My cat maintains cats were never domesticated but at some point decided humans were useful, to an extent, and so domesticated us. The one thing they really, really wanted from us was plastic.
Having watched our cat (adopted after she was several years old — we didn’t have her as a kitten) methodically and adeptly apply behavioral techniques to train my husband in her optimum care and feeding, I think your cat is on to something.
I’ve never adopted any cat; they’ve all made the choice to adopt me.
My cat has a plastic monkey on her back. It's pathetic.
They choose to live with us and then become lazy. They may get along with humans, but they can still survive in the wild and that’s the key. Domesticated animals can't survive without human management.
Cats are the only mammal on earth that have survived and increased in numbers throughout known history, which to correlates with their apparent conscious lifestyle choices.
