An Interesting History Of How Cats Evolved As Pets

     Cats are among the most lovable pets in a majority of the households. And there is a fascinating history of how they actually evolved as pets. The existence of cat dates back to the ancient time period of weasel like creatures called Miacis that lived on the earth 40 million years back. These archaic creatures were five-clawed and were purely carnivorous. It is believed that they inhabited the European continents and Northern America during that time. It's not only that the evolution of cats that dates back to the ancient time but also the existence of all other carnivorous animals can be traced back to same period.
One well known species of cats that existed during the time period of Miacis is the saber toothed tiger called as Smilodon. They were huge, powerful, fierce and fearsome. It's believed that they were so big that they looked stronger and bigger than the tigers that we see today. However, there were a lot of other dangerous animals that existed during the same time and the intense battle for raw flesh lead to the extinction of these species.
It was during the Stone Age that the cats caught attention of man, but in a different way! Those days, it was all about hunting and man wasn't keen on domesticating animals as he himself didn't have enough food and shelter to protect him from the wild animals.
To give you an interesting fact, a cat's jawbone unearthed in the island of Cyprus is believed to have existed in the 6000 BC. This shows that the species of cats is as old as mankind. Or it may even be older.
Egypt
Ancient Egyptians used to store lots of grains and food in their homes. The massive storehouses attracted a huge population of rats and mice. The people didn't have a clue how to chase the rats. Just when things were getting worse for the people, they got some help from a creature that they didn't like one bit. Yes, the over abundance of rats attracted the street cats. When the cats slenderized the entire group of the rodent population, people felt very happy. That was the first time when they started domesticating cats in their homes.
They not only became popular pets in the states of Egypt but were also considered as God-like. In fact, killing or injuring the cats was strictly forbidden to such an extent that the punishment for killing a cat was death. However, after the pet cat in the homes died of natural ailments they were buried in sanctified plots along with a few mummified rats. Once researches digged one of the plots that was used to burry the dead cats and were astonished to find almost 300,000 dead bodies of cats in a single plot alone.
In Asia and Europe:
Years later, the cats spread their habitat over to the Asian countries and did their bit of killing and reducing the rodent population in India and China. Just like the Egyptians, the Asian people too considered the cats as having a significant role in protecting the food grains and keeping the house safe from rats.
However, the credit of introducing cats as pets throughout Europe mainly goes to the Roman and the Greeks. Then in the 12th century there was the severe spread of virus called Black Death in Europe that resulted in the death of over 30% of the Europe population. Even at that time the cats came to the people's rescue by destroying the vermin and saving people.
Superstition
Sometime later during the medieval period there was a belief among the people that a black cat was the pet of devil. Pope Gregory IX termed the black cats as "Diabolical Creatures". Cats were chased, beaten, and killed by the village people. After a few years people realized the need and importance of a cat and welcomed them as pets again.
Well, that's the history of cats. Today cats have been accepted by all and are among the most predominant pets in the households. Today, cats are very active participants in a slew of pet shows. I enjoy watching such shows with my cable channel service provided by Dish TV Packages.