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Cats and humans have a long and somewhat complicated history. Mitochondrial DNA evidence suggests the Felis genus of small cats diverged from other larger members of the Felidae family about 6.2 million years ago. The domestication of cats likely started as a commensal process around the Fertile Crescent approximately 10,000 years ago (Driscoll, Macdonald et al. 2009). Stores of grain created by early agricultural villages attracted mice, which in turn provided an excellent source of food for wildcats (Hu et al. 2014). Individuals with minimal fear of humans would have best survived in close contact with villages, placing more confident cats in proximity to breed and produce offspring with a genetic predisposition for bolder temperaments (Driscoll, Clutton‐Brock et al. 2009; Driscoll, Macdonald et al. 2009).

The practice of taming individuals of various Felis wildcat species, presumably for their usefulness as rodent hunters, appears to have been commonplace throughout many cultures prior to domestication of the cat (Hu et al. 2014; Serpell 2014). The first archeological evidence of a cat‐human relationship dates back almost 10,000 years to a cat skeleton in a Cypriot human grave (Vigne et al. 2016). The success of cats in human cultures, however, cannot be solely attributed to their mousing skills. Appealing juvenile traits like large eyes and a small mouth also likely enticed humans to keep cats as objects of affection, gaining an advantage over other animals, such as those in the weasel family, that were arguably even more efficient vermin exterminators (Serpell 2014). Although many Felis species seemed to be feasible candidates for domestication, genetic evidence clearly indicates the sole ancestral species is Felis silvestrus lybica, or the African wildcat subspecies (Driscoll, Macdonald et al. 2009).

The perception of cats in human culture has had its highs and lows over the centuries. Cats were revered by some ancient cultures and then demonized in parts of Christian‐dominated Europe due to this association with paganism starting in the Middle Ages. The negative connotations spread to the United States, and even today we can see lingering effects, particularly with black cats, in superstitious folklore and literature. Although many countries and cultures never lost their respect for the cat and its usefulness in agrarian society, a more affectionate outlook toward the cat began starting in the eighteenth century. Many consider domestication of the cat as fully achieved during Victorian England, at which time humans began purposefully breeding cats for specific physical traits rather than behavior or function (Montague et al. 2014). The past 150 years has seen the recognition of approximately 50 different cat breeds (Cat Fanciers Association 2020), although purebred cats make up only 6–8% of the total US cat population today (Bradshaw et al. 2012).