Cat History

Cat History – The height of modern, sophisticated cat breeding below – Miss Kate (photo copyright Helmi Flick) a Maine Coon cat champion next to the skull of a Saber Tooth tiger, extinct 10,000 years ago.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Development & Spread of the domestic cat
• Domestic cat history – from before cat to domestic cat (new page)
• Cat history pictures – 40 odd pictures of cats in an historical context (new page).
• History of some individual cat breeds
• Miscellaneous articles concerning the history of the cat
• Timeline of the creation of the cat breeds
• ***See an alternative timeline of the cat – this is a good one***

Introduction

The history of the cat should start with, and really should be about, the history of the wild cat. Wild cat history occupies 99.98% of all of the history of the cat. This is on the basis that wild cats first walked on this planet about a maximum of 5 million years ago and the wild cat became domesticated in Cyprus about 9,500 years ago (about the time the Saber Tooth Tiger became extinct). The remains of domestic cats next to their deceased owners in Cyprus have also been dated as 6,000 years old and it is said that they must have been imported into Cyprus because wildcats do not naturally occur on Cyprus⁴. Interestingly, today, in early 2010, a new cat breed is being created from Cyprus feral cats native to the island (see Birth of A New Cat Breed).

The dog, incidentally, was tamed and domesticated well before the cat because of its utility (believed 12,000 years ago¹⁰). The cat was probably amongst the last of the species to be tamed².

Of course the exact date and place of the domestication of the wildcat is not certain. There is, though, little doubt that the area of the Mediterranean Sea was the center (the Mediterranean Basin – The Ascent of Cat Breeds). This includes Cyprus and Egypt. Although a recent Scientific American article states that dometication started in the Fertile Crescent¹¹. This is an area just to the east and south east of the Mediterranean Sea – see map¹²>>

Update April 2011: Recent research may indicate that domestication of the cat also took place in Peru some 3.500 year ago.

I wrote a potted history of the big cats, which kicks off the history of the cat: History Of The Big Cats.

Most visitors will want to know about the history of the domestic cat so although it only occupies .02% of all history of the cat it is the focus of attention here. One reason for this is that the pressing topic for the wild cats is currently (at Jan 2010) not its history but its future. The big question is how we can live in harmony with the wildcat (not captive wildcats), if that is what we want.

Another reason why discussing the domestic cat is more pertinent is that there are about 500 million domestic cats in the world and only a tiny fraction of that number are wildcats, which means that about 99.98% of all cats on the planet are domesticated. This is a nice symmetry with the history. The rapid decline in the wild cat population is mirrored by the rapid increase in the domestic cat population over the last 150 years or so. This reflects humankind’s attitude towards nature – control. Today, the cat is the most favoured pet in the west, with about 8 million in the UK and about ten times that in the USA. Because of its utilitarian skills, dogs are probably favoured in eastern countries (Dogs versus Cats).

Ultimately, cat history for people is mainly about the domestic cat and I focus on that initially. This page is always work in progress to a certain extent, however.

The Development and Spread of the Domestic Cat – more cat history

The domestic cat is a tamed wild cat. In this instance the term “wild cat” refers to a species of small wild cat by that name (a bit confusing possibly). The wild cat is naturally similar in appearance to the domestic cat. There is still (just) a wild cat in Scotland with a population of about 400. But are these purebred wildcats anymore? A new program to neuter 100,000 feral cats occupying the wildcats habitat is planned to remove the prospect of diluting the genes.

The African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) is quite wide spread, more likely to be purebred (than the Scottish wildcat) and it was tamed by the Egyptians some 4,000 years ago¹. The skeletons of African wildcats and domesticated wildcats are very similar, understandably³. The wildcat is a tabby cat and the tabby domestic cat is the most numerous of all coat types.

The exact process of domestication is unclear but the wild cat proved to be useful and that is a good reason for making friends with it and domesticating it. It is likely that African wild cat kittens and their parents on the periphery of villages, where they would have scavenged and kept rodents and snakes down, where then domesticated. The wealthy Egyptians of that time also liked to tame wild animals generally and would have added tamed wilcats to their collections, it is thought⁵. African wild cat kittens are not necessarily easy to handle, however⁶. But a visitor to this site differs in that assessment (My Pet African Wildcat)

I have written about Cat in Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Cat Art. The Egyptian Mau, both a glamorous purebred cat in the west and a downtrodden feral cat in Egypt is thought to be the domestic version of the African Wildcat. The Egyptian Mau has a belly flap – is this significant? The Egyptians worshipped the cat but this was not, in my opinion an indication that the cat was any better treated than today (Egyptian cat Worship). Click on the X-ray above too.

It is believed that the first domestic cats, in and around the Mediterranean (which includes Cyprus and Egypt of course), were then exported through the movement of people initially to Rome⁷ and then beyond. The Romans through their armies were good travellers. The domestic cat in England originates in importations by the Romans and is not a domesticated Scottish Wild cat. Although as mentioned there are now numerous wild cat hybrids in Scotland.

After an uneventful period from around 55 BC when the Romans arrived in Britain to the dreaded Middle Ages or medieval Britain not much seems to have happened except for the steady progress of the domestic cat in Europe and as far as Asia by the 10th century. I have written about the genetic make-up of the various cat breeds in reference to their origins (in the Meditteranean) on this page: Cat Genetics — the cat breeds.

There are documents from the tenth century in Wales (part of the United Kingdom or UK) referring to domestic cats indicating that the cat companion was becoming more common in Europe. Although they must have been relatively scarse judging by the price put on a domestic cat by the King of Wales in AD 945.

The cat had a value and was respected for its utility. During this period in Europe the cat’s mousing abilities were recognised (as they had been earlier in Egypt), which lead to the now well-known ship’s cat. As a result, there are a number of sailing terms centered around the word “cat”, such as cat of nine tails, catwalk etc.. The cat was carried far and wide. Perhaps the most famous ships cat is Simon, who was awarded the Dickin Medal. Ruth, a valued visitor to PoC has written and performed a Simon’s Song in hs memory.

Superstition is still a part of life today but in the Middle Ages it appears there was more of it and the humble cat bore the brunt of it sometimes. It was thought that the tortoiseshell cat could predict storms and, staying on the theme of weather, in Indonesia cats were employed as rain makers. This superstition became a point of persecution of the cat in the Middle Ages in Europe, which lasted 300 years.

In the days of the Middle Ages from the 5th century through to the 16th century, witches were very real and the poor cat was thought of a witches familiar, meaning an intimate companion. The black cat was the most persecuted and even today the black cat is the least popular in rescue centers, apparently. I feel that the fear of cats is a major factor in this superstition (Ailurophobia).

During the Middle Ages, particularly toward the 14th century⁸, it was believed by some that witches, who were portrayed as old, ugly women, had a nipple that delivered blood and milk to feed the black cat! Witches were tortured as they were thought to be able to cause harm to people. The witches cat companion was likewise victimised. Women deemed to be witches were hanged as late as 1692 in the United States.

The first trial for witchcraft took place in 1566⁹. The women and her daughter were hanged. The phrase a cat has nine lives is linked to witchcraft and superstition. The cat was persecuted at this time. Abuse of cats was considered amusing – it still is by some people, incidentally (at Jan 2010). In the late 17th century our relationship with the cat started to return to one that was more normal. This may in part be attributed to Cardinal Richelieu who had dozens of cats it seems.

There are many cat haters today, a legacy of the superstitious past. Research indicates that there are 7 times more cat haters than dog haters. This is a also a legacy of the past, plus the fear of cats, plus the potential to be allergic to cats and of course the independence of the cat over the dogs obedience (Cats vs Dogs).

The rise in the domestic cat brought with it an explosion in the number of cat breeds from the late 19th century to the present (2010). The most active time for cat breed creation was the 1950s (see chart below).

I wonder if the cat fancy should be rebooted and reset to default? This is just a slightly provocative thought. But what is the default position? Probably sometime in the early part of the 20th century. It could be argued that two many cat breeds were “created”, which harmed the cat fancy and it could also be argued that the purity of some breeds and the integrity of other breeds regarding health have been compromised throughout the 20th century by less than meticulous cat breeding. See for example: Siamese cat health problems and Genetic Diseases in Purebred Cats.

Next on this page I deal with three sorts of cat history:

1. The particular history of a handful of selected cat breeds
2. Miscellaneous items concerning cats in history (a list)
3. The history of the domestic cat generally in the form of a time line

Update: A map showing the places of origin of all the mainstream cat breeds: Cat Breeds Places of Origin.

History of Some Individual Cat Breeds + a bit extra

Each page of the cat breeds has a history section. In addition, I have prepared pages on the history of the following cat breeds in more detail:

• Angora cat– this cat has a large historical connection
• First Abyssinian Cat Zula, Zula a drawing of the supposed first Abyssinian to be imported.
• Jean-Honore Fragonard Le Chat Angora more on the Angora through a painting
• Balinese cat history
• Siamese cat history
• History of British Shorthair cat
• The British Longhair – this cat is all about history
• Cornish Rex cats
• Maine Coon cat history
• Norwegian Forest Cat history
• Persian cat breeding history
  • Persian cat transformation
• Serval 1923
• American Shorthair cat
• Were the Turkish Angora and Van the same cat?
• The History of the California Spangled cat

Miscellaneous Items Concerning Cat History

A hotch potch of items that I came across that I found interesting and which fit nicely into a page on cat history.

• Cats’ Meat Men – selling cat food on the street in times gone by.
• “Curiosity Killed The Cat” – started out in 1598 when it was something different.
• “Raining Cats And Dogs”  – the real origin with original texts from 1710 and 1738.
• “Cat Got Your Tongue” – the orgins
• Clowder – an old word to describe a group of cats in one place
• Cats in Ancient Egypt – a critical look at the worhip of cats at that time
• History of the Big Cats – potted history of the lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard.
• “Let the cat out of the bag” (opens in new window )
• “No room to swing a cat”
• Cat O’ Nine Tails
• “Cat has nine lives”
• “Having kittens”
• “Cat in hell’s chance”
• From Wildcat to Domestic cat
• Medieval cats
• Domestication of the cat
• Domestic cat history
• Kilkenny cat 
• Second National Cat Show Crystal Palace
• Early UK cat shows
• Animals in War
• History of Cat Litter
• Cat hoarding 28th May 1887 
• Cat Bravery
• Egyptian Cat Art
• UK Cat Shows – a piece of cat show history – opens in a new window.
• Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Four Cats In Different Poses concerns the Japanese bobtail and discusses a painting.
• William Hogarth – The Distressed Poet is this a Turkish Van?
• See Cats in Paintings for old paintings with cats in them. These can be quite informative.
• Birth of a New Cat Breed – current history in the making (late 2009).
• The Origin of the Word, Meow
• Cat Superstitions
• Cat in the Bag – this is about a Danish tradition that was quite unpleasant.

Cat History Time Line

Cat History or the evolution of the wild cats all the way through to the first domestic cats, followed by the development of the cat fancy and consequently the creation of numerous domestic cat breeds is all set out below in the form of a continuous time line.

The intention is to get a feel for “whole picture” and how the modern domestic cat fits into world history.

The dates are in years. For example, “40 million” means 40 million years ago. The more modern era is marked by an actual date.

This website if still growing. Although there are a lot of links to cats referred to on this page, there will be more links in time. The dates for the modern domestic cat breeds refer to the date the cat was created or “discovered”. “Discovered” in this context means by someone in the West, usually a cat breeder discovering a de facto new breed in another country.

Links on the cat breed takes you to a full description and to the best pictures. Links on the dates and area of origin take you to notes on this page as, for example, the date may be disputed.

I have included links to posts about things associated with cats and cat breeds, such as cat shows as this helps to put the history of the cat breeds in context. These are in italics to separate them out from the date or origin of the cat breeds.

Cat history — Important note: cat history is often hazy so these dates, although often accurate, may on occasions be estimates.

Cat History -This Chart shows the “productive” years in the cat fancy
-the 1950s and 60s and then the 1980s.

How many cat breeds are there?

Cat History – The Future

Cat history wouldn’t be complete without some predictions. So, I can’t resist, on this occasion, making a fool of myself and speculating what the future might bring. These are my views only and pure speculation. We can see in the graph above the “explosion” in the creation of cat breeds during the 20th century.

The breeds listed are not all the cat breeds as there are many experimental breeds or proposals for breeds, which you can see on this page: Domestic cat breeds (this is a spill over list).

The number of cat breeds has possibly reached near saturation point and perhaps even overshot the mark (i.e. too many as some could be merged some people would argue).

The three areas where change are likely to occur for cats are (a) feral cat populations – upwards (b) wild cat populations – downwards (c) cat association rationalization – merger (d) introduction of regulations to encourage responsible cat ownership. And I am talking mainly here of the USA as I must do because it is the biggest “market” by far for the domestic cat but I am not being critical of it in any way. Nothing approaches it and it is the most developed domestic cat market it seems to me. USA wide ban on declawing is also possible and indeed probable.

Many cats in the poorer countries will live poor lives for many years to come and it is almost impossible to do much about that because of inefficient and sometimes, regrettably, corrupt governments.

I have put some proposed dates into the time line below with respect to the above changes.

Cat History – Timeline

Date Origin/discovery/event | Cat breed or Event  |         Area 

|——-2009 (12-12-09)–Declawing banned in the USA in 8 Calif. cities.
|
|——-2008——-Elf cat———————USA
|
|——-2005—Est.2.1 million cats killed in animal shelters (source) —-USA
|
|——-2004—Estimated 70 million feral cats (National Geographic News)– USA
|——-2004—Est. 7.7 million domestic cats in UK (source)————UK
|
|——-2000—Est. 3 million feral cats in Los Angeles—–USA
|
|——-1998——Minskin———————-USA
|
|——-1996—-Est. 60 million feral cats & 60 million pet cats (source) —USA |
|
|——-1994——Serengeti——————-USA
|
|——-1993——RagaMuffin——————USA
|
|——-1990s—–Peterbald——————Russia
|
|
|——-1987——Sekirk Rex——————-USA
|
|——-1986——Savannah cat—————-USA
|
|——-1984——Ojos Azules—————–USA
|——-1984——Nebelung——————–USA
|
|——-1980s—–Pixie-bob——————-USA
|
|——-1980——Toyger———————-USA
|
|——-1980——Seychellois——————UK
|
|——-1983——Munchkin——————-USA
|
|——-1982——LaPerm———————USA
|
|——-1981——Burmilla——————–UK

|——-1800s—–Kurilian Bobtail————-Kurilian Islands
|
|
|——-1800s (early) almost entire Cougar pop. gone from Eastern USA—USA
|
|——-1798—–Origins of phrase, “Kilkenny cat”—-Ireland
|
|——-1730——Manx——————–Isle of Man, UK
|
|
|
|——-1599——Nowegian Forest Cat formally made  a cat breed in 1930 (German cat show) ——Norway
|
|——-1500s—–Persian——————-UK, Europe
/

|
|——14th Century—Burmese—————-Thailand
|——14th Century—Korat——————–Thailand
|——14th Century—Chartreux—————France
|——14th Century—Siamese (Traditional)—Siam (Thailand)
|——14th Century—Turkish Angora————Turkey
|
|——13th Century—Siberian cat————–Russia
/

|——5th Century—Japanese Bobtail——–Japan
|
|——1600 BC——Turkish Van—————Turkey
|
|——2000 BC—–Egyptian Mau————-Egypt – see note

/

Painting from the tomb of Nebamun built in about 1400 BC in ancient Egypt showing a cat that has similarities to the modern day feral Egyptian Mau.
Some experts think that the ancient Egyptian trained cats for use in catching birds. This picture is in the public domain.

|
|——10,000 years—–Cougar becomes extinct North America?
|——10,000 years —-Saber Tooth tiger becomes extinct
|——10,000 years—wild cat becomes domesticated for first time
/

|
|——–750,000——–Lion——————-Western Africa
/

/

|The cat history dates below are estimates and imprecise.
|
|——–1.5 million—-Jaguar—————–Europe
|
|——–1.5-2 million—Tiger
|
|——–2 million—–Leopard——————France
|——–2 million—–Leopard–common ancestor of this cat
|——–2 million—–Jaguar—common ancestor of this cat
|
|——–2.5 million—Leopard——————North America
|
|
|——–3.5 million—-Lion (this conflicts with the above date)
|
|——–4 million——Lynx-early descendants
|
|——–10 million—-modern wild cats (felids) inhabited the world
|
|——–40 million—-Miacis—weasel like animal predates the cat

See History of the Big Cats

Cat History – Notes – these are linked notes to the dates and places in the chart above

1. Birman – Robinson’s Genetics says the date is disputed and may be 1930s in France. Cat history is sometimes vague.

2. Egyptian Mau – It is unclear if this cat breed was a domestic cat at this time. The breed was first recognized in Europe (according to Robinson’s Genetics) in 1953. My research indicates this breed was first shown in Europe during pre-second world war years (1930s).

3. Japanese Bobtail – Imprecise date. Could be anywhere inbetween the 5th and 10th Century.

4. Kurilian Bobtail – This cat is claimed to have developed in isolation as perhaps a semi-feral cat. There are no reliable dates.

5. LaPerm – Robinson’s Genetics says 1986.

6. Maine Coon – this date is when the cat was first shown in a show. The actual date when the breed was a domestic cat is unknown.

7. Manx – Vague beginnings. Robinson’s Geneticsa says “early”.

8. Nebelung – Robinson’s Genetics says 1990s

9. Oriental Shorthair – My research indicted 1970s. I have put the earlier date from Robinson’s Genetics.

10. Ultra Persian – this date comes from Robinson’s Genetics. My website indicates that the breeding of the peke-faced or flat faced Persian began in earnest later than this towards the end of the 1900s.

11. Persian – the original doll face Persian cat was imported from Iran at about this time. But cat history if notoriously hazy.

12. Pixie-bob – this could be 1995 according to Robinson’s.

13. Russian Blue – The date is the date of informal importation into the UK.

14. Safari cat – Robinson’s says 1980s. My research indicated first bred for experimentation in the 1970s.

15. Savannah cat – Robinson’s Genetics says “1997?”. I am confident that they are incorrect. Accordingly I believe that my research is better than theirs (sorry not being arrogant, just what I believe).

16. Modern Siamese – The date refers to the beginning of the development of the contemporary version of this long established cat. Siamese cat history.

17. Singapura – Although a bit controversial this breed was probably created in the US rather than discovered in Singapore.

18. Turkish Angora – This date is when it is thought the first Turkish Angora cats were imported into Europe.

19. Turkish Van – This date is an estimated date when evidence first existed of the presence of this cat breed. This cat was first imported into the UK in 1955.

20. Feral cat estimate at 1996 source: Sarah Hartwell article (Messybeast)

21. Feral cats killed in animal centers source: http://network.bestfriends.org

22. Cat pop. 1953 source: Times Archive (Times Newspaper)

23. Pop of domestic cats in UK 2004 source: Cats Protection

24. Egyptian Mau – this date (2000 BC) is the estimated date for the presence of feral cats that are the precursor of the purebred Egyptian Mau. Although we really don’t know. There are still many feral cats in Egypt that look like an unrefined Egytian Mau and they are persecuted. The Egyptian Mau in the modern era came to prominence in the 1950s.

Notes – cat history:

1. Wild Cats Of The World by the Sunquists

2. Wild Cats Of The World by the Sunquists – page 100

3. A Natural History of Domesticated Animals by Clutton-Brock J

4. The Archeology of Animals Davis SJM 1987

5. The domestication and history of the cat from The Domestic cat: The Biology of its behavior by Serpell JA.

6. Wild Cats Of The World – Sunquists page 100

7. A history of domesticated animals 1963 by Zeuner FE

8  Wild Cats of the World page 102 – Sunquists

9  Wild Cats of the World page 102 – Sunquists

10. Wild Cats of the World

11. http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=the-taming-of-the-cat

12. Wikmedia Commons file – Created by NormanEinstein, December 21, 2005 — see license

From Cat history to Home page

Cat History – Sources other than noted in text:

• Animal Corner
• (link broken Jan 2014)
• HDW
• research as stated on the webpage (on this website) of the cat breed in question