CATS

          When the first hunter-gatherers began to grow crops and settle into villages, one problem that presented itself immediately was how to store grain and keep it safe from the ravages of rats, mice, and other varmints. As if in answer to a prayer, cats began to appear at food-storage sites in order to feed on the vermin and, coincidentally, protect the grain so humans could survive. Humans noticed, and made the cats welcome with warmth and shelter and food so the felines would take up residence in the area. From that point, it was a short step to find me sitting in my Barcalounger watching an Eagles game with a tabby purring in my lap.

          Among domesticated animals, cats are unusual since we can't ride them, we don't eat them, we can't milk them, we don't make coats out of their pelts, and they can't pull a plow. They don't even care about pleasing us, like dogs do. From the beginning, it has been simply a straightforward business relationship, and one which THEY initiated.

          It is sometimes said that we did not domesticate cats; they domesticated themselves. Another way to put it is that they domesticated us, rather than the other way around. In any event, we owe them a debt we can never repay for helping us through the difficult and dangerous transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. If it were not for cats, we might still be feeding ourselves by wandering through the Wissahickon plucking spotted lanternflies off trees.

Copyright2019MichaelKubacki