Cats are associated with the rise of civilization throughout the world. It's all part of their plan for world domination. Y'know, after they have a nap in the sunlight coming through their favorite window.
Posted on 05/09/2025 10:41:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Subtitled: "They weren't just ship cats. New evidence suggests these felines played a surprising role in early American history."
Cats are associated with the rise of civilization throughout the world. It's all part of their plan for world domination. Y'know, after they have a nap in the sunlight coming through their favorite window.
My wife and I both had dogs and no cats for many decades. Our last old wienerdog died and we were heartbroken. A little more than a year later one of the stray cats that we put food out for decided to move in with us and take over the house.
He started out normal sized, but it turned out that he was actually still a kitten and he kept getting bigger and bigger. I thought that maybe we were feeding him too much. But the vet said that he was not fat; he is just a really big cat. He acts a lot like a dog and loves chasing down balls and especially playing “hockey” with milk jug and juice bottle caps.
I have always had allergy problems with cats and some dogs, but he does not bother me, other than he likes to cover my face when I am sleeping. When I wake up I often have fine cat fur stuck to my lips and in my nose. He is a super fluffy cat; a Siberian with three distinct layers of fur. He sheds so much that I purchased a Robo-vac for every level in our house. He likes to whack the robo-vacs and knock them off their base stations. Sometimes he “accidentally” pushes their go buttons and they vacuum the entire story.
Great story about the huge Siberian cat, fireman15!
But this unexpected feline presence in America as early as the 1500s changes EVERYTHING!
At one time we had 5 cats living at our home.
Ghost Cats?
The Cat that could drive - Maritime version.
Similarly, although a life long dog person, out of pity, I nevertheless took in a stray cat about a year ago. A male black and white short hair cat with classic tuxedo markings, he is badly spoiled, keeps me in sight as much as possible, and likes to watch TV. He communicates when he wants to be fed, to go outdoors, and even when he decides that it is time for me to go to bed.
What does it change at all?
Cats have been part of eur civ for a long time.
Why is it a big deal that there were ship’s cats 🐈?
It’s true. I remember reading that fauna of some Pacific islands were wiped out because sailors had cats with them, when traveling to the islands
love it...
Siberians are supposed to be hypoallergenic to most people. You were lucky to get one for free. They’re very expensive to buy. Beautiful cats, with personalities more like dogs, as you’ve found out.
It was thanks to AB! 😃😁
“”What was interesting, is that our cat was not eating the rats on board the ship but had a diet more in line with what we’d expect for the sailors.”...”
How do they know this? - Maybe the cats had already got the job done.....
Dogs were here first. They failed in getting rid of these foreign invaders.
If the bones were found in a shipwreck off shore then technically they didn’t make it to the mainland...
Well...if you don’t count bobcats, ocelots, cougars, jaguars ,jaguarundi, and lynx, and the extinct sabertooths and American lions.
A ceremonially buried bobcat kitten was found in an archaeological dig in Illinois.
An interesting dog is the Northwest’s Salish wooly dog, which were only owned by women weavers and were kept separate from other dogs on islands to prevent them from breeding with dogs that did not have the desirable genetics to grow wooly hair. When traders showed up to sell inexpensive bolts of cloth, it unfortunately spelled the demise of the breed, so it went extinct. They looked somewhat like a big Pomeranian but unlike normal dogs, the hair was uniquely suited for making cloth.
Lots more academic info on US cats and cats on general
Exploring the Arrival of Domestic Cats in the Americas
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/exploring-the-arrival-of-domestic-cats-in-the-americas/A3D8A7797C46D01175D545BBEFD76BFA
“How do they know this?”
By analyzing the teeth. They can determine what person/animal grew up eating.
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