The history of the domestic cat embodies a paradox. No other animal has been so loved yet so despised, so revered yet so vilified, so persecuted yet ultimately, so successful.

It started out auspiciously enough. By 1500 BCE, the Egyptians had domesticated a local subspecies of the Wild Cat, an animal that ranged throughout much of Africa, Europe and Asia. This subspecies, the African Wild Cat, seems to have been particularly amenable to domestication. Its companionable nature, its beauty, and its vermin hunting proclivities endeared it to all elements of Egyptian society. The cat enjoyed a singular status as a pet, a working animal, and an object of worship.