For How Long Have The Cats Been Domesticated?

The cat has been around for a long, long time. The cat fossils have been found which are millions of years old! Today’s domesticated cat is the descendant of the wildcat. The type or species of the wildcat is not known, because many centuries have elapsed. Some varieties of small wildcats existed in North Africa, Europe, and Asia thousands of years ago. Our domesticated cats came from two or three breeds.

The wildcats were domesticated for the first time about 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians had tame cats about 4,000 years back. They worshipped the cat as a god. Their goddess Bast, or Pacht, in pictures, is shown with the cat’s head. Sacrifices used to be offered to cats.

The representative of their god Roc and goddess Isis is a cat. The Egyptian family members and servants in the house shaved their eyebrows and went into mourning whenever a cat died in the family. A temple cat’s death was mourned by the whole city. Mummies of cats have been found. These have been found prepared on the same lines as of Kings and nobles in Europe. The killing of a cat was penalized with a death sentence.

Until 1000 AD, there were possibly no tame cats. The ancient Europeans had about cats, different ideas from the one held by Egyptians. They thought of it was an evil spirit. They pictured the devil as the black cat and the witches were supposed to take the shape of cats and painted black.

The different breeds of domestic cats and individual cats vary from each other as much as the different breeds of and individual dogs do. The short-haired and long-haired varieties of cats are easily recognized. The angora and the Persian are the best-known long-haired cats.