Cat Training

Posts Tagged ‘cat tattoos’

There’s no denying the appeal and draw of the cat.  To many of us, the cat is a lovable pet and valued member of the family, whose appeal is very much tied up to its personality.  The cat embodies many contradictory characteristics, at once mysterious and sublime yet also mysterious, independent and aloof yet also affectionate and demanding, these graceful, beautiful animals have fascinated mankind for ages.

In ancient Egypt’s, the cat was worshipped as a sacred or even Godlike animal.  Cats are valued highly and were domesticated and brought into houses.  The penalties were harming cats were severe, and killing a cat carried a death penalty.The cat was not just considered to be a holy animal, the ancients recognized that they were practical to because they killed mice and rats and even snakes, all of them animals you had caused considerable suffering for the people.  In arts, human and cat features were often combined to convey a sub lime gracefulness to the features of a human being, and people were proud to wear cat tattoos.

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, cats were valued for their practical role in controlling vermin and protecting vital food supplies.Another role that they fulfil was that of protecting household spirits, who stopped harmful energies and forces from coming into the house and harming the people inside.

However, this is all to change.Superstition and fear took control of People’s hearts during the dark ages.  At this time, cats were considered to be evil, doing the work of the Devil at night.Because people fault that witches could turn into cats, they considered that most cats they saw were actually evil witches in disguise.  There are recorded cases of people being tortured and executed simply for helping cats who were injured.  In fact, people have been tried and convicted and executed as witches just because they had a cat in their house.

During this time there were instances of widespread cat killing, and in time towns and cities were emptied of their cat population by panicking crowds.  This was organised and led by the Catholic church which resulted in the almost complete extinction of cats in Europe by 1400.  Due to the massive reduction in the cat population, the vermin population boomed and this left the door open to plauges carried by rats. These terribel diseases caused such atrocious decimation to the populations of Europe that they will forever be recorded in the history of infamy.

After this had occurred, people discovered that cats were more important than they had thought, and so the feline population started growing again.This is why most ships sailing across the Atlantic from Europe to the New World carried cats on board, who earned their keep by eating the rats and mice who threatened the valuable cargoes.The cats that live in North America now are the descendants of those early cats.