“The results were the same, suggesting that cat ownership in childhood is significantly more common in families in which the child later becomes seriously mentally ill,” he team from Johns Hopkins Univeristy concluded.

Dr. Hayden Schwenk, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, says this study should not put parents with cats at home into a panic.

“There may be an association but that doesn’t mean there’s causation,” Schwenk explained to SFGate. “The study isn’t showing a direct link between toxoplasma and mental illness and the study authors are saying further research needs to be done.”

Also, Dr. Schwenk points out, “Lots of people own cats and schizophrenia is a relatively uncommon illness.”