“He will kill mice and he will be kind to Babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself; and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, and waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.”
— Rudyard Kipling, “The Cat That Walked by Himself”
To many people, the cat remains a mysterious figure, even among those who own them, and many find it surprising that the house cat is the most popular pet in the world. A full one-third of American households have cats and more than 600 million cats live among humans worldwide.
June is National Adopt a Cat month, so I was intrigued by the June issue of Scientific America which detailed new information on the descent of the house cat.
It now appears that all house cats descended from just one species, felis silvestris, the wild cat (aka Sylvester the Cat). We mostly assume from popular culture that cats were bred for domestication in Egypt, where their status was elevated to deity and since that time has dropped precipitously; unless of course your cat is the king or queen of your household and holds reign on a daily basis.
But new discoveries, on the island of Cyprus, of a 9,500-year-old burial site where a human and a housecat were interred together suggest that people in the Middle East began keeping cats as pets long before the Egyptians. The written artifacts prove that as long as 2,000 years ago cats in art and literature were common throughout Europe.
So how did cats become human pets? It makes sense that about 10,000 years ago, when human settlements were becoming more stable, many animals developed a symbiotic relationship with humans, particularly rats. It is speculated that some cats were not as afraid of humans as their wild counterparts, and they stuck close to these communes, where amid the grain storage there would be plenty of vermin to feed upon.
Now, why would you want to adopt a cat? There are volumes of books written about cats, but sheer observation tells a more powerful story. If you have never seen the antics of kittens playing, you have missed one of life’s special treats. The extraordinary leaping, the eagerness to play, the bursts of energy that last through adulthood are simply enchanting, and uplifting.
As pets, they are easy to care for. They use a litter box (almost immediately, as kittens). They groom themselves and eat modestly, and aren’t choosy about their food. They have personalities as varied as humans, and most thrive on affection and give as much love as they get.
On the practical side, if you have cats in your house you will not have rodents. If you have cats outside, you will not have rodents or snakes.
Some people wrongly assume that cats are mostly for women, but plenty of famous men throughout history have been cat enthusiasts (Ernest Hemingway being one of them, and his tribe had six toes).
I was out at the old animal shelter on Sacerdote Lane one afternoon when a man came in. He looked like someone from Central Casting who had been selected to star in a beer or pickup truck commercial. When I asked him what he was looking for, he said he had lost his cat. His eyes became misty when he told me about the cat that had jumped in his truck on a construction site and for the last six months had been his companion. He said, “I didn’t know that cats were that smart. When I would stop at a site he would get out, walk around and survey the area and when I was ready to go all I had to do was say ‘come on, cat’ and he would jump in the truck. I had a food and water dish in there for him and we were just working buddies. One day on a site where I got contained longer than I had planned my cat didn’t show up and I am trying to find him.” He searched the shelter in vain, and as he left you could tell that the loss was troubling to him. But he had discovered what many non-cat people never have: A friendship with a cat is personal and close and goes both ways.
Right now there are many, many cats and kittens that for countless reasons — abandonment, home foreclosure, deployment, divorce — need homes. I assure you that if you adopt one your life will be enriched by the experience.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@