How Cats Went From Predator to Pet

Cats have long held the human race in the palms (pads?) of their tiny, deadly paws. 

We worship them as near deities, even as they gaze into our souls with their cold eyes reflecting the void of the universe itself. They tear our furniture to shreds knowing full well they are invincible. They tip our mugs, cups, glasses and other delicate objects off of whatever surface they can find, only for the distinct pleasure of watching their human master panic and kneel to tidy their destruction. 

They don’t need us. We don’t need them. Yet somehow, these feline demigods have utter control over their mere-mortal human creatures. 

It turns out that humanity’s relationship with cats hasn’t changed all that much since we first started interacting with them back in the ancient times. Cats don’t need us now, and they certainly didn’t need us then. 

So how did we end up with such a complicated relationship with this particular pet? How come domesticated dogs turned out so differently from domesticated cats? 

The answer? Cats domesticated themselves. They allowed this to happen. We are all part of their master plan. We are not in control. Be afraid.

Don’t believe us? Listen to this.

How cats went from predator to pet

The early cat

Scientists have discovered that domestic cats today are descended from a common ancestor: Felis silvestris. Also known as an African wildcat, this small but deadly cat is native to Africa and southwest Asia. And, apart from a few changes in coat color, tail length and size, domestic cats today haven’t changed all that much from the still-present wild cat species.

This may seem strange at first, as dogs also share a common ancestor yet have vastly different species from Poodles to Great Danes to Chihuahuas. 

There are two fundamental reasons for these differences. First, wolves started being domesticated by humans as long as 40,000 years ago, allowing for millennia of evolutionary changes and breeding varieties. Cats, though, were only domesticated around 7,500 B.C., so there’s been much less time for major varieties to develop. 

Another major reason for the relative lack of change is that dogs were usually domesticated and bred to perform specific duties, such as herding, running, hunting or pulling. Dogs were selectively bred for these purposes, whereas cats never had such specific purposes requiring selective breeding. 

Essentially, cats avoided millennia of genetic mutation and variation by just… not being all that useful. Which, in itself, is pretty darn impressive. 

Human, meet cat

This is where humans come in. 

Wildcats introduced themselves to humans when Neolithic-era peoples began to build permanent structures and rely on agriculture and farm animals to sustain themselves. 

Neolithic technology (i.e. the Stone Age) began in an area called the Fertile Crescent, which is the area along the Nile, Jordan, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Northeast Africa and the Middle East. 

Neolithic farmers began to grow grain in abundance, storing it in greenhouses for the winters. With the grainhouses came mice, rats and other little rodents, and those in turn attracted their natural predators: the African wildcat. 

African wildcats were still wild, but they still began to hang around the grainhouses in search of easy prey. The humans hated the rats more than the cats, and so the arrangement was mutually-beneficial. The humans wouldn’t bother the cats, and the cats would eat the mice. 

Cats become royalty

As wildcats became more and more comfortable with humans (and vice-versa), they began to integrate into human households. Not as the passive indoor cats we have today, per se, but as roaming predators who hung around human settlements. 

It was in Egypt that cats began to be revered for their ability to protect humans from the rodents, snakes and scorpions that were living near their settlements. Egyptians began to integrate cats more fully into their homes, feeding them and treating them as valued assets.

These cats were truly treated like royalty. The feline goddess Bastet was the goddess of family, fertility and love, and people worshipped cats as the mortal form of the deity. Cats were also protected by law, and anyone who killed one could be punished by death.

Archaeologists have found mummified cats in tombs alongside their deceased owners, portraying the evident importance these feline creatures held in Egyptian families.

Cats today

Cats waltzed into human life after being attracted to the rodents and trash that were present in settlements. Humans found their presence helpful and brought them along as they migrated through Europe, Asia and Africa. 

After sea travel became more and more popular, people brought cats with them on long voyages to protect the food storages from stowaway rodents and critters. Cats followed their human subjects across the world, and today they occupy every corner of the globe. 

However, as humans became increasingly fascinated with these feline creatures, they also began to provide for everything the cats needed. Cats now had food, shelter, protection and warmth, so there was little reason to keep hunting to the same degree as before.  

Cats today are still marvelous hunters, but they lack the same ferocity that their wild relatives still hold. Domestic cats today enjoy lives that are filled with sunbathing, lounging, pampering and feasting on a never-ending stream of food and water. And, of course, the occasional dead bird or mouse. 

Domestic cats are the result of wild cats training their human companions to provide for them in every way. They provide nearly none of the same services that made them valuable in the first place, yet they have risen to a rank none of us could possibly hope to attain. 

If we ever thought that we were the cats’ owners, we’ve been gravely mistaken. It’s the cats who own us, and we would have it no other way.

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/miezekieze