by David D. Horowitz.
Most cats take their time warming up to a human owner. Many owners, expecting a fluffy ball of love to comfort them on call, find feline independence frustrating and disappointing. Cats sniff for character and only gradually will rub a leg, purr in a lap, snooze on the bed. Their reticence feels like presumption to an owner paying for tuna treats and cozy shelter, and some have no patience for a gradual, worked-for increase of affection: Smoky (or Milton or Snowpaws or Doctor Hasenpfeffer) should learn who’s boss and show due gratitude. What’s the matter with these cats?!
Perhaps domestic cats have some capacity for collective memory. If they do, their trepidation towards people would be justified. Yes, cats were regarded as gods in ancient Egypt. The goddess Bast was represented as having a cat’s head, and killing a cat was a capital offense. Indeed, a household cat was typically considered the head of the family, whose death was mourned for years.
During the Middle Ages, however, the domestic cat was often denigrated as a symbol of heresy, the devil, sorcery, and unbridled sexuality. While some cats were beloved by appreciative owners, many others were horribly abused. Cats were often caught in traps and tossed with dozens of others in bonfires to roast to death. When a woman considered a witch was burnt at the stake, her cat(s) would likely suffer the same fate. Cats were starved, beaten, and poisoned with impunity. Some historians argue statements attributed to Popes Gregory IX and Innocent IV fomented cat-hatred, resulting in the near-genocidal destruction of Europe’s cat population. This decline in the cat population might have helped spread the Great Plague of the mid-fourteenth century, when one-third of Europe’s population died. There were few cats to kill rats and mice that carried the plague, so it spread much more easily.
Farmers’ need to challenge grain-eating rodents eventually repopularized cat ownership. Even so, one can read accounts of mass cat burnings in Paris occurring as late as the seventeenth century. These were regarded as public entertainments. Historians might debate the extent and sources of cat-hatred, but few dispute that cats were often vilified during the Middle Ages and afterwards.
While cruelty to cats still exists, it receives no papal sanction. The current pope, Benedict XVI, loves cats, especially “Chico,” a ginger tabby who lived near him before he became pope. Moreover, non-denominational organizations like the ASPCA, PAWS, and the Humane Society help cats heal from injury and find appreciative homes. Nevertheless, it behooves a human owner to remain patient with Striped Pajamas, Foghorn, Bagels, or Tango Tom. Let the cat slink and skulk and sprint away. It takes a while for a cat to grow comfortable with a new person or family—and, if it understands human history as well as character, this reflects justifiable wariness.