A brief history of the domestication of cats

Some experts think the cat was first tamed about 3500 BC. The ancient Egyptians were the first people to keep cats as pets; they also worshipped cats as gods. The goddess Bastet, daughter of the sun god Ra, had a cat's head. The Egyptians loved and worshipped her, and so loved cats. Deceased cats were mummified and given the same kind of burial as human family members.

The ancient Romans, in the conquest of Egypt, brought cats home to Europe. After a period of disfavor during the superstitious Middle Ages, cats were restored to hero status: when rats from Asia brought the Black Plague to Europe, people who had kept cats survived, for their cats killed the rats. Soon cats became protected by law.

In Victorian times, cats were a favorite subject of artists and writers, and were considered part of a happy home.  Studies have shown that petting a cat lowers a person’s blood pressure and that elderly people who are able to keep their pets live longer. The healing power of cats is being used to help people in increasingly popular programs in which pets are taken to visit nursing home residents.

I read that cats, unlike dogs or horses, initiated their own domestication. They probably approached a human family group, killed some vermin, accepted some food and a spot by the fire as a reward, and thus earned the humans’ respect by making their usefulness known. Now, most cats spend their days in leisure, not having to work for their keep. But then, compared to the way humans lived throughout most of the last three or four millennia—so do we!

©Lisa J. Lehr