Fishermen�s wives would keep a black cat at home to prevent disaster at sea. Consequently, these cats became very valuable and were often stolen.

The industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, witnessed a rapid expansion in factories and housing developments, and, with the new cities an explosion in the rodent population. Step forward our hunting companion to impose her presence for our benefit once more.

Shortly afterwards, our modern worship of the cat began in earnest with the so called �cat fanciers� of the late Victorian period. People began promoting the merits of cats beyond their mousing abilities and started recording and registering the pedigrees for different pure breed cats that continues to this day.

The contemporary cat has since made a full transition from worker to pet. The �mousers� still exist � professional domestics we might call them � but the majority of the 500 million or so cats in the world now stay in our homes as members of our family (or is it the other way round?), and are treated so.