In
ancient Egypt, "Egyptian Mau" cats were sacred animals, who were considered Demigods,
and they were revered and honored. Many across the world still honor
the cat today. The Egyptian Goddess, Bastet, represents all that is
pure, good, and life giving. She is the protector of women, children,
and domestic cats, as well as the Goddess of sunrise, dance, happiness
and pleasure, family, fertility, and birth. In ancient Egypt anyone
caught harming a cat, even by accident, was punished by death. Cats
provided the valuable service of guarding the royal grainaries and
keeping them vermin free. Today, we still sometimes rely on cats to
keep our dwellings free from mice. Egyptian Maus (and Bengals) are known to be fast and athletic, reaching speeds of up tp 30 miles per hour. They are superb "mousers."
In Egypt, Cats were honored for their "service" and at Bastet's Temple, Cats were carried in baskets and hand fed the best food. Is it any wonder that Cats seem to have an air of "royalty," even today.It has recently been reseached and genetically proven that the Cat was originally Domesticated in Egypt over four thousand years ago.
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was only during the Dark Ages in Europe that the cat was considered to
be supernatural and feared. Cats are remarkable creatures whose natural
characteristics of silently moving on soft paw pads, expertly
navigating small spaces and athletically leaping great heights, then
seemingly to disappear from view, as if by magic. These traits made
them appear to be "not of this world" to the people during that time.
Humans at that period of history were under fed, poorly clothed, and
disease was rampant, however, cats had little or no body odor, buried
their excrement, and were fastidiously clean, making them even more
mysterious and secretive. If cats had been revered, instead of feared
in that period of history, perhaps they would have had the opportunity to dispatch the surplus of
disease carrying rats, and thus, history may have been written
differently.The Domestic Feline, again, came into favor with the Human Race. Cats' popularity has been growing... and growing. They are now rated "the most popular household pet" and have over taken the previously higher popularity of the dog.
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