Cat Fact File

About 54 million years ago, a group of forest dwelling animals called miacids developed. All the carnivores, including cats, developed from miacids. It is thought that domestic cats descended from the African wildcat that was native to Africa, western Asia, Scotland and southern Europe. Cats were one of the last animals to be domesticated, probably about 4,000 years ago. The process of domestication is complex. Basically, when humans settled down to an agrarian culture, cats began hanging around the settlements. The cats that hung around the settlements were more docile than those that stayed away. Those cats began to breed with each other and therefore pass on the docile tendency to their offspring. However, cats are not considered to be truly domesticated as it would still be possible for them to return to the wild and survive.

Given that cats originated in Africa, western Asia, Scotland and southern Europe, it is likely that cats were domesticated in these regions. However, the earliest evidence of domestication is the finding of evidence of cats living as household companions of humans in Egypt between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. The evidence consists of references in writing, depiction in ornaments, statues of cats, bas-reliefs of cats and paintings of cats. Initially cats were welcomed because they killed rodents but soon became household companions.

Egyptians actively bred cats to continue or enhance traits. Cats were also worshiped in Egyptian theology- cats were revered as the physical form of the goddess Bast who was depicted as a woman with the head of a cat and was the companion of the sun god, Ra. Bast was associated with both the sun and the moon: Bast represented the life-giving warmth of the sun; and the reflection of the eyes of cats was compared with the way the moon reflects the sun's light. Egyptians were very protective of their cats. They dealt severely with people who killed cats and mourned them. Egyptians mummified cats after death so they could join their companions in the afterlife. It is thought that Egyptians also sacrificed their cats to Bast.

Phoenician traders transported cats to Europe and the British Isles. Romans also smuggled cats out of Egypt and took to conquered regions such as France, Germany, Holland, England and Spain. Monks took cats to the Orient. Cats were used mainly to control rodent populations. However, by Common Era, many cultures including Japanese, Siamese, East Indian and Chinese had come to appreciate cats for their beauty, wisdom and usefulness.

But in Europe in the Middle Ages cats were persecuted and killed because religious sects considered cats to be incarnations of the devil or as connected to the devil.

As sailing ships were used more, cats spread to the new world. In addition, because cats were very good at killing and controlling rodents, cats were kept on board ships.

In very basic terms, a breed is a group of related felines that share unique conformation, pattern, coat length, coat type, colour parameters, temperament and which sometimes come from a particular geographic region. However, some registries may have different standards for the same breed. To be considered a breed by a cat association, the breed must be different from existing breeds in a distinct way.

The major factor in determining whether a cat is a separate breed is whether cats with the specified characteristics breed true or, in other words, produce offspring that are uniform and meet the breed standards that have been established for that breed. The members of a purebred generally produce uniform offspring. However, there are some exceptions, eg, the Manx.

New breeds can develop in a number of ways: by spontaneous mutation; by combining established breeds; and by the deliberate modifying and shaping of polygenes that control particular characteristics to create new characteristics. Many new breeds, especially those created by cross breeding and in particular short-haired breeds which have long-haired counterparts or long-haired breeds that have short-haired counterparts, can be regarded as merely being variants of existing breeds. Whether these variants in fact come to be considered to be their own breed depends on the enthusiasm of the proponents of the breed and the methods used to develop the breed. Examples of short-haired breeds which have long-haired counterparts that developed as a result of the selective breeding of long-haired kittens that sometimes appeared in litters of short-haired cats or short-haired kittens that sometimes appeared in litters of long-haired cats include:
* the Abyssinian (short-haired) and the Somali (long-haired);
* the Oriental Shorthair (short-haired) and the oriental Longhair (long-haired);
* the Siamese (short-haired) and the Balinese (long-haired); and
* the Persian (long-haired) and the Exotic Shorthair (short-haired).

Breeds are not always sorted by hair length. The Japanese Bobtail, American Curl, Scottish Fold and Manx have both short-haired and long-haired varieties.

The most common way in which a new breed develops is through mutation which can be spontaneous. Sometimes the mutation is not obvious and sometimes the mutation is obvious. In the wild, if the mutation does not have a positive impact on the cat's ability to survive, it will die out. However, sometimes because of geographic conditions or human intervention, a mutation that would not be beneficial in the wild generally can survive. One of the more common examples of this is the Manx which does not have a tail - the lack of a tail is potentially damaging because it shortens the spine but because of the specific geographic conditions in the Isle of Man, the cat developed and flourished.

The second way in which new breeds develop is through combining or cross-breeding established breeds. Sometimes the crosses happen accidentally but the more common situation is that breeds a combined intentionally to achieve a particular purpose. While, deliberate combining of breeds is often used by breeders to develop new colour variations or intensify colour, it can also be used to develop new breeds. Examples of combining breeds to produce a new breed are:
* the Himalayan (which was developed by combining the Persian and the Siamese but which some cat associations consider to be a variant of the Persian);
* the Tonkinese;
* the Exotic Shorthair; and
* the Javanese.

The third way in which a new breed is developed is deliberate modifying and shaping of polygenes that control particular characteristics to create new characteristics. This is achieved via selective breeding. This method is often used to refine colour or a particular feature. However, in some instances, the refining of features has caused problems in the breed, eg, selective breeding of a Persian's facial features have created breathing problems and a runny nose in some cats.