Are Cats Domesticated?

The cat does not offer services," William Burroughs wrote. "The cat offers itself." But it does so with unapologetic ambivalence. Greet a cat enthusiastically and it might respond with nothing more than a few unhurried blinks. Later, as you're trying to work, it will commandeer your lap, keyboard, and attention, purring all the while. A cat will mew at the food bowl in the morning and set off on a multiple-day trek in the afternoon. Dogs are dependent on us to the point of being obsequious, but cats seem to be constantly reëvaluating the merits of our relationship, as well as their role in domestic life. "Are cats domesticated?" is one of the most frequently Googled questions about the animals, based on the search engine's autocomplete suggestions.

It's a question that scientists have been asking, too. The latest answer, based on insights from recent archeological discoveries and genome-sequencing studies, is that cats are semi-domesticated. Conventional wisdom holds that the ancient Egyptians were the first people to bond with the cat, only four thousand years ago. In 2004, however, a team of French researchers working in Cyprus unearthed the ninety-five-hundred-year-old remains of a human and a cat buried side by side. Last year, an analysis of cat bones and teeth from a fifty-three-hundred-year-old settlement in China indicated that the animals were eating rodents, grains, and the leftovers of human meals. It appears that, following the advent of agriculture, wildcats in the Near East and Asia likely began to congregate near farms and grain stores, where mice and rats were abundant. People tolerated the volunteer exterminators, and wildcats became increasingly comfortable with people. Whether this affiliation began five or ten millennia ago, the evidence suggests that cats have not been part of our domestic domain for nearly as long as dogs, which have been our companions for perhaps forty thousand years.

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Why Do Pet Cats Attack Their Owners?

The danger of pet cats?
Cats are one of the most popular pets in the world and are savagely beloved by millions, although the dangers present from their razor sharp claws and teeth, such as serious infection, are largely not taken seriously. But how much of a threat do they really pose to human health? Have domesticated cats ever killed a person?

In this article...
Can cats cause human fatalities or severe injury?
Overlooked dangers of pet and feral cats
Why might a cat become aggressive?
A list of reported cat attacks and aggression, plus video
Human fatalities

Cats are too small to kill a human by force with the exception of human babies, although there are no reported cat-related deaths involving infants in recent U.S. history. Domesticated cats are also the subjects of various folklore, including the old wives tale that they can suck the breath from an infant, which might lead some people to believe that they are dangerous with small children.

However, cats typically have little incentive to attack a helpless child. They are predators of small animals like mice and birds, and have territorial tendencies directed towards competing animals and predators, therefore babies are relatively safe. The recipients of reported cat attacks have largely been adults, although aggression toward infants has occurred. You won't find statistics about cat bite incidences like you will dogs and exotic pets, because people don't really care.

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A Cheetah Was Spotted Wearing a Bright Orange Scarf Crossing a Highway Near Creston, British Columbia

Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian conservation officials and federal police were on the lookout Friday for a cheetah wearing a bright orange scarf and wandering through the snow-covered outback.

The big African cat was spotted crossing a highway near Creston, British Columbia on Thursday by a motorist who stopped to photograph it.

"It was wearing an orange scarf or collar, suggesting it's a domesticated animal. So we don't believe it's a serious threat," British Columbia conservation officer Joe Caravetta told AFP.

He said cheetahs are typically shy and less aggressive than other large cats, and "this one is probably used to being around people."

But as a precaution, local schoolchildren have been kept indoors and residents have been asked to mind their small pets, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Ownership of exotic animals is allowed in British Columbia with a special permit, but no permits have been issued to anyone living in the area where the cheetah was spotted, Caravetta noted.

Three conservation officers have been sent to track the cheetah, helped by a fresh snowfall. With temperatures hovering just below freezing, Caravetta said a cheetah can probably last only a few days in the Canadian wilds.

The Toronto Star quoted a local school administrator as saying "some of the (students) are excited" about a cheetah in their midst. The official noted that bear or cougar sightings are common in the Canadian outback, but nobody in this area has ever seen a cheetah.

The driver who spotted the animal told public broadcaster CBC: "My first thought was, 'that's a cheetah. What's it doing there?'" She described it as panting and seemingly in distress.

She said she tried to "coax it over," but the animal just kept walking up the road until it disappeared over a snow bank.

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