Spending time with cats may be a useful way to combat loneliness and its damaging effects, a new report from a cross-party group of MPs has revealed.
New research by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cats, published this month (June), found cat ownership and interaction is one of a number of measures with the potential to tackle loneliness across all age groups in specific social situations.
The report is supported by three of the UK’s leading animal welfare charities: Battersea, Cats Protection and Blue Cross. It makes a series of recommendations for care providers, welfare charities and the Government to explore allowing and encouraging people who are struggling with loneliness to interact with cats.
Recommendations include prescribing spending social time with cats – whether this is volunteering or fostering felines for animal rescues or, if appropriate for the individual, getting a cat as a pet. At all times, cat welfare should be protected alongside human wellbeing.
The report also calls on the Government to commission specific research on the benefits of cat ownership to those experiencing loneliness, working alongside animal rescue charities.
Sheryll Murray MP, Chair of APGOCATS, said: “Tackling loneliness is a priority health issue facing many across the UK. The role cats and other pets can play to help tackle the problem is under-researched and merits further attention. I very much look forward to taking forward the report recommendations.”
