BRIEF HISTORY In the Company

Feline ancestors of today’s domestic of Cats cats still live and thrive in Asia and Africa. How cats have survived, thrived and captivated us for thousands of years. BY SHERRY BAKER

f your cat’s bossy analysis shows that most cats had preservation, were both positioned attitude and the stripes and coloring we associate with heads pointed west. entertaining antics with today’s tabby. That suggests to Vigne that the cat have you catering to Archaeological evidence concurs: could well have been a beloved pet. I her needs, you are Stone and clay statues up to 10,000 not alone. Your thoroughly modern years old suggest that cats were kitty is descended from a long line culturally important in the areas GLORY DAYS IN EGYPT of ancestors who likely used those that are now Syria, Turkey and Researchers say that cats have long same skills to cajole, sneak and work Israel. And bones of cats from about been helpers to human farmers in their way into the lives of humans that time period have also been several areas of the Mediterranean for thousands of years. “What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of Cats working on farms some 10,000 cats?” the American essayist, naturalist and feline lover Henry years ago, at the dawn of human David Thoreau asked back in the 19th century. Today, the answers agriculture, looked like the tabby of today. are finally at hand: Thanks to new archaeological discoveries and advances in DNA analysis, we’ve come up with some surprising found on the island of Cyprus, where and the Near East. But some 4,000 insights into this most ancient pet. they presumably arrived by boat. years ago, in ancient Egypt, they There’s evidence that at least were elevated in status to much, some of the cats could have been much more. “Egypt was an agrarian DOWN ON THE FARM pets at that time too. Denis Vigne, society, and therefore cats became DNA studies have traced most of head researcher at the French very important to the people who today’s domesticated cats, species National Center for Scientific were tilling the fields and storing name Felis silvestris catus, to ancient Research (CNRS), and colleagues the grain, because cats could get rid wildcats of the subspecies Felis discovered the remains of a cat of vermin. But it didn’t take long for silvestris lybica. These wildcats were on Cyprus, buried close to a cats to find their way into Egyptian found in North Africa and the Near 9,500-year-old human grave filled homes and then become part of East at the dawn of human farming with valuables like polished stones. the ancient Egyptians’ everyday An African wildcat (Felis lybica some 10,000 years ago, and genetic The cat and man, in similar states of routine,” explains Egyptologist cafra), perches in a tree.

30 UNDERSTANDING CATS 31 Modern kitty litter has allowed cats to live inside.

A bronze statuette Melinda Hartwig. “But Egyptians of Bastet, a sacred didn’t domesticate cats. Cats animal that Egyptians FROM ASHES TO AWESOME associated with fertility. domesticated themselves. They were lovable pets as well as hunters.” Ancient The ancient Egyptians looked at The Story of Cat Litter Egyptians the natural world and saw in it the looked at cats embodiment of the divine, Hartwig, and saw in them curator of Egyptian art at Emory CATS WERE LARGELY the spark of University’s Michael C. Carlos relegated to the outdoors until the divinity. Museum, explains. “They didn’t arrival of a 20th-century concept: look at cats as divine, but they the indoor “toilet” equivalent for saw cats as having a spark of felines, the litter box, allowing what makes divinity.” cats to be domesticated at last. From that came depictions of Messy and sometimes unsanitary gods and goddesses with feline things like ashes, dirt, sawdust qualities, often animal heads and and sand were first used in boxes human bodies. Two of the most so that cats given the opportunity contained, like clumping agents; important cat goddesses in Egyptian to live inside had a place to “do antidust sprays, including PTFE mythology were the fierce lion- their business.” But the lives of (better known as Teflon); and headed goddess Sekhmet, cats and cat owners changed perfumelike scents. a protector of justice, and Bastet, dramatically in 1948, when a Litter boxes now come in a large associated with the home, fertility Michigan man named Edward variety too—deep pans, covered and childbirth. Lowe gave us modern litter. boxes and disposable pans. A visit to Divine Felines: Cats Lowe worked in his father’s Battery-powered self-cleaning of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition at company, which sold industrial litter boxes work with a rakelike the Carlos Museum, reveals the absorbents like sawdust and clay. instrument that moves across and pervasiveness of cats in Egyptian One day a neighbor asked if he through the litter, sifting out waste life: cat-shaped wooden coffins had any sawdust she could have. and depositing it into a receptacle for cat mummies; amulets in cat She’d been using ashes in a box at one end of the box that closes forms; luxury items decorated with for her cat to “go” in, which left automatically. This holds in odors felines; and a cast-bronze figurine paw prints all over her home. Lowe until the cat owner removes and of a cat nursing four kittens. Tomb had a bag of liquid-absorbent clay dumps the container. paintings show cats, realistically called Fuller’s earth handy, and he But are these improvements portrayed, peering out from under thought that might work better. always best for cats? And do cats their masters’ chairs. It did. The neighbor noted that even like them? Notably, when felines died, they the clay didn’t track and vowed Cats seem most agreeable to were embalmed, mummified and never to use anything else in her a clumping, unscented, simple buried with or near their owners; feline’s box. She shared the news litter, according to Atlanta living grieving humans shaved with cat-loving neighbors, and veterinarian Tabitha Tanis, D.V.M. off their own eyebrows in demand for the clay grew. She notes that opting for low-dust, mourning when their pet The rest was a new chapter in nonscented litter is especially cats expired. Statues of cats cat history. Absorbent litter, which important for cats; moreover, were often adorned with cut down on the strong odor of they often dislike the feeling of gold earrings and nose cat urine as well as the tracking different-shaped pellets and the rings. Were Egyptians so problem, likely played a large role crystals found in “fancier” litters. taken with their feline in the popularity of pet cats. “If your cat is not scratching companions that they Over the years, a host of in their litter and covering their made jewelry for them? different types of cat litters have waste, they may not like the way “That’s the main been developed. Some are made the litter feels,” Tanis says. This cat mummy question I from recycled newspaper and When it comes to litter boxes, dates to between get asked at even corn, but most still rely on meanwhile, shallow, open pans In ancient Egyptian mythology, the cat, Bastet, 672 and 332 B.C.E. and lectures,” some form of clay. are often preferred by cats, sits in the Louvre. was a goddess of fertility, childbirth and home. Hartwig The most-modern litters often especially elderly felines with answers with a include many additives that arthritis, although some will adjust laugh. “My answer, Lowe’s original Kitty Litter never to boxes with closed tops.

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always, is this—would you want to desert climes of the Middle East pierce a cat’s ear? You’d be sliced and through Europe to the Americas POPULATION CONTROL diced. Most likely, the addition of was through long journeys by jewelry on the statues was to show sea. “Though cats are said to hate Safer Spaying and Neutering that cats were an aspect of the sun water, it has always been their way Cats on ships can god Ra. The gold jewelry is yellow around,” writes Abigail Tucker in keep rats under like the sun.” The Lion in the Living Room (2016). CATS’ SEX LIVES WERE LONG cats became more widely control during As companions on ships, cats not a problem for humans. When available in the 1930s, the feral, long voyages. only kept rats under control during feline reproductive systems stray and unwanted cat population BRUTALITY OF the long voyages, Tucker points out, were unchecked, females went dumped at shelters increased. THE CAT INQUISITION but they were particularly suited into heat, “calling for mates” Before 1970, euthanasia rates in At first, reverence for cats spread to ocean journey: Coming from the and producing litters of mostly the U.S. rapidly increased—and around the globe. Cats in Norse desert, they didn’t need much water. unwanted kittens. Male cats shelters routinely euthanized and Celtic myths from Europe, for And, unlike humans, they didn’t roamed, looking for females, and more than 100 cats (and dogs) per instance, are depicted as magical and even need vitamin C, so scurvy in fought loudly with one another, 1,000 people in their communities, powerful. But it was not to last. With cats was not an issue at all. And causing injuries and infections. according the Humane Society of the rise of the Roman Empire and the perhaps most important, the cats So it’s no wonder some cat lovers the United States. Christian church more than 2,000 kept travelers company. turned to spaying females and With the advent of low-cost neutering males when it was first spay-and-neuter facilities in the offered in the 19th century. late 20th century and However, it was the accumulation of anything but easy evidence showing Cats were so essential to ship culture on the pets. that neutering that some old salts wouldn’t sign up unless In the 1893 procedures pamphlet The weren’t cruel felines were conscripted too. Diseases of but helpful to Dogs and cats, most pet Cats and Their owners came Treatment, an to agree that years ago, pagan symbols—including Tucker says that mariners have anonymous having their those of cats—were widely rejected. long invented cat toys, and “over veterinarian Cats live longer, kitties “fixed” the centuries, cats became such a healthier lives if they Felines were attacked and described rolling don’t give birth to was a responsible slaughtered across Europe, quintessential part of ship culture male cats up tightly in litter after litter. and necessary part of especially after Pope Gregory IX that many superstitious old salts blankets so their legs were pet ownership. (1227–1241 C.E.) launched the wouldn’t come aboard unless cats immobilized as the vet castrated Ovariohysterectomy, which Inquisition. He denounced cats as were also conscripted.” And so, cat them, usually with no anesthesia removes the ovaries, fallopian so evil as to be in league with Satan. companions spread worldwide. (unless pet owners paid extra for tubes and uterus from a female That’s when the image of the witch chloroform). Another described an cat, and orchiectomy, which with the black cat took hold in the approach to neutering a male cat removes the testes from a male popular mind. DOMESTIC TECH that involved sticking the animal’s cat, are the most popular forms BRINGS KITTY HOME head in a boot and castrating them of neutering cats today. The The elevation of the cat to cherished with a knife while the tomcat’s rear health benefits of these surgical CATS RISE AGAIN family member, not just for royalty but was stuck in the air. procedures include reducing But due to their survival skills in the masses, made its final climb over “Female castration” was the risk of uterine infections and the wild—and, no doubt, to humans the past 75 years. That massive shift in available too and involved two breast cancer in females and who sheltered cats from the feline how cats live was aided by crucial incisions to remove the ovaries. lessening the risk of testicular version of the Inquisition—cats advancements in technology. Our By 1925, veterinarian Hamilton cancer in males. Fears that persisted. As settlers traveled human interventions—including new Kirk described advances in neutering and spaying would around the world on ships, they took and improved litter that allowed cats spaying and neutering—including affect a cat’s intelligence or ability their cats with them. These cats to relieve themselves indoors, better using anesthesia and sterilizing to play are now known to be kept vermin aboard ocean vessels cat nutrition and advanced scientific surgical instruments—in his book unfounded. What’s more, reducing under control, and they became pets methods of birth control—allowed the The Diseases of the Cat and Its cats’ breeding instinct makes them Cats explored new lands and helpers for farmers and other once wild animals called cats to bridge General Management. less inclined to roam and more with their human settlers . humans on land. the gap to domesticity and, today, live Although spaying and neutering content to be stay-at-home pets. The cat’s route from the hot, entirely indoors with us.

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CAT CUISINE From Rats and Table Scraps to Gourmet Dishes

LONG BEFORE ANYTHING KNOWN high blood pressure, kidney diets for cats. “Cats cannot survive as cat food made specifically for disease and certain cancers. on a vegetarian diet, since they felines was invented, cats were Not all cat food may be need nutrients that are present taking care of their own high- healthiest choice for your cat, only in animal tissue,” says Janice protein nutrition needs, catching according to feline-health experts. Floyd, D.V.M., director of feline mice, birds and whatever else Talk to your veterinarian about medicine at Briarcliff Animal Clinic they found hunting in the wild. the best kind—and appropriate in Atlanta. For example, cats Cats lucky enough to live near or amount—of food for your cat. need the amino acid taurine for with humans were often offered the prevention of eye and heart table scraps. But in the latter part SMART NUTRITION TIPS disease, as well as for reproduction of the 19th century, there was a FOR 21ST-CENTURY CATS and fetal growth and survival; change. While working in London, Look for the term AAFCO taurine is found exclusively in American lightning-rod salesman Approved on the label of cat foods such as meat and fish. James Spratt saw dogs gobbling food. The American Association up leftover biscuits from a ship of Feed Control Officers HOW CAT FOOD CAN and was inspired to make to create (AAFCO) designation means it TREAT AND HEAL the first commercially prepared meets minimum standards for Starting in the 1970s, veterinarians pet food initially for dogs, then for feline nutrition and ensures a began selling “prescription” cat cats. The company, Spratt’s, was balanced diet, according foods to help with kidney so successful in England that a U.S. to cat specialist Drew disease. Advances in operation was opened in 1870. Weigner, D.V.M., nutrition research Cat lover and writer Gordon hospital director of have increased the Stables’ 1876 book, Cats: Their The Cat Doctor, use of specific Points and Characteristics (still Atlanta’s first cat foods as in print) urged people to feed feline practice. medicines. cats regularly instead of leaving “There is now them to live from hunting alone. In Not all healthy- a plethora of addition to table scraps, Stables sounding diets available endorsed the then new food made cat foods are to treat various A British shorthair, specifically for cats: Spratt’s kibble, actually good for relishing the tasty diseases, from sold in packets. cats. “Conventional, meal served by his urinary tract stones By the 1900s, commercial cat organic, grain-free and human family. to intestinal disease food was gaining in popularity and holistic variations are all and even obesity,” says by the 1950s, was widely available available and appropriate for most Weigner, who is also president- in versions including canned, cats,” Weigner points out. “But elect of the nonprofit Winn Feline dry and semi-moist. The variety raw diets, because of their limited Foundation, which supports cat- of cat foods—countless shapes shelf life and association with health research. and colors, catchy names and pathogenic bacteria and parasites, “More recently, diet therapy new formulations, fortified with are not recommended.” for diabetic cats has markedly nutrients—has continued to grow improved quality of life and, in Cats are into the 21st century. Vegetarianism is fine for people, some cases, cured the disease. natural hunters— But the well-fed cats of today Felines are obligate Considered controversial at the not cats. predators who are, too often, overfed. Like carnivores, meaning they rely time, research supporting the seek sources of American humans, cats in the U.S. on nutrients found only in animal feline diabetic diet—funded by the protein in the are facing an obesity epidemic. sources. Yes, there are vegetarian Winn Feline Foundation—is now world outside. Veterinarians now classify about foods loaded with supplements on considered foundational, and [it’s a] 60 percent of cats as obese, the market, but most veterinarians standard therapy for the treatment Cats require animal proteins raising the risk for feline arthritis, are firmly opposed to no-meat of diabetic cats.” for their nutrition needs.

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