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Useful Cats

Many countries such as Luxembourg, Poland, the Netherlands, Yemen and Romania, among others, have used cats to symbolize or represent a tale, legend or a character linked to that country. In 1957, the Republic of Cuba issued a stamp in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Jeanette Ryder Foundation. The stamp depicted her as an animal protector, with two dogs beside her and a cat on her lap.

Spain commemorated the exploits of Lindbergh by including the silhouette of a cat in the lower right-hand corner. Useful Cats

They rid the people of the rodents that destroyed the harvest and began to be appreciated as pets.

Cats as Hunters

They came to replace weasels and civets.

When a man invited a cat to live in his home, it was in exchange for a service. He expected this talented predator to eliminate all the rodents infesting the house, from cellar to attic. The same contract earned cats their keep on boats, and, in fact, bought them long voyages from one continent to another, which established feline geography and expanded the range of breeds.

In the Xth century, Welsh laws established under the reign of Howel Dda, set the value of cats based on their age and their hunting abilities. In Venedotie (in the North), cats were worth one penny from birth until they opened their eyes, 2 pence until they caught their first mouse and 4 pence once they become adults. In any case, cats had to "see, hear and kill mice."

In the Middle Ages, cats replaced civets and weasels. Striped cats, which are still called Syrian cats in Italy, were the most highly valued in terms of being good hunters. Soderini of Florentine (1526 – 1597) extolled their talents in a country where striped cats had first taken up residence.

Cats watched over the grain reserves in houses and in monasteries. Households were reluctant to feed cats in order to make them more efficient. Starting in 1730 though, cats were driven to the attic by brown Norway rats. In the XXth century, they no longer prevailed over rats.

Cats as Pets

His role as a seducer took precedence over his work as a ratter.

It is still not known where cats were first domesticated. Was it in Persia or Egypt? Doubt still remains due to the fact that bones were discovered in two different places – at an archeological site in Jericho dating back to 6700 BC, and a site in the Indus Valley in Harappa, which dates back to 2,000 BC. Despite the presence of remnants found at the levels of dwellings, it is not clear whether cats were actually domesticated per se.

More likely, this phenomenon began in 4000 BC. People along the Nile in Egypt began to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle and agricultural practices. This brought wild cats closer to their dwellings because these animals were attracted to the prey that sought refuge in their fields and attics.

Little by little, the wild cats began to tolerate other animals and then attempted to get closer to humans. They gradually overcame their fear and were transformed physically, abandoning the camouflage skin that was no longer needed so far from the bush. They took up residence in houses and used their sharp fangs and furtive swipes of the paw to rid the houses of the rodents, vipers and cobras that slithered around on the ground.

Thus the cat entered the age of domestication.

The El Licht hieroglyphs describe how cats were integrated into Egyptian houses.

This is when cats began to win over people in high positions.

During the XIth dynasty (2134 – 1991 BC) in Egypt, cats became the favorite pets of the Theban king, Mentouhotep II. Other personalities of the time also cherished cats: Queen Tiyi, wife of Amenophis III (1400 – 1362) and Prince Thoutmosis, older brother of King Amenophis IV (1363 – 1346). In private tombs, cats were depicted lying under the chair of their master, indicating their role as pets. Cats could also be seen parading across papyrus - talented hunters lying in wait for waterfowl.

Much later, when they were able to cross the borders of this sacred world, cats began to tour the world, taken aboard boats as they set off to explore or colonize. They reached India around 500 BC and then other countries in the Orient, but did not reach Japan until 999. They arrived in Europe belatedly. The Romans brought them into both the south of Russia and the north of Europe 100 years after the birth of Christ. At the same time, cats were landing in Norway with the mercenaries returning from Byzantium. Four hundred years later, they reached Latvia.

It took many years until they penetrated into the New World. They were brought by French Jesuits to Quebec in the 1500's. They accompanied the pilgrims on the Mayflower and headed to America in 1620. They were so well loved on the great continent that the Society of Library Cats was founded there in their honor.

After suffering through a period of hell that lasted throughout the entire Middle Ages, cats began to arouse deep feelings. As Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, pointed out, very few English families in London did not own a cat in 1630. In 1700, cats were given increasingly more important places in the homes of Turks, who were enamoured with them. Throughout all of Europe under Louis XIV and XV, many socialites enjoyed the company of cats: Marie Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV; the Duchess of Maine, wife of one of the sons of Louis XIV; the Duchess of Montespan; Princess Palatine, wife of the Duke of Orleans and the Marquise of Deffand.

Intellectuals got away from Descartes, whose idea of the animal-machine seemed outdated and inappropriate. Cats were restored to favor thanks to François-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif, who dedicated an entire book to cats (1727). After authors such as Chateaubriand, Victor Hugo, Théophile Gautier, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas and Charles Baudelaire came Champfleury, a realist author, who expressed his "felineophile" feelings in the book Les Chats (Cats), published in 1869. Steinlen, a drawer, created a new feline silhouette in his album entitled, Des chats, images sans paroles (Cats, Pictures without Words) (1897). Émile Zola, François Coppée, Pierre Loti, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Léautraud, Jean Giraudoux and Colette were all cat lovers.

Friends of politicians from Richelieu to Churchill to Poincaré, Clemenceau and de Gaulle, cats had their fans. The ideal confidant, they in turn won over American presidents. Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) adopted three scrawny, hungry cats. White House galas were never held without Slippers, President Roosevelt's cat (1858 – 1919). John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) used to cuddle his cat, Tom Kitten. Among our contemporaries, Socks, Bill Clinton's cat has been written up in the press.

In Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) bequeathed part of his fortune to his cat, Jock.

Soft and reassuring, cats allowed the admirers who loved their soft fur to pet them. They entertained toddlers. They won over comfortable places in hearts and homes. Although a roof over their heads was guaranteed, they nevertheless maintained their independence, making them undoubtedly the only animal that could get away with being so demanding for a friendship sometimes aloof…