Throughout history the cat has been subject to several ups and downs in popularity stakes.
Similiar inbreeding was seen in Japan, isolated on an island, the indigenous cat population did not have the chance to mate with unrelated cats and so any fault in the genetics make up would have been doubled up with each generation. This gave rise to the breed we now call the Japanese Bobtail.
Some of earliest evidence of the domestic cat are to be found in Ancient Egypt, where they worshipped as a god and the penalty of killing a cat was death. Cats were mummify too just like pharoah.
It is from this mummified we have been able to learn much about early domestics cat. During Middle ages, cat considered to be a witch's "familiar". Both witch and cat suffered the same fate, and they were burnt to death.
The black cat ha always been associated with witchcraft and from this , certain superstitions have arisen. A black cat crossing your path is suppossed to be bad omen, althought some people in contrast consider black cat to be a lucky maskot.
In Burma and Thailand, cats have always been held high esteem. Breeds that we know today as Burmese , Siamese and Korat owe thier ancestry to these far-off parts of the world. The Siamese know as the 'Royal' Cat of Siam and only royalty were allowed to own such a cat. It was considered an honour to bestowed on visiting dignitaies from other countries who had won favour with the king.
Burmese Cat
Siamese Cat
Korat
Japanese Bobtail
Similiar inbreeding was seen in Japan, isolated on an island, the indigenous cat population did not have the chance to mate with unrelated cats and so any fault in the genetics make up would have been doubled up with each generation. This gave rise to the breed we now call the Japanese Bobtail.
As ship become larger, and were able to travel farther afield, this changed the cats future. Cats were good mousers and most ships employed the services of a 'ships cat. Cats have always been excellent escapologists and it was unknown for one jump ship, which meant that the ship would have to pick up a local cat as a replacement and bring it back home.
Off the west coast of England, near the port of Liverpool , is the Isle of Man , a small island which is home to a tail-less variety of a cat known as the Manx. It is thought that these tail-less cats first came to the island on ships from Far East; stormy wheather sometimes caused the ships to stop at the Isle of Man as they were unable to get into liverpool, and its quite likely that the occasional cat jumped ship here.
Tail less Cat
