There will have to be far more controlled, selective breeding of domestic cats to create a companion animal which is more able to keep up with our expectations than is currently the case. Dr. Bradshaw in his book Cat Sense states that up until about 30 years ago the domestic cat kept up with the demands of humans. But nowadays they struggle to do so.
What he is talking about is this: there is far more concern nowadays about domestic cat predation on wildlife because there is more concern about wildlife conservation. This has been brought about, I argue, by the destruction of the planet by humans and as humans are unable to change their ways, they are forcing a change upon the domestic cat instead.
And there is a trend to keep cats indoors full-time. People don’t want their cats to roam away from the home. But back in the day people didn’t mind. These topics were not on the agenda.
But there are far more non-purebred cats than purebred cats. This applies to any country. Non-purebred cats i.e. moggies, are not selectively bred. Their creation is through natural selection (Darwinian science). Moggies are not created to behave in a certain way, to have a certain character and a certain appearance which suits humans.
But humans need to create cats which have a certain character, a character which is less desirous of roaming and hunting which can be achieved through selective breeding. You can create cats which are less interested in hunting and more suited to a full-time indoor life. And in creating such a cat they will meet the expectations of their human caregiver. There will be greater harmony between cat and human in the modern stressed-up world.
The cat is perhaps unique in this sense. Dogs have been selectively bred for far longer than cats. There are far more dog breeds than cat breeds. This means that dogs have been created to fit in better with human family life. The cat is still regarded as being independent and “aloof”. Some argue that they are barely domesticated. When they go outside to roam, they revert to their wild nature.
In the foreseeable future, natural evolution is not going to produce a cat that has no desire to hunt and that is “as socially tolerant as a dog” in the words of Dr. Bradshaw. There is an urgency about the need to create cats which benefit the current expectations of humankind and to help eliminate the criticisms by conservationists, ornithologists and bird lovers.
This is a topic which has only been discussed, it seems to me, by Dr. Bradshaw in his book. It’s a bit disturbing because it means that there should be more cat breeders which I don’t particularly like the idea of because there are too many rescue cats that need homes and to create more cats through deliberate breeding undermines overall cat welfare. There will need to be a coordinated response.
Perhaps in a more authoritarian world, a government would issue an order that henceforth all domestic cats are going to be selectively bred to have a character which takes away the desire to hunt and which makes them fluffy and passive but entertaining companions who love being inside the family home. That’s a fiction but it might become fact one day.
