Maybe cats have the right idea when it comes to what's important and what isn't.  That idea was re-emphasized in an email newsletter we recently received from one of our vets.  The newsletter reprinted a story about a researcher at the State University of New York at Buffalo who concluded that pets can help reduce the levels of stress in their humans.

   During the experiment, stress was induced in the subjects in two ways: completing a series of mental arithmetic problems, and submerging one hand into ice water for two minutes.  While those conditions can induce stressful reactions, they probably aren't circumstances you'll come across in everyday life.  Now, if they'd had the subjects put their hands in dishwater instead of ice water, and then introduce a hungry cat weaving around the subjects' feet, that would be getting closer to real-life stress.

   Of course, there are situations that can be made more stressful by the presence of a cat.  Pat tells me that while she's trying to fix a meal, she has to watch out for a little black cat who winds and wraps himself around her legs.

   This anecdotal evidence would appear to indicate that a cat can cause a temporary increase in a human's blood pressure; however, the overall effect of El Gatito Perfecto on Pat, whether sleeping next to her every night or relaxing on her lap with his pink tongue peeking out, does match the results of the SUNY research.

   Conclusion:  The beneficial effects of having a cat or cats in one's house outweigh the transitory negative outcomes.  Maybe the most important thing we can learn from cats about stress is that some things aren't worth getting worked up over.