The domestication of the cat is an ongoing process. Domestication still takes place. The domestic cat is still very close to the wild cat in terms of behaviour and its genetic make up because, it is believed, that about 15 or 20 genes separate domestic cats from their wild relatives.
Dr John Bradshaw1 of Bristol University states:
“It is probably the smallest difference there is genetically between a domestic animal and its wild counterpart.”
He goes on to state that it wouldn’t take much to reverse the process, stall it or upset it.
The castration of good well raised middle-class domestic cats means they can’t produce offspring but wild tomcats can. Result? Lower numbers of domesticated cats.
Dr Bradshaw poses the theory that in the United Kingdom, in some places, as many as 99% of male cats are neutered. Obviously neutered cats can’t procreate. The only cats who can procreate are feral cats or stray cats in the process of becoming feral cats, of which there are an estimated 1,000,000. You hardly see them. I never see them! But they are there, unowned tomcats who are whole and healthy. They have not been castrated and as a consequence they desire to procreate and they succeed. By doing so they pass on their less domesticated genetic make up to their offspring. Bit by bit, the theory goes, the domestic cat becomes less domesticated; the evolutionary process of domestication is reversed.
The domestic cat is chosen because he or she is docile and has learned to become sociable and live in human households whereas the feral cat has completely different attributes, namely, a high proficiency in hunting and fighting and staying away from humans.
I can see the argument. It makes sense and is logical but I wonder whether it is a genuine problem or simply a theoretical problem. If Dr Bradshaw is correct it should be a wake up call to more intensive government managed trap-neuter-release (TNR) programmes.
The photo above is of Adele a feral kitten looked after by Bob Tucker in the USA.
The Perfect Domestic Cat?
On a different note, because there is such a small number of genes which make the difference between wild cats and domestic cats it might not be too hard in theory to breed the perfect cat.
The argument behind this proposition is this. Dr Bradshaw believes that about 7 or 8 genes affect the behaviour of the domestic cat. These are inherited behavioural traits. Behaviour is of course also affected by environmental issues in the early stages of a cat’s life.
Scientists will be able, in the not too distant future, to know what these genes do and thereby identify the friendliest cats genetically.
Once they are able to do that they will be able to selectively breed (or create in a laboratory) for the perfect cat. My immediate thoughts about this not good. I don’t like interfering with nature and you can see how this could all go wrong. In theory, it should go right but humankind has a tendency to abuse this sort of information in furtherance of its own self interests.
Dr Bradshaw is more optimistic. He says that selecting cats genetically for their friendly traits would mean that people would be able to select cats that are more suited to modern urban living. More and more people are living in the urban environment which is less suited to the domestic cat than the country environment. The urban cat needs to be more domesticated in order to be less stressed. There will be many more full-time indoor cats in the UK. People owe it to the domestic cats to ensure that they are suited to modern human living. That’s the argument. What do you think?
Note: 1 Dr Bradshaw wrote the book: Cat Sense: The Feline Enigma Revealed (ISBN-13: 978-1846145940).
8 weeks of age is perfect. Actually, up to 12 is really easy. Beyond that, it takes quite a bit of time and work. A feral kitten at 4-6 months takes more time to domesticate than they have lived.
A very astuite article Michael. I was beginning toi think I was the only person around who had arrived at that same conclusion. Pretty much the same situation exists here in Cyprus but with an even more sad side to it.By far the greatest number of free-born cats that are adopted by the foreign community, especially English ladies, are the friendliest ones. They are instantly spayed or neutered purely for the convenience of the owner. Less friendly cats do not get that treatment and are left to reproduce freely. The other factor is that a really good-looking long haired cat which here are Anatolian Turkish Angoras will stand a better chance of being adopted, and neutered of course, than any ordinary cat. Thus not only do these ladies discriminate against future generations of the the friendliest cats but also accelerate the demise of the increasingly rare Turkish Angora. The do-gooders are often the most dangerous people.
ps He’d never starve but I’m afraid Walter would!
I think feral kittens are easy to domesticate up to around 8 weeks of age aren’t they Dee? We found that so when doing Feral Officers for CP.
Our Jozef was the offspring of a domesticated mother and a feral father and he’s the most loving cat with us, but outdoors he’s his father’s son lol He brought another rabbit home today.
Something is a little confusing to me. Intact feral males that breed pass their less domesticated genetic makeup to their offspring. OK. Feral kittens are the easiest of all to domesticate.
Is the assumption that the feral male is mating with a domesticated female, therefore, producing a lesser domesticated line than the female is?
It’s just as well there are feral cats really, because when the human race wipes itself out, most domesticated cats will die out too, unable to look after themselves. Imagine the strictly indoor cats who have never been outside in their lives, how could they cope?
Declawed cats will stand no chance at all!
At least indoor/outdoor cats will have a chance, although they will have a struggle to survive.
Feral cats will ensure that small felines still inhabit the world but I just hope humans don’t evolve again and think they rule all other species because history will just repeat itself 🙁