Cats largely tamed themselves, and their genes still show it
Unlike dogs or cattle, cats were never heavily bred for work, so they stayed close to their wild African ancestors and kept their hunting instincts. A typical house cat carries about 9.6 million single-letter DNA variants, roughly double what a single person has, a sign that they mostly domesticated themselves.
Every domestic breed traces back to one lineage of the African wildcat from the Near East and Egypt. The partnership probably began when house mice flourished in Natufian dwellings as early as 15,000 years ago, and later in farming villages, offering wildcats easy meals. By about 9,500 years ago someone had carried a cat to Cyprus, outside the species' natural range, and buried it with a human.
Egypt shaped the relationship most. At Hierakonpolis, a swamp cat from around 3700 BC had healed leg fractures, suggesting people nursed it for weeks. Wall paintings from about 1500 BC show cats eating fish beside a table, and the word for female cat served as a girl's nickname at least 4,000 years ago. When the goddess Bastet took on a cat's head, pilgrims bought mummified cats as offerings, and some researchers think breeding cats in crowded catteries for sacrifice favoured tame animals. Others say grain stores and rodents explain it well enough.
China tells a different story. Leopard cats lived alongside farmers there from about 5,400 years ago until roughly 150 CE, then faded from sites and art after the Han dynasty collapsed. Centuries of closeness never turned them into pets, showing that proximity alone does not create a domestic animal.
Sampling ordinary non-pedigree cats across more than 40 countries reveals one global population, most diverse around the eastern Mediterranean. Newer ancient DNA suggests cats reached Europe later than once thought: animals once read as early domestic migrants turned out to be European wildcats with some African ancestry. Serious pedigree breeding is only about 200 years old and chases appearance above all, such as the blotched tabby coat that first appeared in the Middle Ages.
Source: Domestication of the cat
