It is apparent that we love cats as much as dogs, and more than all the other common companion animals. We buy them fancy food that imitates the taste of human food, we dress them up, and we spend lots of money on them. We treat them like we would treat our own children (sometimes, I would argue, even better). It is horrifying when we hear of countries eating cats, because we have become so close with these furry creatures. We would much rather slaughter and eat a pig even though pigs are also intelligent animals.
Why is this? Why is it that the western world has become so sensitive to topics of eating cats (and dogs)? I think the answer is obvious, though not 100% rational. We have been trained through our society to view cats as pets (and as even family members), not food. Because they live in our homes, are furry and cute, and (probably) love us, it has become unacceptable to eat them. By putting them up on this figurative pedestal, it's clear that speciesism has worked in the favor of our furry companions.
When I tried to find research on the domesticated cat, I found that cats are particularly difficult to conduct research on. However, I found a couple studies indicating that cats are intelligent and do possess emotion. The first study I found is particularly intriguing because it studied how the domesticated cat is able to manipulate their owners into feeding them by purring/crying in a certain way ("a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry"). In the study, the researcher, Karen McComb, collected recordings from cat owners of their cats crying when they wanted food and when they didn't. She then played the recordings back for 50 human participants (both cat-owners and non-cat-owners). She found that they judged the food-cries more urgent than the non-food cries. McComb explains that "previous research has shown similarities between cat cries and human infant cries," which is why humans might respond more to this specific kind of purr-cry. The conclusion of the study suggests that cats have learned how to "exaggerate [the cry] when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." This ability, of course, is beneficial to the animals' survival because it gets them more food.
The second study I found tested whether or not cats recognized a special relationship with their owners. Japanese researchers observed cats while they played recordings of their owner's voice and recordings of strangers' voices. They found that the cats responded more when they heard their owner's voice and voices that were familiar; they moved their heads and ears towards the voice, their pupils dilated, "which can signal emotions such as excitement." Cats do not really have big outward displays of emotion though, because in their wild ancestors this was a survival strategy. By concealing their vulnerability (such as when they are sick), the animal avoids attracting unwanted attention to itself.
In my personal experience, I recently have moved to a new neighborhood. My boyfriend, who lives around the corner from me, lives next door to his landlady who owns two cats that are free to roam outside. We have "made friends" with these friendly cats, and now every time they see us, they seem eager for us to pet them, running up to us, purring and rubbing themselves on our legs. One day, one of them spent several minutes licking my knee. Just a couple nights ago, one of them followed me back to my house, meowing the entire way. I think he sounded very sad to see me leave. I think these are the most obvious displays of affection.
Domesticated cats are currently viewed in a few different ways. For the majority of western cultures, cats are seen as pets and are accepted and loved as a member of the family. They have become as close to us as dogs have, and are the most popular house pet in the United States (~74 million total cats, or 30% of households have one or more cats). We love them because, like dogs, they are cute, intelligent, and relatively easy to maintain as a companion animal.
However, in other countries where there is more poverty and less food availability, cats are more often a food source than they are pets. For example, it is not uncommon in southern China to eat cat meat, and you can even find them in restaurants. (It should be noted that eating cat meat is illegal in many parts of China and not condoned.)
In some communities, feral and stray cats are a nuisance and are considered pests (like in the case of my sister-in-law, who has tried everything in her power to keep the local stray cats away from using her vegetable garden as a litter box).
The species I chose is the cat. It is a domesticated species.
2. Social History/Domestication
It is hard to accurately pinpoint exactly when cats were first domesticated, but scientists believe that cats were domesticated about 10,000-12,000 years ago in the Near East. The domesticated cat came from Middle Eastern wildcats that were attracted to the mice that inhabited grain stores. As humans began to transition from a hunting lifestyle to more permanent agricultural societies, they began to store food as surplus. Cat domestication was a result of the symbiotic relationship between humans and cats: the humans benefited from having rodent-killers, and the cats benefited from the meals they caught. Then, over time, the cats sort of "domesticated themselves" (Carlos Driscoll) and humans began to select for cats that were more docile.
