I had an argument the other day with a friend over owning cats or dogs. I picked dogs, they picked cats. And they had opinion, there is no such thing as a crazy cat owner. So I did some research.

I’m not sure about people who “collect” cats.

A woman had more than 90 cats in her home and when found, she was jailed for 10 days and barred from ever owning animals.

Another woman had about 30 live cats in her house and 100 dead in her freezer. Another woman is found dead amid piles of trash and dozens of cats, including a kitten in a carrier that was on her lap when she died.

The list goes on. And on. And on.

Despite that, new research released this week shows “no link between owning a feline and exhibiting psychotic symptoms.”

Yes, the mere fact that scientific research has been done on this subject reveals that something is definitely not right with cat owners.

Still, the University College London, a research university in London, did an extensive study.

Why? Because other research revealed cats are a primary host of Toxoplasma Gondi, or T. Gondi for short. T. Gondi causes mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.

The study followed about 5,000 people born in 1991 or 1992, people who had cats while their mothers were pregnant or grew up in houses with cats.

“Our study suggests that cat ownership during early pregnancy or in early childhood does not post a direct risk for late psychotic symptoms,” Dr. James Kirkbride, the study’s senior author said in a news release.

He did caution that T. Gondi exposure could lead to serious birth defects and other health problems in children.”

I had cats growing up. My mother’s side of the family were mainly cat people. My father’s side had dogs.

I prefer dogs. I’m allergic to cats and definitely showed signs of serious mental lapses when I was a teenager.

“But your honor, my family owns cats. I am innocent of all charges based on my diminished mental state. It was the cat’s fault.”

That defense never worked and I blamed it on my lawyer.

Anyway, as an adult I never owned cats, except once when I took in a stray that committed suicide by running under a car backing out of the garage.

No. I prefer dogs. No one has ever done a study on whether dogs cause “crazy dog lady syndrome.”

Consider some of the comments posted by readers of the article about the University College London study:

“I have five cats – two who adopted me – and I don’t know what I would do without them,” IzzyBell906 wrote.

“Four out of five are calicos (pumpkin patch kitties is what I call them) and the fifth is pure black and adopted me when neighbors moved to Montana and abandoned him. SICK! People need to be abandoned.”

Another writes:

“If anyone is mentally ill, it is your scientist. I have cats all my life and I am not mentally ill. BUT BECAUSE OF YOUR DISGUSTING STMT ONLINE AND TV A LOT OF CATS WILL LOOSE THEIR HOME AND GET KILLED. DOES THAT MAKE YOU DISGUSTING PEOPLE FEEL BETTER. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.”

I’m thinking the researchers may have to rethink their findings.

OK, OK. Stop writing me nasty letters. I don’t mind cats. Cats are cool.

I do, however, disagree with the research. You don’t need science to consider the link between cats and insanity.

Just Google “crazy cat lady” and you get 8.7 million results.

Google “crazy dog lady” and just a mere 3.6 million hits.

That’s all the scientific research I need.

(Scott DeSmit is a general assignment reporter with The Daily Iberian. He can be reached at desmitmail@yahoo.com)