Cats and dogs have long been an integral part of many
families. Cats are second only to dogs in popularity as
family pets. But of course cats haven’t always been the
domesticated domestic animal that we know today.
It is difficult to trace the origin of cats, but some scientists believe that the original predecessor of cats was a weasel-like animal called Miacis, which inhabited the earth about 40 to 50 million years ago. Actually, Miacis is believed to be the common ancestor of all terrestrial carnivores, including cats and dogs.
But apparently cats were on earth before dogs, millions of years before the first dogs. The first appearance of prehistoric cats is Smilodon, the saber-toothed cat sometimes called a tiger. Cats weren’t as easily domesticated as dogs (and I’m a good example of that…smile, smile). These animals had strong hunting intuition that did not translate easily into cooperative instincts. Initially, cats brought their hunting instincts into the home, even attacking small babies. The early domestication of cats occurred primarily in Africa and Southeast Asia.
In the early days, cats served many purposes in homes, none of which were decorative. Cats were domesticated for their hunting skills, in the hope that they could control vermin (rats and mice) in the home, barns, and especially in the
valuable grain storage containers. One of the first cultures that seemed to accept, and even revere, cats was the ancient Egyptians (ah, the good old days). Of course, the Egyptians used cats to hunt fish and birds, as well as to control vermin populations in granaries. But the cat also acquired a new place of importance in the religion of Egypt. A branch of the traditional religious movement developed that worshiped cats. The cat goddess Bastet (also identified as Bast of Pasht) was represented with a figurine of a cat’s head. Cats quickly became sacred to the Egyptians; they were well cared for in the family home and once the cat died, its body was mummified and buried in a special cemetery. A cemetery found in the 19th century contained the preserved bodies of more than 300,000 cats. The Egyptian cat is the predecessor to many of our modern cat breeds. Although the Egyptians had strict laws prohibiting the export of the sacred cat, other cultures quickly came to appreciate the cat’s rat-catching prowess. The cats were soon smuggled or smuggled out of Egypt and brought to Greece and Rome, among other parts of Europe.
At the same time, domestic cats were found in India, China and Japan, where they served as pets and rodent hunters. Over time, cats changed and certain breeds were bred for ideal characteristics: eye color, hair length, marking patterns, etc. All of these different varieties of cats can claim ancestry in the wild, even if they’re mostly used in homes today as stuffed animals (well, I’m affectionate, but don’t tell my parents. I’ll give them about 30 seconds and that I have to run again and do my “chores”), cuddly pet (oh yes, I sure am cuddly…or so my mom tells me all the time, even though I don’t want to hear it…purr, purr).
