There are many interesting facts about cats through the ages and the ways they have been used to help man. The ancient Egyptians were highly protective of their cats and anyone caught harming or killing one faced dire consequences. However, around 1000 BC, cats were being taken across the Mediterranean on board ships. They were undoubtedly used to keep down the rodent population in the stores of food on board those at the ships. In Japan, they were kept to help protect the valuable cocoons of the silk worm industry. Silk was a valuable commodity that was traded with other countries so protecting the silkworm from rats was necessary.
Interestingly, in battles between the Egyptians and the Persians in 525 BC, the Persian army are said to have paraded cats and other animals sacred to their enemy in front of their soldiers as protection. The Egyptians didn’t dare use their spears or arrows or for fear of injuring or killing the cats and thus offending their gods.
It is thought that the Romans took the cat with them when they invaded the United Kingdom. Footprints have then discovered on a tile from a Roman villa and feline skeletons have been found under the floor of a Roman house within the UK. When the Romans left, the cat remained and so began the relationship between cats and humans in the UK. At first they were used to keep the rodent population down in the grain stores and it is thought that it was children who first bought kittens into the home. Children have a special affinity with kittens and as they grew, they also kept down the mouse problem in the homes, allowing them to stay indoors.
Siamese and Birman cats were venerated as guardians of Buddhist temples, as both peoples believed that cats housed the spirit of the dead. There is an 18th century temple consecrated to the cat in Tokyo and in Ireland during the eighth or ninth century, Celtic monks created beautiful illustrations and poems for their cats.
During the middle ages in England, there must have been an explosion in cat numbers as Henry III authorized cat hunting to control numbers and also to provide fur for the monks to wear. Sanitation back then was a fairly haphazard affair with people emptying their night soil out the window. This provided ideal breeding conditions for rats. The black rat carried disease and spread the black death via his fleas, killing over a quarter of London’s population during the bubonic plague of the 1660s.
The cat was also persecuted for hundreds of years as it was thought that cats were linked to witchcraft and Satanic influence. This association lasted for about 450 years and cats were cruelly tortured and killed. During Lent, they were thrown into bonfires to expunge the devil in them. People back then were very superstitious and they couldn’t explain the features such as the cats reflective eyes and loud wailing. Cats were also thought of as being promiscuous as they majored with more than one Tom and this was thought of as being sinful or un-godly, especially during times of the puritans.
Even today, many consider a black cat crossing in front of us is either good luck or bad luck, depending where you live.
So cats through the ages have gone from being venerated as gods, to being associated with witchcraft and the devil. They have been used in battles to stop the enemy attacking and have been all but wiped out due to superstition. I think we can all thank our lucky stars that the cat managed to survive and grow into the wonderful pet we now have in our homes.
Cats, unlike dogs, can survive and live quite well in an unfriendly world where they have no home. This superb hunting ability means they should never go hungry.
Our cats are lucky in that they live in a super sensory world compared to ours. They can see, hear and smell things that are far beyond our abilities. Their physiology makes the ears, nose, eyes and tactile receptors such as whiskers incredibly sensitive in most areas and ranges that far exceed what you and I could do. I’m sure you’ve noticed that your cat seems aware of everything that goes on around it.
The cat’s whole body is sensitive to vibration with the paws especially so. It is thought that this sensitivity is linked to reports of cats that have predicted the proximity of earth tremors. They can ‘feel’ the pre-tremors or perceive the changes in the earth’s magnetic field. While we humans need very expensive specialized machinery for this sort of understanding, a cat appears to sense the atmospheric changes we miss. Science tells us that positively charged ions are released into the air just before some earthquakes. It seems very likely that our beautiful domestic cat can sense a change in the atmospheric static electricity through their fur. There are well documented occurrences of cats leaving villages mere hours before an earthquake.
The ability of the cat to detect changes in the atmospheric pressure is also thought to be why cats appear to be able to predict the weather. A cat may find a chair in a sunny spot before the clouds lift. They will also curl up in a secluded place or refuse to go outside if they sense rain. Some cats will vigorously rub and wash their ears before a storm as it is their very sensitive inner ear which detects these atmospheric changes.
It is thought that cats hold an internal ‘mapping’ of visual and scent aspects of where they are and other familiar routes they take. This is how they ‘find’ themselves when lost. They come across a previously ‘mapped’ area and it triggers a message in their brain which allows them to then find their way home. This is particularly marked in cats that have formed a strong bond with their family. Perhaps it is the vibrations and the cat’s sensitivity to them. It is believed that cats navigate using ‘homing’ instincts similar to those used by homing pigeons and migrating birds. Salmon are a perfect example of this as they unerringly find their way to where they were spawned when the time is right.
There have been many documented cases of cats travelling hundreds of miles to be reunited with their family, even though the way is not ‘mapped’ internally. There are also documented cases of cats who have accidently been left behind walking many hundreds of miles from the old home to the new home of their family. I cannot explain this as there can be no internal ‘mapping’ in these instances yet these cats will do anything to be reunited.
Is this ESP? A sixth sense? Or is it just five very well developed senses and an incredible bond with their family.
