The Healing Power of Cats

Cats are good for us.

Yes, on the psychological level of interaction with another creature, cats are wonderful for companionship and have known positive effects on blood pressure and other stress markers.

Research shows that, unless you’re someone who really dislikes animals or is absolutely too busy to care for one properly, pets can provide excellent social support, stress relief and other health benefits—perhaps more than people!

But I’m also talking about physical health as studied by science. And specifically about cats.

Part of folklore is the cat’s nine lives; but they might have gotten that reputation over centuries of humans observing how well cats survive, even thrive, when the odds are against them:
From "The Felid Purr: A bio-mechanical healing mechanism":

Any veterinary orthopedic surgeon will tell you how relatively easy it is to mend broken cat bones compared with dog bones which take much more effort to fix, and take longer to heal. … There has been some research which that suggests that domestic cats are in general less prone to postoperative complications following elective surgeries. … Cats do not have near the prevalence of orthopedic disease or ligament and muscle traumas as dogs do. Additionally, Toombs et al. (1985) suggests that non-union of fractures in cats is rare.

Yes, when it comes to traumatic injury, cats have their own “veterinarian” built into their system. This is why cats purr even in stressful situations, such as when they are injured or unhappy; they are using their purr for its healing vibrations.
We humans have a good reason for finding our cat’s purr so soothing. It not only lets us know we have made our cat happy, it is also an actual healing frequency:

In Summary: Vibrations between 20-140 Hz are therapeutic for bone growth/fracture healing, pain relief/swelling reduction, wound healing, muscle growth and repair/tendon repair, mobility of joints and the relief of dyspnea.
We think that this research could help explain why cats purr, and here is why:
Fauna Communications has recorded many cats’ purrs, at a non-profit facility and the Cincinnati Zoo , including the cheetah, puma, serval, ocelot and the domestic house cat. After analysis of the data, we discovered that cat purrs create frequencies that fall directly in the range that is anabolic for bone growth.

Experimentation on these “healing frequencies” has led to innovations such as the electrical stimulation devices that help stubborn bones heal. If we listen to music when we are in certain moods, or sing to our babies to get them to sleep, or take children for rides in the car to calm them down; we have experienced the power of sound on our own emotional, and physical, state.
In conclusion:

… it is certainly not a leap of faith to speculate that the cat’s purr is a healing mechanism. Having a natural way to increase strength, and decrease healing time, would indeed be very advantageous and would explain the purr’s development.

It fits snugly into evolutionary theory (the foundation for all biological knowledge we have to date) to agree that cats who purr are at a distinct survival advantage. They rebuild their bone even during times of low activity, they have a technique to heal themselves without medical help, and they can even pass this advantage on to others.
Like the human who is hugging them.