnesses. And don’t forget, cats can be registered as emotional support animals, so if you or someone you know depends on their cat for support, it’s recommended to take the steps needed for the cat to gain rights and be able to accompany their owner more places. Cats are truly an unrecognized blessing to those struggling and in need of help; the comfort they provide can be overwhelmingly helpful and heal the deepest wounds.

Folly Beach, Oh How I Love You

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Folly Beach is about 18 miles from our townhouse, which means we’ve become regular beach-goers. Being so close gives us the opportunity to spend a few hours splashing around in the ocean and walking along the stunning beach whenever the mood strikes us. And being/walking on the beach really does help to relax and calm you. I’m hoping it helps sparks my creativity, since that has been lacking for quite a while now.

Why I Love Folly Beach

One of the reasons why I love Folly Beach is that it isn’t overly crowded like the more commercialized beaches (I’m looking at you Myrtle Beach), and there are times when we’ve been out there and haven’t seen another soul. And you can regularly see dolphins feeding near the light house! Add to the fact that Folly is just a stunning beach, and you can easily see why it’s my current favorite.

We’ve been down here since April 1 and we typically visit Folly Beach once or twice a week, depending on our schedules. There is even a place near Morris Island Lighthouse where you can see the dolphins feeding! It’s pretty darn cool.

Along with going to the beach, there is just so much stuff to do down here. It’s mind boggling. Especially when you consider that, from where I’m from, there wasn’t much going on unless you wanted to do drugs, go to bars, hunt/fish (and I actually enjoy fishing), or hang out at the mall or Walmart. Here, there is something happening every single day. Farmers markets galore, which I love me some Farmers markets, music, art, festivals, and just so much more.

But Don’t I Miss Home?

I will say that, even though I don’t actually miss home, I do miss my mom and Aunt Lois, as well as my friends. But, at the moment at least, I’m still glad we moved. Harrison County West Virginia has all the problems of a big city without any of the positive aspects. I will always love WV, it is my home state after all and has some of the most beautiful scenery, but it has a lot of problems that I don’t think will be fixed in my lifetime. One of the biggest problems is the drug epidemic and, according to the CDC, West Virginia has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the U.S. and the rate just continues to rise. It’s gotten so bad that people are no longer shocked or surprised when they find used needles laying on the ground in populated areas where adults and children frequent. It’s beyond sad.

Just Call Me A Southern Belle

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We’ve moved! That’s right, we have left our home state of West Virginia.

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember me talking about us wanting to move to South Carolina sometime in the future. Well, Mike got the opportunity to transfer to a store in Charleston, S.C. and we decided to bite the bullet and take the plunge. We rented a Uhaul, packed it full and headed down south. Mike drove the Uhaul and I followed in his truck with the 3 cats, who did surprisingly great during the entire 9 hour trip. Raven won’t be moving down until sometime in May when her current college semester is finished.

This is an exciting and sometimes scary adventure. Especially leaving an area that we have lived in all or most of our lives to start fresh in an area where we have no family or friends and don’t even know anyone. But you only live once and I would hate to go through our whole lives living in an area that we didn’t love anymore just because we were too scared to take the risks.

We’re a mere 18 miles from the beach and are currently renting a lovely town home. It kinda sucks when I think that we are now paying rent when we just got our house paid off last year. But we really were not happy in that area. Drugs (heroin, meth and pain pills) has crippled our home state, turning it into a depressing and unpleasant place. In fact, drugs are killing so many people in West Virginia that the state can’t keep up with the funerals! Add on top of that the cost of living was rather high especially if you compared it with the meager job opportunities and that the activities available were few and far between. It’s actually pretty sad when I think back on how much I use to love West Virginia, thinking that I would never move out of state. But in recent years, the wild and wonderful West Virginia that I grew up in has become a shell of its former self.

Anyway, we’re renting temporarily, don’t know for how long, until we figure out if this is where we want to stay or if there is another area we would rather call home. We still need to sell our house back home but, at the moment at least, I think we made the right decision. I don’t know if I will still feel this way after months of living here, but I am really enjoying it at the moment. The weather is amazing and there is so much to do!

 

2016 Recap

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January: Along with losing the magical David Bowie and Alan Rickman, we also lost my husband’s grandfather, who was a man like no other. We also contended with Winter Storm Jonas, which dumped 2 feet of snow on us in less than 24 hours. Despite all the heartache, January 2016 ended with a bang when season 10 of The X-Files premiered. I had been waiting for that since the series ended in 2002.

February: Mike got me a cat tree for Valentine’s Day, which the cats love. We also started watching the Netflix original documentary Making a Murderer, which was so interesting and infuriating.

March: Mike and I took an overnight trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate his birthday. I also found a product to help with Nefarian’s chronic urinary tract infections.

April: Mike and I took a second trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate my 36th birthday but we decided to stay for two nights this time.

May: We made our last mortgage payment and, after 5 years, finally own our house outright! Raven finished her first year of college. Also, Juliet Landau started following me on Twitter.

June: June was just a normal month and I can’t remember anything that happened.

July: I ended up with a horrible sinus infection that would continue to plague me for most of 2016. The neighbors who live on the hill above us left their pregnant cat behind and she ended up having 3 babies, 1 of which passed away.

August: Raven started her second year in college. She also launched her first comic on Amazon.

September: We found homes for the two kittens (my Mom took one and my Mother-In-Law took the other) and Raven took it upon herself to “adopt” the mother, making sure to take care of her, feed her and give her attention every day. She named her Ripley, after Sigourney Weaver’s character in the Alien franchise.

October: Went to our friend’s annual Halloween party. I dressed as Wednesday Addams and Mike dressed as Yukon Cornelius.

November: The election happened and this was the first year Raven was old enough to vote. She was so excited.

December: This Christmas was a lot let stressful than past ones, mainly because I got 80-percent of the Christmas shopping down in November. We were able to relax a bit and do more Christmas-related festivities. We also had our first annual gingerbread house competition and I won!

While that isn’t everything that happened this year, I think it does give a good general rundown of my 2016. Sometime at the beginning of 2016, Mike and I decided that we wanted to leave West Virginia and move down to South Carolina. We’re not sure when that will happen, but it is a goal that we are working on.

It’s Almost Here

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I cannot believe that Christmas is only a few days away and then, in a short week, we will be ringing in the New Year.

Does it seemed like 2016 has flown by way too quickly to anyone else?

Anywho, I am happy to say that this Christmas is unlike the last so many where I was rushing around trying to finish the necessary gift buying before the 25th. All of our Christmas shopping is done! In fact, I got the most important people bought for before December 1! I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But I did, thank the good Lord! So this December I haven’t been stressed, at least not anymore than normal, or worried. And let me tell you, it has been nice.

I am planning on writing the whole 2016 recap blog post that I, and just about every other blogger, does every year so check back for that, or not, you know whatever.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays!

We Are Currently Christmas Tree-Less

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This past summer I decided to throw away our Christmas tree. We have had it for way too long, something like 15 years I think, and needed a new one. But I just cannot bring myself to pay full price for an artificial tree when I know, in a few short weeks, they will be clearanced after the holidays. So, we considering getting a live tree this year. Mike and Raven have never had a live Christmas tree and I thought, if there was ever a time to have a live tree it would be now. But then I thought, how the hell am I going to keep the cats from a live tree? Pine can be dangerous for cats and, as I am sure you know, my cats are my babies and I don’t want to do anything that puts their health in jeopardy. So, I’m not sure what we’re going to do.

It seems so odd, though,  not having the tree up. Typically, the Christmas tree would be up and decorated by the first week of November. Here we are, almost into December, and we have no tree. But I really, really don’t want to spend $150 to $200 (if not more) on an artificial tree when they will be marked down by at least 50-percent the day after Christmas. I am, however, going to spend today putting up the other Christmas decorations so it will at least look a bit festive with or without a tree.

 

It’s Election Time

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Despite suffering from a sinus infection and mild bronchitis, went to the doctors Friday and still not feeling any better, I dragged my big butt out to the polls to vote. And I cannot wait until this whole election season is over because, let’s face it, it’s been a horrible one. All sides have been spewing hate at each other much more easily then previous elections. And it’s ridiculous. You wanna know why kids are so disrespectful today? Because they see their parents, grown adults, calling other people horrible and just down right nasty names.

I don’t care who you voted for in this or any election, I judge you on your heart and not your political or religious choices. There are good people who are voting for Hillary and there are good people who are voting for Trump. Your choice of candidates don’t matter to me.

I just hope that, whoever wins, we as a country can heal and work together to make America better than ever.

It’s Halloween 2016

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So Halloween is here and it just seems like another day. That may be because we don’t get trick or treaters were we live and the annual Halloween party at our friends house was Saturday so we kinda celebrated early. And while I wasn’t able to do all the Halloweenie activities I wanted, I did get to do some. Watching “scary” movies isn’t really a big deal during this time of year because, as a self proclaimed horror freak, I watch them throughout the year. But me and my family did watch classic Halloween shows, such as Garfield Halloween Adventure (which is my favorite Halloween movie) and It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. It also feels like I may have ate my body weight in pumpkin spice goodies.

It’s bittersweet that I have to say goodbye to Halloween because I do love that holiday, but it means I can start getting ready for Christmas. And Christmas is the only thing that gets me through the horrible West Virginia winters.

So bring on all things Christmas!

Hello October

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Today is the first day of October. While I love the month of October, I know that it means cold weather will hit soon and I HATE cold weather. This is especially true in my state of West Virginia where we can have some horribly low temps, harsh winds and lots of snow. But for now, I’m not going to think about the upcoming winter and instead focus on Fall and all the things that make it great.

One thing I am especially excited for is our friend’s annual Halloween party. I love cosplaying and dressing up, and I think I have come up with the perfect costume! It won’t take too much for me to pull it together but it should still look pretty cool. I’ll take more about it in another blog post.

I would say that I’m excited about pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavored things, but I have been apologetically consuming pumpkin flavored items since September and plan on continuing until they take them off the shelves and out of stores/restaurants.

So, what are you looking forward to most during this spooky season?

 

Pumpkin Spice Season, Oh How I Love You

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Well, here we are 10 days into September and I have already enjoyed a wide array of pumpkin and pumpkin spice-flavored things! Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, Quaker Oats Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal, homemade pumpkin spice milkshakes, pumpkin cake roll and countless pumpkin spice coffees. And I am in heaven! I, like millions of other people, love LOVE pumpkin and pumpkin spice! If I keep it up, I may end up putting myself in a pumpkin spice induced coma before the season is over.

Besides stuffing myself with all things pumpkin, I have lost 2 pounds in a week and a half. I know it’s not much but after falling off the wagon, it’s nice to see the scale move in the opposite direction. It also shows me that what I’m doing is working and to keep it up!

As a lover of Halloween, I am looking forward to the upcoming holiday. Growing up, my mom and dad made sure that Halloween, along with every other holiday, was a special event that I would remember for the rest of my life. Our house would be decorated both inside and out, and my mom would dress up as a ghost every year to take me trick or treating. As I got older, my dad would rig up our house to scare my friends when they stayed the night for my annual Halloween sleepover. They really are two of the best parents EVER and gave me a wonderful childhood.

The past few years, however, I have done little to nothing to celebrate the spooky season that I once had a such a big passion for. But this year, this year is going to be different. I vow to actually do all, or at least most, of the Autumn/Halloween activities that I love doing. Hayrides, haunted houses, scary movies, decorating, dressing up, carving pumpkins, baking Halloween and Autumn-related goodies, go to the Apple Butter Festival and just enjoying the season.

What about you? Do you have any fall activities that you will be partaking in this season?