In an article concerning the Evolution of House Cats, it was deduced from cat behavior and human history that “whereas other domesticates were recruited from the wild by humans who bred them for specific tasks, cats most likely chose to live among humans because of opportunities they found for themselves.” After transforming into domestication for almost 10,000 years, the story only now is beginning to unfold as research reveals the history behind the possible origin of the domestication of cats.

Anyone who has lived with cats will know that the felis domesticus can frequently create an aura of superiority and seniority in a house. Whether taking ownership of the most favored chair in the home or exhibiting pickiness when eating, cats in a sense have always been telling us that they are not with us because of our dominance or influence, but rather our usefulness. The powerful Egyptians themselves 4,000 years ago determined that the feline warranted the status of a god in the forms of Bastet and Sekhmet.

Although it makes sense from domestic cat behavior and much of cat history to deduce that cats recruited humans rather than the other way around, there is also the factor that humans also chose cats. Farmers wishing to reduce the number of pestilent rats and mice would encourage cats using milk or creme as a reward for hunting vermin. A small element to what might have kept the cats coming back, but then begins the “chicken or the egg” causality dilemma. Did cats first seek out rats, or did the farmers first seek out the cats?

The question surrounding the true origin behind cat domestication remains debatable, but one fact remains clear throughout the debate: the domestic cat continues to show us to this day that they have a will and a mind of their own.