History of Cats

Cats:

The relationship between cats and the human race goes back at least 4,000 years, and throughout the partnership it has had its up's and downs over the course of history.

All felines belong to a family called the felids and were thought to have evolved 12 million years ago. Domestic felines originated from African wild cats, which they are still closely related to. The first domestic felines were thought to have lived 8,000 years ago in Cyprus. Early settlers must have introduced the them to the island, as there were no wild ones present.

They are depicted in Egyptian paintings and sculptures from 3,000 BC. They were used to control pests in grain stores and

And it has never been stronger than it is today, which is such good news, if I do say so myself.

There are 7.6 million in Britain alone, and in 1988 it was announced that they had for the first time had overtaken dogs as Britain's favourite pets. The possibility reflects on the turn of events in a much busier turn of the century, that felines are easier to look after and less demanding of time than dogs.

Whatever the reason, today's world reflects that cats are the more favoured pets.

It is always interesting to know more and more about our pets, and knowing how much we find out about our felines, we never seem to be surprised by another of their antics. They are always surprising us, and I am sure that that is one of their endearing characteristics that we find about them - that we never quite know our kitties in the same way that we know our dogs or our best friends.

As Sir Walter Scott once wrote: Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.

One in five British and North American homes have at least one feline as a member of their family. There are more than six million in Britain and five times the number in the United Sates alone.

North Americas have for some time owned more felines than dogs, and in 1988 it was announced that in Britain,to,they had taken the lead in house hold pets. In some other countries, cat fellowship is even more wide spread. In France and Austria, for example, the proportion is nearer one in every three households.

They make rewarding and loving pets. While in many ways they are solitary creatures, often seeming to prefer their own company, what is certain, is that they seem to need and value companionship.

Their early months as kittens are full of strongly bonding experiences and this need for similar bonding persists in the domestic feline.

They owe their friendship with humans to two qualities.

Firstly, they are opportunists which drove them to attach themselves to human settlements in the first place. You have only to watch a feline on the prowl, even a well fed one, to see how its senses are alert to anything that may be of advantage - a scuttling mouse, a new birds nest, some new feature in the garden that could be an advantage point, or in the house.

Second,they are adaptable which has allowed them to come to terms with domestic life and all the graduations between being in the wild, or by the heath.

They have adapted as easily to shipboard life - it was only in 1975 that, on hearth grounds, that they were band from British navel ships at sea - as to life in a new colony ( as was the Mayflower act and its successors) or even a continuant where they were previously unknown, as was the case of the settlers kitties were also taken to Australia.

Indoors or Outdoors, although they are best suited to a combined indoor and outdoor style of life, house bound, they can live perfectly contented lives provided they have plenty of companionship, and a well balanced diet, affection, and opportunities to exercise their chasing and climbing skills.

The down side of keeping them indoors is that if they should escape it will be less able to cope with the hazards of the outside world, especially road traffic, and it may have to fight its way into a territory occupied by others of their kind.

They always Preserve their own dignity and reserve, unlike dogs, are not particularly eager to please their owners. They can rarely be taught to do tricks, not because they are less intelligent than dogs, but because they simply do not see the point.

If they want to master a particular skill, stretching up to operate a door latch to let themselves in out of the cold, they will do so because the reward is immense and personal.

Whether their owner thinks it is quite or clever is irrelevant. Play is of course a different matter, and even quite elderly cats will enjoy a hunting game with a catnip mouse or a similar toy.

Their striking characteristics, is how, having experienced the human world, they have added their understanding of it to their instincts for survival.

A lost dog will tend to roam until it collapses of exhaustion.

Whereas long before crisis is reached, lost... they will seek the source of warmth is has learned is available - human habitation.

Many a stray or a lost, have found a new home simply by

Some, indeed, take this confidence in finding a comfortable billet to extremes, and if they are upset at home home take off in the certainty there is grass just as green on the other side of the hill.

Samuel Johnson's kitty Hodge, probably gained as much pleasure from the attentions of Dr Johnson as the doctor did from the attentions of Hodge. Perhaps the truth is that they live for the moment and dogs live for the future.

Ther future might be uncertain. However placid and confident they might seem, it is never far away from the realities of the wild world where it might have to fight its corner against rival felines and find its own food and secure sleeping place.

Whatever way you might interpret it, they are a noble and graceful companion that we know and love.

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