Big Question | Can Cats Make Us Crazy?

[Narrator] You heard the news, right?

Cats make you crazy.

And not just because they act coy

or trip you when you're walking 'cause they're hungry,

or act like they want you

to scratch their bellies and then bite you.

No, we're talking real mental illness.

There's this bacterium called Toxoplasma gondii

that's commonly found in cat poop.

And the theory is that exposure to this bacterium

at a young age can lead to mental illness.

Surveys show that people with schizophrenia

were exposed to cats as adolescents about 10 percent

more often than those without schizophrenia.

Although that 10 percent difference is kinda significant,

it's not conclusive.

But, it raises an interesting question.

Is a bacterial infection partly responsible

for causing mental illness?

That would be crazy!

So why hasn't it been tested?

Well, because to do it right,

you'd have to expose a number of children

to a bacterial infection.

In short, ethics.

So all we can really do is rely on these surveys

and other indirect studies.

And while your cat can definitely make you crazy

in any number of ways, the jury's still out

on whether any of them are actual mental illness.