VMD 513: Pet animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

DOMESTICATION OF CAT

• While the dog has historically been known as “man’s best friend” it is probably accurate to say that the domestic cat is “man’s most interesting friend”.

• The cat is a member of the order Carnivora, which includes a diverse group of animals that are all predatory.
• Carnivores are so named because of their enlarged carnassial teeth, which include the enlarge upper fourth premolar and the lower first molar on each side of the mouth.
• The description of domestication adequately describes most domestic species such as dogs, horses, cattle and goats, but does not provide a completely adequate explanation for Felis catus.
• It is difficult to identify the exact time period of domestication for this species.
• The oldest archaeological evidence is in the form of a cat’s tooth that was found in a settlement area near Israel approximately 9000 years ago.
• A more significant find was the fissile remains of a large cat on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
• The remains of this cat are estimated to be about 7000 to 8000 years old.
• The earliest consistent evidence of domestic cats in human settlement is found in Egyptian tombs dated around 4000 BC.