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 Observe your cat reclining in self-indulgent luxury on your expensive lounge suite. Have you ever wondered how this pampered puss has managed to cajole its way into your lifestyle? It was quite easy for your cat. Cats have been manipulating us helpless humans, like pawns on a chessboard, for more than three and a half thousand years. They are masters of the art of accepting all the comforts of domesticity, while still rejecting the bondage that is associated with it.
But, the voyage of the cat through the ages has not been completely smooth sailing.
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The Gods of Egypt
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In ancient Egypt, in 1600 BC, cats were not only established as domesticated animals, but were even cherished and worshipped as gods and religious idols. Of course there was a commercial reason. Egypt was the grain centre of the universe. The mice knew that and Ratsak hadn't yet been invented.
So cherished were they, that to kill a cat, even accidentally, was an offence punishable by death. If a house-cat died, the owners shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning.
Because of their sacred standing, the export of cats from Egypt was forbidden for about a thousand years. Thus, there is no evidence of cats in places other than Egypt until the first century AD.
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Cats in Japan
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While the reason for the cat's popularity in Egypt stemmed from the fact that they were irreplaceable in protecting the grain crops from rats and mice, in Japan the cat was even more highly valued. Indeed, they would not let them out of the house, even when a plague of rodents threatened to devastate their crops. Perhaps it was the Japanese who invented litter trays.
The Japanese are very clever though. They realised that cats did have the ability to control rodents. Always being ahead in the technology stakes, they erected statues, paintings and images of cats in the grain fields. However, the rodents were not deceived. They are more technologically advanced than cats anyway and that’s why you have a mouse attached to your computer and not a cat!
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Cats in Britain
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In Britain in the 12th century, it was decreed that every farmer must keep a cat as an aid to rodent control, and in addition, must spend at least threepence per week on its keep, including GST.
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Devil cats
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But the cat has not always been regarded with such reverence, and in the Middle Ages the cat's public image sunk to a low, as the cat was linked with the devil. This was probably because cats suddenly evolved the habit of spraying.
They were associated with witches and were even believed to be able to change form from cats to witches and back at will. Thus, being a symbol of Satan, cats were burned, killed and buried alive, walled up in brick buildings, thrown off towers and tortured as part of religious rituals to drive out the devil.
The cat, though, is a hard animal to repress and in true feline tradition it made a glorious comeback with the outbreak of the Black Plague. Because of their expertise in rodent control, their popularity again reached new heights. Finally, in the 19th century, the cat was popular once more and even induced Mark Twain to write:
"A home without a cat, and a well fed, well petted and properly revered cat, may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove its title?"
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Cats today
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In Australia, we battle with the tumbleweeds of fuzz left by almost 4 million dogs and 2.7 million cats. But this is nothing but a splash in the water bowl compared with America. There they cope with a vast 53 million dogs and 59 million cats. Isn’t it interesting that the number of cats outweighs the number of dogs in America?
If you own a cat, I am sure you can vouch for their irrepressible charm. They are masters of their own destiny, they know where they’re going but they’re in no hurry to get there.
If you want an easy to care for, clean content and conniving buddy, consider a cat. Good Pets, cats.
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Dr Cam Day BVSc BSc MACVSc is a veterinary surgeon, an animal behaviour consultant and media presenter. In 1995 he qualified as a Member of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in the discipline of Animal Behaviour and is one of only 15 veterinarians with this qualification in Australia. He works full time in animal behaviour management in Queensland, consulting with dog, cat and bird owners on a daily basis as well as appearing on air as Brisbane’s radio Pet Vet, and writing for various magazines.
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