I am not taking things in stride. I went to the doctor after two weeks to check on my blood pressure and a new cholesterol pill I was taking. I always have a fast heart beat. the blood pressure was okay but he got upset about the fast heart beat. He said I could have a heart attack or another stroke. He gave me another ekg but there were no abnormalities -he let me go home. I had real trouble walking. I am not depressed. I plan to pet my kitties even more for health reasons.

They found that over a 20-year period, those who had never owned a cat had a 40 percent greater risk of death due to heart attack and a 30 percent higher risk of death due to any sort of cardiovascular disease than previous or current cat owners. Researchers found no such protective effects for dog owners.

"This study links pet ownership to health consequences, and that's very new concept that we haven't previously considered," said lead study investigator Dr. Adnan Qureshi, executive director of the Stroke Center at the University of Minnesota.