Slashdot Mirror


Owning a Cat Does Not Lead To Mental Illness, Study Finds (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Cats host a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that other research has linked to various mental illnesses. So, for some time, people have wondered whether cats are unsafe; for example, pregnant women are usually told to stay away from litter boxes. (They should still do this because transmission during pregnancy is very real.) In a study published in the journal Psychological Medicine, researchers looked at data that tracked 5,000 Brits born in the early '90s until they were 18. This included information about whether the kids grew up with cats, or whether there were cats around when the mother was pregnant. After the scientists controlled for factors like socioeconomic status, there was no link between developing psychosis and having owned a cat. The researchers suggest that previous studies that did show a link had relatively small sample sizes. In addition, many of these studies asked people whether they remembered having cats, which is not quite as accurate. That said, it's important to keep in mind that some mental disorders linked to the parasite -- like schizophrenia -- tend to be diagnosed fairly late in life, so only tracking until age 18 might limit the study.

249 comments

  1. I got 7 cats by future+assassin · · Score: 1

    Yup and its a trip when on shrooms and around them.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
    1. Re:I got 7 cats by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      You know, each cat has three names. Yes. The naming of cats is a difficult matter, It's just not one of your holiday games; You may think at first that I am mad as a hatter, When I tell you that each cat's got three different names.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re: I got 7 cats by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      our cat named dude lets me and the wife live with him.

    3. Re:I got 7 cats by Creedo · · Score: 1

      Of course. Each cat has a heart name, a face name and a tail name. The heart name was given at birth by the mother. An example would be Fritti. A face name is given at the first Meeting they attend. An example would be Tailchaser. The tail name is more mysterious. Every cat is born with one, but it must be discovered. Not all cats discover their tail names.
      Nre'fa-o

      --
      All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
    4. Re:I got 7 cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just made my day! Loved that book!

    5. Re:I got 7 cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Logan's Run. Original Movie. Old man living in Washington D.C.

  2. Idiot MORON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It all depends on how the symptoms are classified. If this parasite makes foul cat urine smell sweet to its rodent and prinate hosts, there is A LOT going on. Hey BeauHD, ever bothered reading peer reviewed papers of any sort? No? That is what I thought.

    1. Re: Idiot MORON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. Aggression and psychosis are totally different. Beau HD is indeed an IDIOT MORON! Bob sagget!!!

    2. Re:Idiot MORON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I herd u/BeauHD is part of GNAA

    3. Re:Idiot MORON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      heh i like how every1 is railing on this kid. i mean, give em a break, hes like 18 or 19, got a decade before he enters the real world and he doesnt even know it. sad but you can just tell. neway yea only a psycho idiot would gloss over a TORCH disease that easily. plain stupid or know it all, who knows :)

  3. Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by SpankiMonki · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Mine likes to hide behind a door and then pounce on my leg as I innocently walk by in my bathrobe. He's EVIL.

    1. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by tdelaney · · Score: 1

      Make sure you trim your cat's claws periodically (just use a human nail clipper to take the tips off but don't cut into the quick). Then the cat can play this way without any major issues (except maybe tripping you up).

    2. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by hambone142 · · Score: 1

      I think my cat has psychosis. She's normal, lets me gently pet her, then she growls and chomps my finger after random delays.

    3. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Sperbels · · Score: 1

      They have teeth too... When my cat plays this game it's usually the teeth that have me running for cover.

    4. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      A log in the house will do

    5. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by rossz · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a tortie. That's normal behavior for the breed.

      --
      -- Will program for bandwidth
    6. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you are trimming your cat's toes, make sure you cut all the way back to the first knuckle. The claws won't grow back and you'll save a fortune on ripped up upholstery.

    7. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Entertainment. Cat pictures and videos are a whole industry unto themselves.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    8. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hehe yeah mine does this too!

    9. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Arashi256 · · Score: 1

      That's cruel, inhumane, dangerous and painful for the cat. You fucking monster.

    10. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Isn't trying to trim a cats claws just a preemptive way of making sure your cat has mauled you?

    11. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Found the cat. And it has reading comprehension issues, as expected.

    12. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Cederic · · Score: 1

      erm. No. Teach your cat not to scratch you (or things you care about).

      I have three cats, none of them scratch me. When they're playing with me they don't scratch hard enough to break skin, when they're pissed off with me (flea/worm treatment time usually) they growl, struggle but still don't scratch me, when they're doing anything else they don't scratch me or (most of) my furniture.

      Can't stop them going for the storage boxes under the bed. Turns out the fabric cover is heaven for cat claws. Oh well.

      They do have scratch pads available in four different rooms and a cat tree that's built out of scratch posts, so there are plenty of outlets for their scratching needs. A tree in the garden gets plenty of attention too.

      Clip their claws? No. It would distress them, it's entirely unnecessary and they're much cuter when you know they could eviscerate you and they're consciously choosing not to.

    13. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is wrong with you? You sound like a jerk.

    14. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      trimming to the first knuckle would mean cutting off their toes. I think that was more morbid humor than serious suggestion. yes, my cat has all his claws and this statement fails to offend me

    15. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife's cat used to go flying across the living room and land on the couch when I got home from work. No kid you not. Of course, one day I threw him a little too high. He still landed on the couch, but only after hitting the wall pretty hard.

      A few weeks later, the cat had a seizure, or something. He was walking around and suddenly started getting all wobbly. Just fell over and died.

      Good riddance. I hated that fucking thing.

    16. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Shatrat · · Score: 1

      They control vermin populations. I don't think we could have reached 7b+ people on the planet without them.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    17. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by atrex · · Score: 1

      Totally agree, there's zero need to trim a cat's claws if they have sufficient outlets to take care of them themselves (scratch pads, cat trees, etc). If you play with your cats regularly then they'll learn not to play so hard with you that it breaks skin.

    18. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      This is something that can depend highly on the cat--while thankfully pretty rare, there are cats who are a bit...bad about their claws, and all efforts to teach them not to use their claws inappropriately fail.

      The following information is assuming you have tried to teach your cat not to scratch inappropriately--or you have conclusive evidence that the problem is your cat got the short straw on paw anatomy, so your cat's just pretty much anatomically doomed to be lousy at velveting her paws. The latter should be in the form of consulting your vet.

      Clipping the claws and soft caps can do a lot,and in extreme cases--when they're so bad that it's a risk to their own health--declawing if you can find a very good veterinary surgeon so as to preserve as much of the paw as possible. (The 'trim to first knuckle' method is, incidentally, the lazy asshole method of declawing from what I've read, and the threshhold here needs to be epic fail on kitty's part--think 'claws self by accident regularly' as the levels here, and yes, it's been seen.)

    19. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      AIUI Declawing cats is common practice in some countries (the USA in particular) and is a highly controversial subject.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    20. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Africans are very weak corporally speaking, and cat scratches can make them very sick and expose other bleeding diseases and malfunctions. So cats get declawed as a practice by many who do not understand where the idea comes from. Everything, but do not let Africans be exposed in all their weaknesses, or half American History has been Worship your African or be Dead. Fearful people choose the former, normal people do not know they are fighting the latter. It is the same rationale behind laws to pick up your dog s poop or get thousand dollar fines, protect Africans.

    21. Re:Cats have othe ways to make you crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Naw, they are greateful when you trim their knails. And take it very philosophically as well. The cat may dislodge its claw from the finger and bleed if it goes stuck into something and the cat forces it out. They also molten and break much like Human fingernails. A bad claw can have the cat tripping on its foot the whole day as it gets stuck on the rug or fabrics or you. Pathetic to see the cat prisoner of his stuck claw and he was desperate to evade your picking him up. They grow back in two weeks, anyway.

  4. Other way? by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does mental illness lead to owning a cat, though?

    1. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nope. But it does lead to voting for a God Emperror Who Has No Clothes.

    2. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, the level of craziness is proportional to the number of cats owned. And the other way is widdershins.

    3. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Definitely. It is therapeutic and infuriating. I can see why this is a topic.

    4. Re:Other way? by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You don't have to be crazy to own a cat. It does help though.

      Also, you don't really own a cat. They largely tolerate your presence and decide to stick around.

      If you must really keep a cat, get two. They're mostly layabout, but if they get bored they'll wreck your shit and not feel slightly remorseful about it. Another cat will give them something to do when you're not around instead of causing random mayhem in your domicile.

    5. Re:Other way? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      We have seven cats. It's a good number. They have their whole social order arranged, and our responsibility is simply to watch.

    6. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>> and our responsibility is simply to watch.

      Wow, really? Please tell us how you taught them to prepare their own meals and clean their own litter boxes!

      I'd love to know, because my spouse and I have two cats, each of which is on a special diet that's different from
      the other, and we've been having a lot of trouble training them to leave each other's food alone. Once we figure
      that out, we think we can start training them on how to open their own cans, taking turns raking the litter boxes, etc.

    7. Re:Other way? by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 1

      Does mental illness lead to owning a cat, though?

      Being a crack dealer seems to lead to owning a pit bull, so why not?

      Given the above, I'm proud to be a cat person. We must be nuts... why else would we put up with an egotistical, narcissistic, impatient, violent, snobby creature in our homes?

      Better to have such a creature in my home than in the White House.

      --
      Fire and Meat. Yummy.
    8. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot.

    9. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Internet rule: Exclamation marks are like cats. The more you see, the more you question the sanity of the person responsible for them.

    10. Re:Other way? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      The mice infiltrating my house were driving me crazy, which led me to acquiring a cat from the local shelter. Rodent problem solved. So, sure, maybe you could phrase it that way.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    11. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My cat gives back rubs. (No, she doesn't have claws.) (No, I didn't remove them...she was a stray, found that way.)

    12. Re:Other way? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Does mental illness lead to owning a cat, though?

      Yes

    13. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. But it does lead to voting for a God Emperror Who Has No Clothes.

      That was 8 years ago.

      "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan."

      "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."

      But hey, Democrats have finally embraced Ronald Reagan's labeling of the Soviet Union/Russia as an "evil empire".

    14. Re:Other way? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      They're mostly layabout, but if they get bored they'll wreck your shit and not feel slightly remorseful about it. Another cat will give them something to do when you're not around instead of causing random mayhem in your domicile.

      Two cats just means twice the damage. Perhaps more: our two cats love chasing each other with complete disregard for anything in their surroundings.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    15. Re:Other way? by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      You could of course just opt for the cheaper in the long run plan of properly physically securing your home against rodent infiltration. Though I guess if your house is made out of matchsticks that might be somewhat harder because they could in theory gnaw their way in.

      Anyway the chances of a rodent being able to get into my house through anything other than a door left open is precisely zero.

    16. Re:Other way? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      If you must really keep a cat, get two. They're mostly layabout, but if they get bored they'll wreck your shit and not feel slightly remorseful about it. Another cat will give them something to do when you're not around instead of causing random mayhem in your domicile.

      Nope. I'm gonna mark this type of shit down like with what you'd see with dog owners. No such thing as a bad dog, just a bad owner. Dogs can be trained, so can cats. Dogs are far easier to train then cats though, having trained both? If you think of a cat like a 3-4 year old which requires positive reinforcement to stop them from doing stupid things and the occasional punishment it all falls into place. You can train a cat just like a dog, to get you when they need something. Want to play, go outside, yard train them(so they don't go wandering off), beg, and so on. Find a really good cat or dog, you can even train them to somewhat vocalize human speech. My parents last cat I had trained to say "out" when it wanted to go into their garage(it's favorite place to sleep in the summer). When I was a kid, there was a neighbor a block away who used to voice train and litter box train rabbits.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    17. Re:Other way? by Arashi256 · · Score: 1

      Found the Trump supporter.

    18. Re:Other way? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Fit a cat flap. Wont help on the food but sorts out the litter box issue.

    19. Re:Other way? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Mice get in through my catflap. I haven't seen this happen but I'm assuming they're usually invited in by the cats.

      Sometimes I get to invite them back out while they're still alive too.

    20. Re:Other way? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "...When I was a kid, there was a neighbor a block away who used to voice train and litter box train rabbits."

      If rabbits could vocalize, what would they talk about? I'm guessing, mostly sex.

    21. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, yeah, blame Obama, you bottom-feeding moron. It was informative to watch people like you cheer as congress locked huge numbers of people out of healthcare by interfering with the medicaid expansion, as well as screwing up the system so you couldn't keep your plan or your doctor. You're too fucking stupid to realize that CONGRESS took this particular shit on your floor. Now your pumpkin pol pot is enabling dumping of waste into streams, wasting huge amounts of money pretending his Florida resort is "the southern White House", rolling back consumer protections, cocking up the economy by disrupting the lower labor strata, and CONGRESS is going right along with this... Yeah, lets elect a reality TV dimwit and see how HE does running the country while keeping the worst offenders in congress, not to mention stuffing in a few more, "because emails / Bengazi."

      You fucktards deserve every bit of social and economic upheaval your choice is bringing you. It's just too bad that reasonable people will be dragged down with you.

    22. Re:Other way? by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Sad!

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    23. Re:Other way? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Rabbits hiss, and thump their feet on the ground. You can train them to use those to communicate basic things using classical conditioning.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    24. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It also leads to posting political bullshit into an otherwise pleasant discussion. Thanks for being an asshole.

    25. Re:Other way? by Revarg · · Score: 1

      Owning a cat IS a mental illness

    26. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > That was 8 years ago.

      TFW you are so desperate to defend the indefensible that you cite a politically stupid slogan that Obama used 8 years ago.

    27. Re:Other way? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      we've been having a lot of trouble training them to leave each other's food alone.

      Put one in a room by itself with food?

    28. Re:Other way? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I have two young male tabbies and they chase each other around the living room, up the stairs to my bedroom and back down again. I bought a couple sets of Kitty City cat furniture and made them an L-shaped tower about eight feet tall. The post in the middle is sisal and they'd chase each other up to the top and sometimes fight to be on certain platforms.

      In addition to battling each other, they've also knocked over an end table and lamp, knocked their tower down by jumping from the top, pulled ceramic dishes off of a bookshelf and broken them and pulled my Phillips Hue lamps down from the top of my kitchen cabinets. They've actually been really good about not destroying furniture, but they have a giant scratching post they can both use at once.

      When they were kittens they were much crazier, but small enough they couldn't do much damage. They would really go after each other when play fighting, pouncing hard on the other one and then turning into a little ball of fury.

    29. Re:Other way? by naris · · Score: 1

      I think not having a cat might lead to mental illness!

    30. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hooray! Another chance to insert that you don't like the legally elected president because your candidate lost! Win!

    31. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So in other words, yes. Absolutely.

      Thanks for proving the point.

    32. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TRIGGERED!

      lolololo

    33. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the most useful training for a cat is how to use the toilet.

      It's not a joke. People really do train their cats to use the toilet. No more litter box.

    34. Re:Other way? by cthulhu11 · · Score: 1

      There's no other possibility.

    35. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What scenario?

    36. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Poor cats, you deal with them like they were Africans in USA cities. Cats need to scratch litter, it is in their genetic makeup.

    37. Re:Other way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congrats for winning, but you still lose.

  5. Mental Illness Leads To Owning A Cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    nt

  6. Pardon me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But as the keeper of a Siamese I have to argue against this. He literally drives my wife crazy some mornings and that shit can't be good for her. It causes a lot of stress to be honest. I still blame her for caving to the cats whining because once you give in once, you just lost that battle forever more.

    She says she just loves him so much. Highest maintenance cat I've ever had and I've always lived with cats.

    1. Re:Pardon me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had a few siamese-like cats and they were pretty nice, maybe only the pure bred ones are silly

    2. Re:Pardon me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get a gunny sack and a brick. Put cat and brick in sack and tie closed. Throw assembly into nearby river/lake. Don't look back and never admit you know where the cat went, only that you forgot and left the door open.

    3. Re: Pardon me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you can't get the cat into the bag, buy a larger bag and repeat except substitute wife for cat. Either way, your mornings will be less stressful.

    4. Re:Pardon me... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      I still blame her for caving to the cats whining because once you give in once, you just lost that battle forever more.

      You may have lost the battle, but not necessarily the war. Stop rewarding the bad behavior, and be persistent. Things will get worse before they get better.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    5. Re:Pardon me... by mrvan · · Score: 1

      Our cat was whining every morning, and seemed to have more patience than us at keeping up the game.

      We bought a spray bottle, and sprayed generously when he whined in the mornings. It didn't hurt him (obviously), but he completely stopped the behaviour after three applications.

    6. Re:Pardon me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tried that. But the cat came back the very next day!

  7. Re:Owning a cat IS a mental disorder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see, you replaced liberalism with cat ownership, for the purposes of this chatbot. How clever you breitbart faggots have gotten of late.

  8. However by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cat gifs are the thinking man's MLP gifs. Nobody cares, nobody wants to see it, we all silently endure.

  9. All you need to know if you own a cat by Strudelkugel · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard this somewhere: "Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

    --
    Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
    1. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by Kernel+Kurtz · · Score: 4, Informative

      Indeed. Dogs drool. Cats rule.

    2. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by bobbied · · Score: 1

      I heard this somewhere: "Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

      That's the truth because you live in THEIR house, so it's THEIR rules. Which is why I will NEVER own a cat or let one own me.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      And cat owners get dogs to clean up the cat puke.

      Seriously, they do a really good job of it.

    4. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by Solandri · · Score: 4, Funny

      Difference between cats and dogs:

      You feed a dog, house it, pet it, shower it with love, and take care of its every want and need. The dog looks at you and thinks, "Wow, he must be a god."

      You feed a cat, house it, pet it, shower it with love, and take care of its every want and need. The cat looks at you and thinks, "Wow, I must be a god."

    5. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And then worry about the dog cleaning out the litter boxes and cleaning up what the dog then proceeds to puke all over the carpet...

    6. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "shower it with love"

      This is when you die.

    7. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Dogs drool. Cats rule.

      Dogs will eat cat poop, but cats won't eat dog poop, so there will still be dogs after the last cat is gone.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by cmdr_klarg · · Score: 1

      Cats were worshipped as gods back in ancient Egypt. They haven't forgotten.

      --
      THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
    9. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by neonfrog · · Score: 1

      My cat drools.

      --

      I'm thinking about it, therefore I might be.

    10. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Dogs will eat dog poo, theirs, sometimes another dogs.

  10. My familiar says no by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    I trust my familiar. I he says cats don't cause mental illness, I believe him.

    1. Re:My familiar says no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why should we trust you witches? Your mumbo jumbo didn't do shit for Hillary

  11. What about the cats? by mi · · Score: 1

    Owning a Cat Does Not Lead To Mental Illness among humans [added by me]

    I denounce the speciism displayed by Slashdot. What about the cats? Don't they need years of therapy after having been, gasp, owned by fugly, smelly, bizarre bipeds without feathers but with ample delusions of grandeur?

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  12. crazy starts at 20 cats and obscenely crazy 150+ by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    crazy starts at 20 cats and obscenely crazy 150+

  13. No say it isn't so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They reduced the data using a small sample size originally and still published the results with no clarification.

    Well someone got a big grant anyway. Incentives matter and even scientists are not immune to the lure.

  14. Praise Kek! by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    Shandilay! At least I think that is the customary response.

  15. The open question is ... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    This study is meaningless because no one owns cats.

    However if they study "if being owned by a cat causes mental illness?" they will find overwhelming support. Delusional thinking that they actually own the cats is the most common symptom.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  16. Juvenile psychosis only by russotto · · Score: 4, Informative

    This study is very limited; it goes only up to age 18. It says absolutely nothing about whether toxoplasma will turn you into a cat lady.

    1. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by Cederic · · Score: 1

      You don't need toxoplasma to turn you into a crazy cat lady. Three cats suffice.

      I'd prefer four myself, but that's not necessary for the crazy cat lady badge.

    2. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "You don't need toxoplasma to turn you into a crazy cat lady. Three cats suffice."

      The looniest women I ever met made a point of not having a cat, even though she had no problem being around the felines of others, on grounds that "If I die and am not found for a few days, my cat might eat me!"

    3. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by Cederic · · Score: 1

      context : random conversation about risky behaviour
      me: yeah, it might kill me. Shrug.
      friend: you don't care that the cats might starve if you're dead?
      me: they wont starve, they can eat me

      The cleaner would find whatever's left of me inside of a week, then the cats will be taken care of anyway. Who the hell cares about being eaten by a cat after they've died?

    4. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by blincoln · · Score: 1

      Absolutely, and I'm very concerned that the results will be misinterpreted as a result.

      I've known a number of people with schizophrenia and other psychoses, and most of them didn't develop full symptoms until their mid-20s or later. I believe this is also why the condition is not selected against as one might expect - it's very possible for someone to have children before going over the edge. Perhaps if it's caused by exposure to toxoplasma gondii, we're actually selecting for mutations of it that don't cause symptoms until after the average age of procreation :\.

      I'm not an unbiased observer, because I've seen really promising people destroyed psychologically by psychoses, but I consider the way the results were framed *extremely* irresponsible due to the age cutoff.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    5. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ..The cleaner would find whatever's left of me inside of a week, then the cats will be taken care of anyway. Who the hell cares about being eaten by a cat after they've died?

      Thing is, don't care if they eat me, hey, I'm feeding them for the last time, it's either them or the worms..
      What would bother me is what they'll then do to the cats once they discovered the remains...once tasted human flesh and all that...

    6. Re:Juvenile psychosis only by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      You're right, they need to follow them a lot longer. Schizo came about shortly after the cat was domesticated. Everyone I know that is a long time cat owner is crazy. Maybe not cat lady or fucking crazy, however crazy none the less.

  17. Absolutely not! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Those of who have cats know they are our masters. My Devine holiness has informed me of my servitude.

    If anything, I have become more balanced centered and connected with our Universe.

    My master calls.

    1. Re:Absolutely not! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those of who have cats know they are our masters.

      Do you have any idea how pathetic this sounds to normal people?

    2. Re:Absolutely not! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      The more important prerequisite for your question: Do you think he cares how it sounds to you? And even if you think he might care, isn't it still entirely your own problem that you're worried about him worrying about it?

      Get a grip, you sound pathetic. Nobody cares if you care, though.

    3. Re:Absolutely not! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Those of who have cats know they are our masters.

      Do you have any idea how pathetic this sounds to normal people?

      You think his cat cares one bit?

    4. Re:Absolutely not! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those of who have cats know they are our masters.

      Do you have any idea how pathetic this sounds to normal people?

      What are these 'normal people' you speak of ?

      (I remind you, this is Slashdot you're on....)

  18. Cats can give you Pericarditis / Endocarditis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - and that can kill you dead.

    Keep your litter box clean.

  19. I've worked IT for PetSmart since 1989... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and I know for a damn fact that people that own cats become not sane. As the Wikipedia page at:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

    says "toxoplasmosis is related to impairment in brain." I've seen coworkers that were normal before become irritable and irrational after getting a cat. Employee discounts encourage pet ownership. Cat owners are insane from what I've seen.

    1. Re: I've worked IT for PetSmart since 1989... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a reason people that own one cat go crazy and have brain damage and end up owning more of those things.

    2. Re: I've worked IT for PetSmart since 1989... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      There's a reason people that own one cat go crazy and have brain damage and end up owning more of those things.

      See how memes persist even when scientific evidence comes along that refutes them? It's true because you wish it were true.

  20. Because you start out nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because anybody who owns a cat is already looney tunes.

  21. Sexuality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Posting anon for obvious reasons, but I've often wondered if toxoplasma is correlated with sexual preferences in humans. We know that it permanently alters the brain of rats and modifies them to find cat urine sexually attractive, along with permanently removing their fear of cats. I've read articles suggesting that it could modify the fears of humans in a similar fashion, making us less fearful of dangerous activities. However, it is a very uncomfortable question to ask and it would be career suicide to look into it or even mention it.

  22. Oh please by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 0

    Based on the many, many women I've known (both biblically and otherwise) I can state without any question that there's a direct connection between cat ownership and mental illness.

    Sure, there are exceptions, but they only serve to prove the rule.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Oh please by HornWumpus · · Score: 0

      Based on the many, many women I've known (both biblically and otherwise) I can state without any question that there's a direct connection between vagina ownership and mental illness.

      Sure, there are exceptions, but they only serve to prove the rule.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Oh please by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Based on the many, many women I've known (both biblically...

      Since we're bragging on the internet, I'm so ripped I have a 9 pack, can bench press two bull elephants and am so large I have to be careful to not cause major internal organ damage.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    3. Re:Oh please by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "... am so large I have to be careful to not cause major internal organ damage."

      Yes, I know people who have similar trouble squeezing through doorways. At least get the step counting app.

  23. Lazy reporting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ". . . pregnant women are usually told to stay away from litter boxes. (They should still do this because transmission during pregnancy is very real)".

    Care to quantify that, I see this repeated in every article and post about cats and Toxoplasma gondii, nobody ever cares enough to actually post some real world guidelines.

    Does a pregnant woman need to stay 50 feet away, 10 feet away, 2 feet away, what does that mean, "stay away"?

    Do you mean to say, that pregnant women shouldn't clean cat litter boxes, or only stay away if one has cuts on their hands/fingers?

    Toxoplasma gondii doesn't just jump onto someone, one has to come in contact with infected cat feces, walking near a cat litter box isn't going to infect anyone, so what does "stay away" mean?

    1. Re:Lazy reporting by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      It means the husband is stuck cleaning out the litter box, I would presume.

  24. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 0

    Cats are filthy animals. They shit and pee in the house. That tramp through the feces and urine in their little box. Then they hop on the kitchen counters, tables, furniture, and beds spreading their filth.

    Yep, this is one of the main things that prompted the "no cats" rule in my home. If I want my plates and cups and counter tops covered with traces of shit and urine, I'll trowel it on myself.

    Plus, the hair. Their hair gets EVERYWHERE, every-fucking-where. It ends up on your clothes, bedding, towels, food, furniture, carpets, bathroom- everywhere. You open the refrigerator and take out a plate of something, and there's cat hair in or on it. And let's not even get into the joy of servicing litter boxes.

    I actually like cats but I won't have them in the house. No no no.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  25. No, crazy is one cat and obscenely crazy 2+ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    though I suppose maybe if you acquired the cat(s) in a moment of temporary insanity you could afterwards decide to keep them even if you were back to borderline rational.

  26. bad study by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry, tracking until age 18 isn't long enough. Schizophrenia will show up a bit later if it does. Also, *having* a cat in the house is one thing - how many kids are cleaning the litterbox? Because that's the danger zone.

    For those who are unaware, Toxoplasma gondii has a life cycle that relies on cats and their prey - typically rats or mice. In cats, it reproduces in the digestive system and gets crapped out. In rodents who come into contact with the cat crap, it infects their brain and makes them less afraid of cats, which benefits the parasite because it wants to end up in a cat's digestive system again.

    In humans, it definitely causes miscarriages. There have been studies suggesting a link to schizophrenia, but I don't believe that's the current consensus. Something like 50% of all humans have been exposed to it, so it would be scary if so. But it might also depend on other factors.

    It's conceivable that a parasite that has evolved to control host behavior could have adverse psychological effects on human hosts, thus the research into it.

    1. Re:bad study by Solandri · · Score: 1

      It's conceivable that a parasite that has evolved to control host behavior could have adverse psychological effects on human hosts, thus the research into it.

      My theory is that it modifies the behavior of human hosts, causing them to dismiss the idea that parasites from cats could modify the behavior of humans.

    2. Re:bad study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      50% of all humans have been exposed to it and got schizophrenia? So 100% of all humans then? ;-)

    3. Re:bad study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just think back. You knew a lot of crazy people with feline friends.

    4. Re:bad study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      50% of humans being crazy does sound a little low.

    5. Re:bad study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just think back. You knew a lot of crazy people with feline friends.

      Aye, and almost 100% of the biggest arseholes and thugs I've ever met over the decades were dog owners, and don't get me started on all those feckers I've known who kept gerbils...

  27. Crazy Cat Lady by peterofoz · · Score: 2
    There is usually some truth behind a stereotype. The question is what came first - the crazy or the cats?

    A study is needed to survey 100 'crazy cat people" (let's be equal opportunity here), to see when and how they got started. Get a blood sample to test for the parasite. Just don't tell a crazy person they have bugs in their brain.

    1. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Animal hoarders hoard all kinds of species of animal. We hear mostly about cat hoarders scince cats are so common. Usualy, because they feel the need to "rescue" animals but in reality, the animals (and the hoarder) suffer terribly (I have seen some true horror stories), and in the end it would have been far better if the animals were simply put down. What makes it really horrifying is that the hoarders truly believe they are doing the right thing as opposed to being done out of malice.

    2. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This study is very limited; it goes only up to age 18. It says absolutely nothing about whether toxoplasma will turn you into a cat lady.

    3. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More than two cats without a farm or similar is a cat lady.

    4. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I guess the problem here is the lack of a medical definition of "crazy cat person".

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No definition necessary. You'll know it when you see it.

    6. Re:Crazy Cat Lady by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's start with the commenters who post about Trump in a thread about cats.

  28. Study missed one important point... by Tolvor · · Score: 1

    The study does not mention how many of the *researchers* own or were exposed to cats...

    My cat overlord orders me to add that the thought of cats causing mental illness is ridiculous. Humans are mentally ill naturally.

    1. Re:Study missed one important point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look at the top of Page 8 of the paper, "Declaration of Interest" :

      "F.S., J.F.H., G.L., and J.B.K. currently own or have owned cats (F.S., J.F.H., and J.B.K. N=1; G.L. N=2),
      but declare that the latter did not have a role in the formulation of the study hypothesis."

  29. Oh well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm actually kind of disappointed.

  30. I wonder if cat/dog ownership correlates with by mark_reh · · Score: 0

    voting for Trump...

    1. Re:I wonder if cat/dog ownership correlates with by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      If you were to do a serious study I think you would find a decreased likelihood in voting for Trump in cat ownership, statistically.

      I say this simply because there's already been serious studies that match cat owners to the left wing and dog owners to the right. Even though Trump is arguably more of an old-school Democrat than a core Republican the voters are what we're talking about, and without a doubt Trump was elected by the more conservative of those of any alignment than the progressive.

      I believe if you were to do a serious study of comparing Hillary voters to Trump voters you would see a pattern of dogs/no pets to Trump versus cats to Hillary/Stein. I don't think the break-out would be phenomenal, but I do think you would see a pattern, 60/40 or so. I leave Johnson out of this because this time around he lost his rudder and nobody could tell where he belong on the alignment charts unlike his previous run.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  31. Re: Owning a cat IS a mental disorder by youngone · · Score: 0

    Like liberals, cats don't earn their keep.

    Trump voter never saw a cat catch mice then.

  32. Diseases your cat will give you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Owning a cat is a ticking time bomb for its owner. Cats are serious disease vectors for hundreds of often fatal diseases which affect humans. Cornell University put together an informative web site devoted to this topic. Cat ownership indicates mental illness in the same way that Russian roulette indicates mental illness. The information provided by the Cornell Feline Health Center should be considered merely a starting point. Literally volumes could be written on all the cat-borne diseases which are dangerous to humans and too often outright fatal.

    1. Re:Diseases your cat will give you by Cederic · · Score: 1

      So owning three cats dooms me? Shrug. They add to my quality of life enough that a shorter life is a worthwhile trade.

  33. People obsessed with cats, cat mems, etc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes , it is incredibly annoying. Yes it is creepy. Yes, I think most people obsessed with "lolcats" or feel the need to stick a cat image on just about everything has some kind of mental illness, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

  34. I take care of wildcats for a decade++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    See my subject: If it makes me 'mentally ill' then how can I produce work like APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/ that many folks here (& many 1,000's) like & use (+ that malwarebytes' folks host + recommend) per our /. peers in https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10280229&cid=53913023/ & https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10280229&cid=53913235/ ?

    Ontop of some of my work's in successfully decades long certified Microsoft partner's commercially sold work that was a FINALIST 2 yrs. in a row @ MS TechEd 2000-2002 in its hardest category SQLServer Performance Enhancement (& I made THAT even 40% better on 2 levels (code & how to exploit it fully).

    APK

    P.S.=> IF that's "crazy" on my end? I bet most wish they were THAT 'crazy'... apk

    1. Re:I take care of wildcats for a decade++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fancy seeing APK in a thread about mental illness...

    2. Re:I take care of wildcats for a decade++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The terrible quality of your software tells a different story...

    3. Re:I take care of wildcats for a decade++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See my subject: If it makes me 'mentally ill' then how can I produce work like APK BUNGHOLE File Engine 9.sZ*3++ SR-7 32/64-bit/89-bit"

      Lol, you cringy nimrod, the fact that a crank like YOU owns cats is a point in favor of the study showing that cats are correlated with mental illness.

  35. Counter-example by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Owning a Cat Does Not Lead To Mental Illness, Study Finds

    The people who did this study never met the lady who lives on the end of my block. She's completely cuckoo and owns like a hundred cats. Sometimes they wander over to my yard just to get away from the old bat. I'll bet if I walk outside right now, there'll be one sitting on the cushion on one of my deck chairs. He likes to hang out with me when I sit outside at night and watch the basketball game. Wait, does that mean I own a cat? Holy shit. I better get myself checked out.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  36. What about dogs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does owning a dog lead to mental illness or is it basically mental illness that causes people to adopt these slobbery smelly beasts?

    1. Re:What about dogs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You make an excellent point. Dogs and dog owners are often just as crazy as their feline owning counterparts. The subject of dogs and dog owner pathologies is indeed worthy of an article all of its own.

      One thing I've noticed over the last 25 years or so is that people who are weak or with low self-esteem often choose a dog to compensate for this lacking. For one thing the trend has been away from "normal" dogs like beagles and cocker spaniels. Now people have to own vicious monster dogs. There is a truism that goes "big dog, small dick". It seems this pathology often carries over to the vehicle the owner drives. The corollary is "big dog, monster truck, tiny dick".

      Even the earthy-crunchy young couples living on the fourth floor of a soulless one bedroom walk-up suburban "garden" apartment feel the need to own both a black lab and a yellow lab. And they can't just walk the dog. Before they take the dog out for its monster bowel movement they have to tie a bandana around its neck--just like all the other six million stereotypical earthy-crunchy young couples. Listen up people, nothing says "dink yuppie" like a bandana tied around the neck of your retarded dog.

      Back to your point, yes dog owners are just as fucked up as cat owners, only in a slightly different way. Fundamentally, both camps have serious psychological issues.

    2. Re:What about dogs? by hambone142 · · Score: 1

      Cats go on auto-pilot well.
      Dogs destroy when left alone too long.

      My friend's dog is a PITA. Chases and kills wildlife, chases deer. He thinks it's "great".

      He wants to take it camping and fishing. Would I (in turn) take my damned cat and foist it on him?

    3. Re:What about dogs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I grew up in a very rural area. Any dog that chased deer or livestock was likely to get shot, either by the animal warden or a rancher. You're friend may be in for a rude surprise one of these days.

      I'm with you on dogs' destruction. My ex-girlfriend's dog shredded a huge hole into a valuable oriental carpet which I had inherited from my father. Just destructive as hell. Of course her cats shredded the furniture with their claws. What a bitch (the girlfriend that is).

    4. Re:What about dogs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Around where I live dogs mainly chase their own farts or the spectre of an activity not under their oversight

  37. whats the disease 75% cats transfer to humans? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its a parasite makes ya a bit aggressive and bonkers...so yea owning a cat CAN MAKE YOU NUTS....nice try get rid of em

  38. No, they troll HWNDUs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually I think the customary response is to troll the HWNDU camera. Some of the troll videos on YouTube were pretty hilarious.

  39. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Plus, the hair. Their hair gets EVERYWHERE, every-fucking-where. It ends up on your clothes, bedding, towels, food, furniture, carpets, bathroom- everywhere. You open the refrigerator and take out a plate of something, and there's cat hair in or on it.

    You can largely fix this by 'shaving' them. You don't have to use a razor or anything, just standard hair clippers and cut their hair shorter.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  40. Re:crazy starts at 20 cats and obscenely crazy 150 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No no no. You've got it wrong. Crazy starts at 20, but at 150+, it is so crazy that it becomes anti-crazy, which means saner than sane.

    So a person with 150+ cats is actually one of the sanest people on this planet. I am proud to be a member of this prestigious group.

  41. Nobody owns a cat by best+shot · · Score: 1

    Get real. Nobody owns a cat. Cats consider that to be disrespectful. They are just free spirits and the world is their litter box.

    1. Re:Nobody owns a cat by naris · · Score: 1

      Cat owns you!

  42. How about general health and outdoor cats... by BlueCoder · · Score: 1

    I want to see a study about exposure to the environment through outdoor animals like cats. Also a diferentiation as to their expose to cats: life long, only childhood, adulthood only, etc... as well as the persons lifelong heath history.

    Cats are always cleaning themselves and like dogs their mouths and saliva are super sterilizing if not antibiotic as compared to humans. But they do pick up some contaminants and so they do give you some expose. My guess is that on a whole it's actually beneficial to your health provided you don't already have a weakened immune system..

  43. I am CowboyNeal's cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Meow.

  44. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    You can largely fix this by 'shaving' them. You don't have to use a razor or anything, just standard hair clippers and cut their hair shorter.

    As enjoyable and rewarding as that sounds it still won't fully eliminate the hair, and there's still the problem of them walking through the litter box and then tracking the residue all over your counters, furniture, bed, etc etc etc.

    I love cats but they just aren't allowed to live in my home.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  45. Re:crazy starts at 20 cats and obscenely crazy 150 by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    150 is a lot of cat's but about about that one with 200 or the with 1,100?

  46. Re:Owning a cat IS a mental disorder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    breitbart is read by liberals.. you must be referring to so-called progressives.

  47. Someone thought it did? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who was the bloody idiot who thought it did?!

  48. Everything is probably a mental illness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am ostensibly a human, and I also shit and pee in the house. I use little ribbons of delicate paper to wipe the feces from my anus, but it is never perfectly effective. In the room where I defecate, I keep materials for cleaning my teeth. Unforuntately much of the room is covered in fine particles of feces due to the mechanism used for flushing the toilet.

    Is it possible you have observer bias? That you ignore the hundreds of people you meet that do have cats on the assumption that their behavior confirms your own belief that they are not "cat people", when in fact they are?

    1. Re:Everything is probably a mental illness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you also walk in the toilet bowl and then jump onto the kitchen table and counter top for a stroll, then toddle around on the bed sheets?

    2. Re:Everything is probably a mental illness by wildstoo · · Score: 1

      Ok, where have you hidden the spycam in my house?

  49. This is no parasite but it controls hostS behavior by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & pun intended https://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10281371&cid=53915283/ & I care for wildcats that have been around the home I live in for probably a 100++ yrs. or more most likely, & outta the goodness of my heart - why? Imo, they (like dogs also) are BETTER people than many people are...

    * They're the GREATEST when it comes to winter since I live on top of a small forest (yet in an inner urban environs) that when winter hits, mice infest this place (no problem w/ cats inside w/ me for winter - they are THE 'exterminator terminators' par excellence!)

    APK

    P.S.=> I don't mean that for many people - there are MANY good & decent productive human beings contributing to the betterment of the human condition in some way, shape or form - I have no issue w/ them. I do, however, take issue with trolling little weasel scumbags that infest /. forums here that "F" w/ me quite a lot (milksop whimps)... apk

  50. Looking at the wrong mental illness by doug141 · · Score: 1

    Toxoplasmosis infection makes rats lose their fear of cats. Beneficial to both the toxo and the hungry cats:
    http://www.nature.com/news/par...

    Toxo in people is associated with traffic accidents... slow reflexes? Lack of fear? Distracted by cat? Probably not psychosis, though:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

    Dateline did a show about a missing woman who recklessly invited many dangerous men into her life, ignoring all the red flags her friends were trying to get her to see. She was a cat lady, too...

  51. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dare you to test your toothbrush for human feces.

  52. Mom had a cat by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    That, when you were standing, would sneak up behind you and climb your pants, your shirt, then perch on your shoulder. Hard on the clothes, and sometimes painful, but cute as hell.

    My sister had a kitten that would sit on your shoulder and suck your earlobe. A very weird feeling, but she was a hell of a kitten.

    My current cat? Takes a dump in the litter box, then while trying to bury it kicks it onto the floor. sigh.

  53. Schrodinger's cat by neoRUR · · Score: 2

    Schrodinger owned a cat, did they call him crazy? I don't think so...

    1. Re:Schrodinger's cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on if he killed it or not. Sometimes they did call him crazy but only when they observed him.

  54. Bad sumary title! by doug141 · · Score: 1

    First, disproving "psychosis" is not as broad as disproving "mental illness."

    Second, a study that fails to find an association does not prove the lack of an association, as the summary title says. Imagine this: if I sell refined sugar, and I want to suggest it is not associated with tooth decay, I fund a _small_ study to test the hypothesis "sugar causes tooth decay." The study is too small to conclusively prove the hypothesis, and I can report "study fails to find link between sugar and tooth decay."

  55. Fancy seeing an unidentifiable PUSSY like U by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See my subject: You're ashamed of posting w/ your real name or use fake names online for your fail of a life as you're a zero milksop, and you know it.

    * A man that won't stand behind his words is NOT a man.

    You're a PUSSY waste (not a pussy like a cat - a cat's worth FAR more than crap like you fuckhead).

    APK

    P.S.=> It's probably why MOST of your shitty "millenials" generation are heroin addict losers. You KNOW you're shit. NO balls shit... apk

  56. someone please explain my mother then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    She's crazy and has a cat. Nuff said, really. she's nuts and the cat is too.

  57. Retail Hell, More Proof Cats Are Better Than Dogs! by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 1

    There's a reason people that own one cat go crazy and have brain damage and end up owning more of those things.

    The Toxoplasma Gondii requires cats to multiply, so it alters the behavior of its host rodents in order to steer them towards a cat's digestive system.

    Now, humans and cats have lived together for millenia; it makes perfect sense that the Toxoplasma Gondii might also have steered us into giving their furry brothels a comfortable place in our homes and our beds... And for the cats, they have two species directly feeding them: Mice and Men. Perfect case of symbiotic evolution.

    You'll never see Lassie do anything that smart.

    Now, back to the parent post about working at PetSmart:

    I've seen coworkers that were normal before become irritable and irrational after getting a cat.

    Are you sure that's not just caused by working retail for long enough?

    And then there was me, working at Home Depot, wearing the trademark Orange Apron. We had a cat in the store; it ate the mice that lived on the birdseed in the Seasonal Department. As I walked into the lunchroom, about 30 people eating lunch, big shift change time of day...

    "Hey Lawrence! I hear you found the store cat!"

    "Well, I found part of the store cat..."

    --
    Fire and Meat. Yummy.
  58. Re:Owning a cat IS a mental disorder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why on earth anyone would want to keep a ball of murderous fur around that does nothing except cut you is beyond me

    My cat is quite old. When she passes, I'm seriously thinking about replacing her with a hot water bottle covered in fur, for my lap.

  59. Could you do a survey for me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Find out whether owning a human leads to mental illness in cats.

  60. Then explain Eleanor... Simpsons by s1d3track3D · · Score: 1
  61. Strange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I find it strange that so many women choose a cat as their personality token or spirit animal, believing them to be gentle creatures. Cats are solitary and selfish in nature, in reality, having a sociopathic personality. Cats might rub-up against someone (actually marking territory) and refuse to fight over food but they are super-predators, like humans or a virus. Cats do a massive amount of the damage to local fauna and breed rapidly, making them a pest in many areas. There's always some lazy shit who won't de-sex her cat, ensuring there are more cats, which she then refuses to euthanase; it's irresponsible and destructive behaviour.

    "Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster.", Henry Wu, Jurassic world, 2015.

    1. Re:Strange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kill all humans, problem solved.

    2. Re:Strange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cats do a massive amount of the damage to local fauna and breed rapidly, making them a pest in many areas.

      Humans do a massive amount of the damage to local fauna and breed rapidly, making them a pest in many areas.

      FTFY

  62. poor terminology by swell · · Score: 1

    The title refers to 'mental illness', the summary adds 'psychosis' and finally links 'schizophrenia' to the bug. These are not interchangeable; each term is rather clearly defined in a science environment. Moving on to the actual study there are also vacillations between these terms. It's one of many things that casts doubt on the quality of the study.

    You may also find a report at WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com... Where they have a lovely video of the rat/cat relationship that develops.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  63. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... walking through the litter box ...

    That's why the (possibly parasite-infested) feces should be removed twice a day. Yet a lot of cat owners don't do that once a day. I have rescued cats who spent their first few months outside and a few acres for them to roam; so the toilet tray is rarely used. Sometimes the cats don't bury their shit when they do use it, so the stench drives me to extract the warm droppings immediately.

  64. It does PUSSY but not like YOU say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & EAT YOUR WORDS pussy https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10280229&cid=53913023/ & https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10280229&cid=53913235/ w/ our /. peers making you eat bitch!

    APK

    P.S.=> You DISGUSTING little fuckwad that has to "hide" like the PUSSY you are, motherfucker (& you know it + prove it)... apk

  65. Tell you what unidentifiable PUSSY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Come say it my face fucker: It'd be LAST motherfucking thing a WORTHLESS do nothing FUCK like you EVER fucking says or does you DISGUSTING worthless crap...

    * You fucking disgusting punk - how can you even SAY you're a man you shitwad!

    APK

    P.S.=> Motherfucker, I'd love to meet you for just 1 minute (it'd be YOUR last, I fucking shit you not, you DISGUSTING little reprehensible FUCK)... apk

    1. Re:Tell you what unidentifiable PUSSY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess you don't get the irony of making insane death threats to someone for dissing you for being insane?

  66. Is a study really necessary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank god for the study! I was losing my mind here.

  67. Re: Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by drewsup · · Score: 1

    You need the best cat brush, a lint roller, pack of 6 for 2 bucks at Ikea, my cat Loves rubbing against one of these, and it gets all the loose fur off, when covered in fur, peel, and presto, whole new sticky surface, I only have to start the peel, then my cat grabs the end in his mouth and rest off for me, best investment ever!

  68. Age onset is 10 to late teenage by aepervius · · Score: 2

    While it is true that *some* patient will have an age onset of psychopathology later in life (e.g. 40 to 50 is the number I see most popping up as secondary peak), the majority will have an age onset between 17 and 20, because that's the period of growth of the brain where it is vulnerable. Usually later in life it is poorly understood , as it seems to come from a different etiology. e.g. See here for onset statistic for example of schizophrenia as one psychopathology : http://www.schizophrenia.com/p... (A typological model of schizophrenia based on age at onset, sex and familial morbidity. Acta Psychyatric Scandinavica 89, 135-141 (1994).)

    As such the study is not flawed, since the onset for most psychopathology is early age. Now if you were talking for other pathology, senescence related, like dementia or Alzheimer , you would have a point, but this is NOT what the study is about.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  69. Correlation is not causality. by mz721 · · Score: 0

    Correlation is not causality.

  70. Cats are smarter than we think by istartedi · · Score: 1

    Apparently, they're conducting studies now.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  71. fake news by jsepeta · · Score: 1

    all the schizo people i know have cats

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
  72. misleading headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only tracked till 18 and you are going to say for sure it doesn't?

  73. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    Get an automatic litter box like the Litter Robot. We have one of those and they work as advertised: easy to change and to clean, and no more smells. The only drawback is that they are fairly bulky; mine fits snugly in a 60x80cm cabinet space reserved for a washing machine. They are pricey but I'm still using the one I bought almost 15 years ago.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  74. Cat got your tongue by tomxor · · Score: 1

    many of these studies asked people whether they remembered having cats

    So the original studies asked crazy people if they ever owned cats? what did they expect?

  75. Thats just what a cat owner would claim!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Denying cat "ownership" leads to mental illness is exactly what a mentally ill cat owner would say. FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE, SHEEPLE!!11!!!!!1

  76. Mark that up as a win for women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let the shrieking begin...

  77. Was Study Conducted by Cat Owners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am just saying that the study could be tainted.

    1. Re:Was Study Conducted by Cat Owners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next study to confirm: cats cause research.

      Reminds me of that old saw: "A medical advance is something which, if applied to a rat, will produce a paper. If the rat survives, it's a medical breakthrough."

  78. Symptom, not the cause. by sycodon · · Score: 2

    Cats are symptom of Crazy, not a cause.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Symptom, not the cause. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cats are symptom of Crazy, not a cause.

      Yes, I came here to say this. The headline gets the causality backwards. T. gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite of neurons which is a cause of cat fancy and, as a side effect, mental illness.

      The parasite can reproduce sexually only in cats, so if it can't make you like cats it's not getting laid. If you go crazy in the process, that's not the parasite's problem.

    2. Re:Symptom, not the cause. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both symptom and cause. The "study" only related to psychosis. There are subtler effects that would not be classified as psychosis. All "studies" reported in the media are invariably bullshit.

  79. BUT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, but mentally ill tend to own a lot of cats.

  80. To be honest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cat people are crazy to start with

  81. Who? by billybiro · · Score: 1

    Are we talking about mental illness for the owner, or for the cat?

  82. This week anyway.. by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    But next week scientists will decide that cats will be responsible for the extinction of the human species.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
  83. That's because they're ignoring Bartonella... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bartonella creates neuro issues, chronic pain and extreme fatigue.. Transmitted by cats (Cat Scratch Disease).. doctors are just as bullish about Bartonella as they are with Lyme..
    Dont tell me cats dont cause mental issues, I was fine before I got this damn disease from a cat.. Some days I barely think or speak full sentences.

  84. cat-scratch progressives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You ever see a liberal-slut didn't own a cat? Own ... excuse me ... feline facilitator ... poison-piss-prods-progressive-poodles ...

  85. Bad pet owners by s.petry · · Score: 1

    Cats are not really pack animals but understand social hierarchy. If you let a cat rule the house they will, but if you are dominant (not to be confused with being an asshole) cats are fine. Dogs are pack animals who similarly need structure with you on top of the social structure. Social needs like playtime and grooming time have to accompany the normal duties of food, water, and litter/walks.

    I see plenty of cat and dog owners that let their pets run the house. They tend to complain about how "bad" their pets are, in between excusing bouts of bad behavior.

    Animal psychology is really not that difficult, but as with many subjects people don't educate themselves. A similar, if not same, type of person will often treat their kids like adults and want to be their friends instead of parents. Problems always tend to be directed at the external entity instead of themselves.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  86. defective cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    if your cat isn't driving you crazy, there's something wrong with the cat. return it to the place of purchase and demand a replacement.

  87. My Pussy Makes Me Crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This study is clearly incorrect. I'm completely mad because of my pussy.

  88. 7 Cats == Batshit Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Batshit Insane

  89. Although by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > The researchers suggest that previous studies that did show a link had relatively small sample sizes. In addition, many of these studies asked people whether they remembered having cats, which is not quite as accurate.

    So making up pets might have some correlation with mental illness.

  90. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by Suffering+Bastard · · Score: 1

    A well taken care of cat in a well taken care of environment isn't so scary. Clean the box once a day, it takes three minutes. Fully scrub and change out the littler once a month. Get a Shark vacuum cleaner for the hair, vacuum the floors, furniture and crevices once a week. Keep food related surfaces clean. Learn how to keep your cat off the counters, tables, etc.

    Certainly you can't ever be perfectly assured of absolute cleanliness, but that's true of any pet. Dogs are by no means clean without effort.

    --
    "Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
    - Deep Thought
  91. Funny by future+assassin · · Score: 1

    cause its true...

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  92. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    A well taken care of cat in a well taken care of environment isn't so scary. Clean the box once a day, it takes three minutes. Fully scrub and change out the littler once a month. Get a Shark vacuum cleaner for the hair, vacuum the floors, furniture and crevices once a week. Keep food related surfaces clean. Learn how to keep your cat off the counters, tables, etc.

    Or I can just skip all that by not having a cat.

    -

    Certainly you can't ever be perfectly assured of absolute cleanliness

    I can be perfectly assured of not having cat-related cleanliness issues by not having a cat.

    If you want to keep a cat, have at it. I like cats, I just don't want them living in my home. I've owned cats in the past, but no more.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  93. Bet this paper was written by cats by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Tricksy they are, yes

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  94. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by Suffering+Bastard · · Score: 1

    The point is, it's possible to have a cat and a clean house. I'm not sure it takes any more work than a dog. Certainly I don't think you should have one if you don't want one.

    --
    "Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
    - Deep Thought
  95. Re:crazy starts at 20 cats and obscenely crazy 150 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a modulus function. So after enough cats it loops back on itself and makes you sane again.

    captcha: rambling

  96. Do 30% of US Households have mental illness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I sort of doubt it.

    Facts about Pet Ownership in the U.S.: It's estimated that 70-80 million dogs and 74-96 million cats are owned in the United States. Approximately 37-47% of all households in the United States have a dog, and 30-37% have a cat. (Source: APPA)
    Pet Statistics | ASPCA
    www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

  97. Nothing But Sensationalism by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

    The main way people get toxoplasma is from food, especially undercooked meat and unwashed vegetables. But the media makes you think it's from cats because the headline "Cats Make You Crazy" is much better clickbait than "Eating Undercooked Meat Makes You Crazy". Transmission from cats is much rarer. Also, cats get infected by eating infected mice. If you have indoor cats who eat Friskies instead of mice, they aren't at risk and neither are you. Unless you eat undercooked meat, of course, but the media would rather warn you about fake risks than real ones.

    --
    "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
  98. Unable to validate the study. by skidv · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, no one could repeat the study to validate the claims.

  99. Re:Owning a cat IS a mental disorder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A good taxidermist could turn your beloved pet into a slip cover for your hot water bottle. No kidding.

  100. kitty = crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  101. Test and a Pill by Script+Cat · · Score: 1

    Isn't there a test and a pill they can give to cats and people? Who wants these fricken parasites in them anyway.

  102. Re:Owning a cat is and of itself a mental illness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cats are filthy animals.

    Dog eat their own shit and then lick you. Dogs roll in shit and then roll on your carpet.

  103. Re:All you need to know if you own a cat... PIGS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dogs look up to us.
    Cats look down on us.
    But pigs see us as equals.

    Winston Churchill

  104. You're not anyone real unidentifiable ac by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: You're a cowardly worm ashamed of his real name (proof's that & your undoubted FAKE names online you use too).

    * I haven't threatened anyone but that IS a promise to fools like you...

    (I.E. - YOU aren't even a REAL person, cartoon character...)

    Want to "diss me" punk? Do it to my face in person - I'd show you what "dissing" is by disconnecting your jaw.

    APK

    P.S.=> I wonder what it's like to live with NO BALLS like you? Now, I know WHY you do it - I've crushed you totally before hence your unidentifiable little troll worm posts you do my way (lol, weak, like you, punk)... apk

  105. Are you sure? by DiEx-15 · · Score: 1

    Because trying to get pussy can drive a person insane.

    Oh... You meant a cat. Nevermind.

  106. Get a cat by syntotic · · Score: 1

    Or better, three, to start with.