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Every
week, Ms Keely Carabott, of Caramia Cats, member of
Malta Cat Club, brings a particular cat into the studio
and shows us how to take care of it. Throughout this
series, we will be exploring many aspects of Cats and
Cat care, including Nutrition, Grooming, Health, Feline
Behaviour and Welfare issues
The
history of the cat is an interesting tale with twists
and turns at every few hundred years. The cat has been
worshiped, adored, loathed, and persecuted by humans
throughout time.
To
understand cats' place in todays society, it is important
to know how the relationship between cats and humans
began.
It has been 5000 years since man domesticated the cat.
The first cat made tame was the African Wildcat. The
cat wasn't domesticated to make a pet or companion;
the cat was domesticated by accident.
In
the Valley of the Nile (which is now Sudan, but then
was Upper Egypt), the cat was first domesticated. The
people in Egypt at that time consumed large amounts
of grain, and they stored this grain in large storage
rooms. Many rats would draw to these rooms to eat the
grain and breed. The rats attracted cats who would eat
the rats, thus helping to eliminate Egypt's rodent problem.
People recognized this fact and left food out for the
cats to encourage them to "hang around." It
worked. Many cats bred and lived happy lives in Egypt
destroying the plentiful rats.
Now
the Pharoah had much grain that needed protection from
vermin. He wanted to consficate all of the cats in Egypt
and keep them near the palace graineries, but he couldn't.
Cats were so popular among his people that to remove
all the cats from all the people in Egypt would have
caused a revolt. So, instead he cleverly declared all
cats "demigods." This means that they weren't
gods equal to the Pharoah's status, but they certainly
were more valuable than the average person. With this
plan, people could care for the demigods (cats) while
they remained the official property of the Pharoah.
The status of the cat shot up overnight. If anyone killed
a cat, they were sentenced to death. If a house caught
on fire, the cats were pulled to safety first. If a
cat died of natural causes, the family had to bring
the dead animal to the priest to make certain the cat's
death was natural. People would sob for their cat with
outwardly displays of sorrow. Shaving their eyebrows
or beating their chest was a good sign of this sadness.
In time, the cat became known for health, fortune, and
marriage. To have many cats meant you were very lucky.
Cats
spread to other parts of the world by ship. The crew
members would always keep extra cats aboard the ship
to kill any mice that might be aboard. Cats spread quickly,
and soon were part of many religious beliefs and dieties.
One such goddess, Freya, a Norse goddess during the
middle ages, had the head of a cat and the body of a
woman. The inclusion of cats with religious gods became
the cat's downfall. When Christianity spread, it condemned
false gods, and cats were viewed as a manifestation
of the devil. This led to 100 years of pure torture
to the cat. Many were killed, tormented, burned at a
stake, or else roasted alive. Consequently, the cat
population declined tremendously, and cats became scarce.
It
is supposed that domestication of cats took place not
only in Egypt but in other regions on the globe. The
remains of animals discovered when excavating the ancient
settlements of the Bronze Age and even late Stone Age
on the territory of the Caucasus, Central Asia, India
confirm this idea. At the beginning of AD a cat as a
domestic animal, appeared in Roman Empire and according
to Plutarchus, in I century AD, it was found in Europe.
In the XIth century domestic cat spread over the whole
Europe and became an ordinary domestic animal used in
household first of all for catching rodents.
At
the same time the spreading took place in Russia. According
to excavations cats come to us not only from the west
but also from the south. There were discovered the remains
dating from the VIIth-VIIIth centuries AD in the south
of Ukraine, and in central and northern regions of Russia
(Moscow, Novgorod) - dating from the Xth-XIVth centuries.
Cat
become the favorite domestic animal because of its features
and habits, very specific, different from the features
of other domestic animals: meowing resembling the crying
of the child during the heat, changes of pupils of the
eyes depending on the power of light, soft, noiseless
step etc. And simultaneously it was chased and driven
away. In convents cat was the only animal allowed to
keep. In the Xth century in Great Britain cats were
worshiped; for theft or killing of the cat one could
be sentenced to death. In other countries, in France,
for example, at the same time cats was considered to
be a Satan, a monster. Often the owners of black cats
were accused of agreement with a devil. In the Middle
Ages many people were burnt with their cats. That's
why in the ancient pictures cats are depicted together
with the warlocks. The same image of this animal one
can find in fairy-tales, but absurd and invented superstitions
about cats have fallen into oblivion.
In
other countries where Islam ruled, cats were held in
respect. The legend says that Mohammed adored cats.
When one of them was sleeping on his sleeve and he had
to go out, Mohammed supposedly cut off the sleeve not
to disturb his pet.
The
cat was also common in China by 500 BC. At first the
cat was given as gifts to Emperors. As time went by
the nobility were allowed to own them, then the priesthood,
and finally the commoners. A lot of the cats interbreed
with the local wild cats and created some of the breeds
we know today. The fluffy Persian came from the country
of its name. Now called Iran. The Angora from Turkey.
The Siamese from Siam, now Thailand. The Burmese from
Burma, now Myanmar and the Bobtail from Japan. In Japan,
cats are seen as lucky. One of the most known cat is
the 'Beckoning Cat'. This cat is seen with one paw held
up, and brings good luck to Japanese and Chinese homes
and businesses that have one displayed. The story goes
that a cat used to stand out the front of the Gotokuji
Temple in Tokyo and hold up its paw and beckon people
in. Due to the cat the temple became very rich. The
temple still exists today and cat lovers go there to
pray for the good health of there pets.
In
Europe the cat was seen as evil and disciples of the
Devil. By 1400 the cat was almost extinct due to bad
press from the Church. This was because the Church felt
that the cat had to much connection to Pagan churches
and beliefs. This is one of the main reasons that The
Plague got out of hand.
At
first the People thought that cats and dogs were the
bringers of plague. This led to the anilination of both
animals. Later it was discovered that there was less
of a problem with plague if there was a lot of cats
around. This encouraged people to start keeping cats
again. |
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