Cats really are the perfect stress buster says Lesley Park, who is 'owned' by two of them.

"Jim and Rosie first came to live with me when they were six months old and they have been looking after me ever since. The rigours of even the most stressful of days just melt away as those beseeching little faces look up at me as if to say: 'Oi, mother, where's the dinner?'

"I have a real bond with the two of them.

"I always know when they are hungry (and I mean always), and they seem to know how embarrassed I am at the vet's when everyone else in the waiting room sniggers as their names are called.

"They also seem to know when I am unwell and will seem to try to hug me."

Numerous studies have shown that the animal-human bond provides positive physiological and psychological health benefits to humans.

Blood pressure is lower for heart patients when allowed to stroke their cats and the body's production of brain chemicals associated with wellbeing increase with a little feline therapy. Cat owners commonly describe their pets as good company, funny, relaxing, undemanding, accepting, comforting and understanding.

A recent survey of people of all ages by Cats Protection found that three-quarters of those questioned believed that regular contact with cats makes elderly people healthier, happier and more relaxed.

In spite of this, though, only four per cent of residential/nursing homes in the UK offer accommodation for pet owners, and just one in seven keeps their own cat for residents to interact with. Cats Protection, formerly the Cats Protection League, is calling on long-stay residential care homes which do not currently allow cats to consider doing so.

Those cat facts;

A 1999 survey found that there are 47 million cats in Europe 7.7 million in the UK.

There are an estimated nine million stray cats and one-and-a-half million feral cats in the UK.

Cat ownership is greatest in the south of England.

Some 27.8 per cent of people in the 35-44 age group own a cat.

Cats are now the UK's favourite pet.

Increased urban living and busy, modern, working lifestyles increasingly tend to favour cat ownership over dog ownership.

The most common reasons for having a cat are companionship (27 per cent) and love (31 per cent).

10 per cent of cats owned by Cats Protection volunteers are pedigree.