Why did rats make cats into pets?

One can imagine ancient Egypt with incredible magnificence and also imagine, in this luxury and gaiety, the decisions taken by an important person on the occasion of the funeral of his cat. which, conveyed in western and current terms, is still surprising no matter how much of an ancient Egyptian cat he was.

It was in Egypt, cradle of the domestic cat, that the veneration of felines began with the formalization of a simple and clear pact: the cat, on the one hand, took care of the stored crops of the products of the rat attack. and vermin and the People, on the other hand, were responsible for supplementing his diet, caring for him and giving him shelter as an animal of affection and companionship.

The terms of this contract are very similar to those of the dog and of the man, except that in this pact the missions and functions of the cat do not appear as varied as those of his canine companion..

In this unspoken pact, the cat must keep away only vermin and parasites. He is loved only as a hunter and is cared for with affection and dedication.

The cat is not required to assist with property monitoring, You don’t have to guide the blind or help other disabled people, you don’t have to work as a police officer; we only ask the cat to be a cat, simply and simply like that, as cat as possible.

Despite its weak and limited commitment to dissimilar human functions and jobs, the cat has managed to stay almost screwed into the ailments and preferences of people, at least many of them.

This way different breeds have appeared which almost always respond to variations in shape, color, hair length, if not to mutations perpetuated by human genetic pressure.

With very little varied functional biotypes, the cat has far fewer breeds than the dog and none of them lends itself to the development of another particular function, far from that of hunter and guardian of crops before vermin.

In Egypt, the cat goddess was Bastet and in the city of cats, Bubastis, her feast was celebrated every year.

The cats of the house absorbed the diseases before the curse of the Egyptian doctor and when he died in mourning the family shaved their eyebrows.

Those eyebrows that took a long time to grow back. It was a time that, millennia later, Freud himself defined as the necessary time for mourning.

From Egypt to Freud via the Inquisition and the accusation of witchcraft that made more than a million cats dead, the micifuz on the block is still alive and glorious, claiming its favorite role.

Over 100,000 cats have been mummified in Egypt and tombs and mausoleums have been built in their honor.

Few have transcended, despite the thanatological efforts of the Egyptians, until today.

At the end of the last century, shipments of cat mummies to the United Kingdom were frequent. Maybe for your study? Maybe for your neat and meticulous collection?

No, simply and simply to use as fertilizer for crops. So, centuries later, even unwittingly, they continued to collaborate with cultures.

Only a few cat-mothers could be saved from this agrarian fate and they can be seen on display at the London Science Museum, as a silent witness to a cruel, elusive and changing fate.

* Prof. Dr Juan Enrique Romero @drromerook is a veterinarian. University education specialist. Master in Psychoimmunoneuroendocrinology. Former director of the Small Animal School Hospital (UNLPam). University professor in several Argentine universities. International speaker.

KEEP READING: