Think badger with a really bad attitude.
Posted on 07/26/2007 6:36:16 PM PDT by DancesWithCats
On any of the surprising number of Web sites dedicated entirely to wisdom about cats, one will find quotations like these: "As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat" (attributed to Ellen Perry Berkeley); "The phrase 'domestic cat' is an oxymoron" (attributed to George F. Will); and "A dog is a man's best friend. A cat is a cat's best friend" (attributed to Robet J. Vogel). Of course, there is such a thing as the domestic cat, and cats and humans have enjoyed a mostly symbiotic relationship for thousands of years. But the quips do illuminate a very real ambivalence in the long relationship between cats and humans, as this history of the house cat shows.
The Mystery of the Ancient House Cat
It has taken a while for scientists to piece together the riddle of just when and where cats first became domesticated. One would think that the archaeological record might answer the question easily, but wild cats and domesticated cats have remarkably similar skeletons, complicating the matter. Some clues first came from the island of Cyprus in 1983, when archaeologists found a cat's jawbone dating back 8,000 years. Since it seemed highly unlikely that humans would have brought wild cats over to the island (a "spitting, scratching, panic-stricken wild feline would have been the last kind of boat companion they would have wanted," writes Desmond Morris in Catworld: A Feline Encyclopedia), the finding suggested that domestication occurred before 8,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmagazine.com ...
And there are estimated to be 90 million of the little darlings trotting around in our homes in just the U.S. In England I know they are very popular as well and a study was done in the last couple of years counting how many vermin were killed off by housecats and the end result was astounding. Guess we'd all be swimming in mice and rats and lizards if it weren't for Fluffy. I don't let mine go out and roam though. Too dangerous. In England they seem to not worry, though a friend of mine had lost her cat to a fox! Not a pretty way to go.
The relationship between cats and man goes back tens of thousands of years.. Man gathers food, food gathers vermin, vermin at food is a cat’s easy catch. It’s not “rocket surgery” here. Same with dogs - man feeds dog, dog protects his “easy” food source. Dog stays warm at fire.
BUMP!
Think badger with a really bad attitude.
I had one of those start to climb a tree I was in while deer-hunting once, never saw me at all. I said “Buddy, you’re either outta here or your’re dead!” and he took off like he had jato bottles attached.
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.
Rush referred to this a while back when he said “cats have staff. Dogs have masters.”
I’ve never adopted any cat; they’ve all made the choice to adopt me.
Well, I managed to do it. Three years ago. After I stuffed him in a crate.
He's still getting even.
Does your husband know what happened?
As my lil Irish gramma would say ... 'cupboard love. Nothin' but cupboard love.'
I think I'd keep ma' kitty INDOORS at all times up there in the Fisher King territory! (I do anyway ... here in the southwest we have the very lethal and unconscionable street traffic to worry about! and some loose dogs that run the neighborhood. Kitties just don't fare well running loose as well with all that, fishers or no fishers!)
your sister any relation to Hagrid?
My cat has a plastic monkey on her back. It's pathetic.
I know our cats have US trained! And if we're late with the meal, or getting up in the morning to GET the meal, we hear about it! Or going to bed at night. We have a very pushy, bossy-boots bunch.
I’m always amazed at how well they can tell time. Even when we switch to/from daylight savings time it only takes them a couple days to readjust. I don’t mind the weekday 4am wakeup call (I get up for work at 4:30am anyway), I just wish I could teach them the concept of SATURDAY!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.