| Formerly, it was carelessly thought that our house | | | | and useful mousers. That they then were crossed |
| cats were simply the progeny of tamed pairs of the | | | | somewhat with the native wildcat seems to be |
| European wildcats; but anatomy has denied the | | | | shown by the appearance of the peculiar form we |
| probability of this and historical investigation shows | | | | call "tabby" cats. In brief, this is the history of the |
| that they came from another source. Historical | | | | common European house cat and also those of |
| evidence, which includes innumerable mummies, | | | | America and most of the civilized world because of |
| shows that the cat was domesticated by the | | | | immigration. However, in the remote and isolated East |
| Egyptians before the time of the oldest monuments | | | | exists races of domesticated cats of more local |
| of their civilization. | | | | origin. Prof. G. Martorelli, of Milan, Italy, made a special |
| Moreover, the characteristic specific markings of the | | | | study of this whole subject and he has concluded |
| caffrc cat (still wild as well as tame in the Nile Valley) | | | | that the ordinary domestic cat of India has |
| reappear unmistakably in our common house cats in | | | | descended from the Indian desert cat. |
| spite of the fact that interbreeding with other | | | | From it, he says, are derived their common spotted |
| species has intervened. A well-marked variety of this | | | | breed, while the fulvous breed seen in India has been |
| cat, known as the Mediterranean cat, was and is | | | | produced by a cross with the native jungle cat. Both |
| found in ancient times as well as now in Syria and | | | | these have interbred with the imported western cats |
| eastward. It is established that many centuries | | | | in recent years. The Persian or ''Angora" long-haired |
| before the Christian era the Egyptians, Cretans, | | | | breeds may probably have come from the Pallas' cat |
| Phoenicians and other men of the Levant were | | | | of central Asia; and the curious Siamese cat is |
| constantly voyaging all over the Mediterranean Sea. | | | | regarded as derived from the golden cat. Whether |
| They were busy founding trading-posts on both its | | | | accidentally or by the design of breeders, |
| shores, where finally arose and spread the extensive | | | | intermingling of these various species and races has |
| civilizations of Greece and Rome on the north, and of | | | | produced the bewildering variety of forms now seen. |
| Carthage on the south. | | | | NOTE: This article is for information only. See your |
| With these colonists undoubtedly went their friendly | | | | veterinarian for medical advice. |