HI does anyone know the genetic history of how we got our adorable beautiful kitties we have now?

Answer 1

Hello again Julia...our domestic cats are descendents of the African wildcat (Felis Lybica).

Excerpt was taken from one of the exotic cat web sites:

Genetic Science scientists are now certain that today's domestic cats are descended from the African wild cat. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, the African Wild Cat weighs 6 to 17 pounds with a head and body length of 19 to 29 inches and a tail of 8 to 13 inches

Some articles about the relationship to the domestics:
http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/wildcat.html
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_african_wild_cat.html

Answer 2

Our domestic cats are all descendants of a species of small African wild cat that lived in the desert (not far from Egypt). When the humans began to cultivate grain and store it against times of famine or through the time till the next crop, rodents such as mice began to raid the stored grain. The mice drew the cats to the area and the cats were valued as ridding the grain stores from contamination caused by the mice.

All our house cats are genetically related to this species of cat, just as dogs are genetically related to wolves.

Answer 3

The Egyptians had domesticated cats, in fact they used the cats in burials, art work and even copied the slanted eyes (people painted their eyes with black like a cats). Before that, I am not sure.

Answer 4

Hey Julia

Yeah I do. Fascing history I think.The family of cat can trace their genealogy back to ancient Cyprus and Egypt, an impressive feat. Unlike the domestication of the dog, pack animals, with a built-in cooperative instinct, the full domestication of the cat about 4,000 years ago was not so easily achieved. Nomads of the upper Sudan area of Egypt established their agrarian communities in the rich soil of the Nile Valley.

Growing crops became a way of life for Egyptians, as it did for the tribes of Africa and primitives of southwestern Asia where cats later appeared. Since crops could only be harvested once or twice a year, the question became how to store the life-giving grains? Enter rats, mice and other vermin who quickly adapted to human ways for the promise of a free meal. Before long people noticed that the local cat population ate the rats that ate the grain, which to them was a very good thing indeed.

Diligent in ridding the area of rodents, people welcomed cats into their communities with open arms. The perfect supply side economics involved the farmers who wanted their grain intact, rodents who wanted the grain, and cats who wanted the rodents. The farmers wanted to encourage cats to stay around the house and farm so they left milk soaked bread, fish-heads and other scraps of food to attract cats. Cats simply discovered an ecological niche for themselves, a steady source of food, and affection from their human company.

If you think that cats are snooty, you might be right. Cats are simply remembering their exalted place in history. The relationship between Egyptians and cats was unique. During that period of time, Egyptians owned all kinds of animals including cattle, sheep, fowl, pigs, and monkeys. Cats freely roamed the land and came and went at will.

Laws were created at that time to protect cats, since they were held in such high regard. Due to the cat's exalted status, a religious order of cat worship developed that lasted for more than 2,000 years. The cat goddess Bastet became one of the most revered figures of worship. Bastet had the body of a woman and the head of a cat. Associated with fertility, motherhood, grace, and beauty, Bastet's largest temple was in the city of Bubastis. The word for cat in ancient Egypt was "mau," similar to our "meow," a universal cat word.

During the reign of the Pharaohs, it was considered a capital crime to kill or injure a cat, even if the cat died through an unfortunate accident. If a house caught fire, the rule went like this—cats first, humans second. If a cat should die of natural causes the entire household went into elaborate mourning with chanting and pounding of chests as an outward sign of grief. The body of the cat had to be wrapped in linen and delivered to the priest who inspected the cat's body to be certain the cat had died a natural death.

After death the cat's body was embalmed, wrapped again in linen, decorated and either buried in special cemeteries or entombed in temples. Thousands of cat mummies were preserved in a huge temple at Bubastis. Mouse mummies were also found in the tombs, to assure that the cat had food for the journey into the afterlife. In fact, the Egyptians so loved their cats that cats mummies far and away out numbered human mummies found in Egypt. Over 300,000 cat mummies were found in one excavation alone at Beni-Hassan in the 1800s.

Because the Egyptians so prized their feline companions, there was a strict enforcement of the law against exporting cats. However, cats were so good at catching rodents they soon found their way aboard barges on the Nile River as mouse catchers and companions to captains and sailors.

Cats soon sailed aboard ships to countries bordering the Mediterranean including Greece and Italy. Overland caravans lengthen the cat's popularity to the north and east. Slowly cats migrated to India, China, and Japan, where they were highly prized as pets and impressive rodent killers.

Once royalty in Egypt, cats today have not forgotten their heritage. The cat is here to stay.
The domestic cat was taken to the Americas by European settlers. Some were ship's ratters, polydactyls being preferred for this task which accounts for the high incidence of polydactyly on the eastern coast of the United States (i.e. the original colonies) and a few eastern coastal locations in Canada. Others were pets which accompanied settlers. It is possible that cats accompanied the original Viking settlers, however no evidence of feline occupation remains.

There have been reports of early colonists finding domestic cats already in North America and it was, for a while, supposed that the cat may have interbred with native lynx. The size difference between the two species is great enough to prevent natural interbreeding and the greyish creatures with banded tails which were reported by early naturalists were more likely to have been racoons