Good news: Your cat won't give you brain cancer

Cat owners are no more likely than people without pets to have brain cancer, a new study finds.

If you're wondering whether you should be relieved as a cat owner or confused as to what Fluffy the Persian has to do with brain cancer at all, we're here to help. The story starts last year, when researchers released a study in the journal Biology Letters finding that infection with a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii may be linked to brain cancer in humans.

T. gondii can live in a variety of mammals and often infects mice. But to reproduce, it needs to get into a cat's gut. It seems to do so by giving its mouse hosts an uncanny bravery around the smell of cat pee, presumably making it more likely that the mice get eaten.

Given cats' role as natural T. gondii hosts, the brain cancer finding naturally raised some concern over whether housecats might pass the parasite to humans, increasing brain cancer risk. T. gondii is also linked with neurosis, schizophrenia and suicide attempts.