Cat therapy

That people grow calmer around a cat was noticed long before medicine took an interest. This section holds both sides of that: pet therapy as doctors describe it, and the older folk belief about which breed helps with what. Read it in that spirit — as an account of good company, not as a prescription standing in for treatment.

• The furry medicine The rush of tenderness, the calm and the ease that come from stroking a cat are not an invention. What cat therapy is, and why it works at all.
• Pet therapy The good that pets do was known in the time of Hippocrates, but the term “pet therapy” appeared only in the middle of the twentieth century.
• Treatment with the help of cats Cat therapy is a form of pet therapy: alongside the medicines, the patient is prescribed the company of a cat. An ability noticed in antiquity.
• How cats heal people Cat therapy works on a person from several sides at once: contact of bioenergy, warmth, purring. How exactly a cat does the healing.
• What different breeds specialise in Cats of different breeds, colours and sexes have their own specialisation in healing, and females do noticeably better than males. Who is good for what.
• Treating illnesses with the help of cats Eighteen complaints, from arrhythmia to sciatica, and what cat therapy does for each of them: where to put the cat, for how long, how often.