Great Cats of History

Cats have lived alongside humans since the genesis of civilisation - which as I’ve told you before is definitely no coincidence – and since this symbiosis was brewed millions of lived experiences of domestic cats have played out with their own unique personalities, quirks, and gregarious human sidekicks for comic relief. The journey of the floofer bloodline from the semi-feral wildcats of the ancient fertile crescent to the most pampered cats of today’s earth has been quite the wild ride with many twists and turns, and this article will pick out some vignettes from the struggle of life which humans and cats have engaged in over the centuries, through noteworthy individuals.

While cats were originally drawn to the periphery of human society to pray on the vermin we collect via agriculture, cats today have reached the highest levels of human society. For instance, a black stray known as Tommaso who found his way into the home of an old Italian multimillionaire and property empress called Maria Assunta. Tommaso won the widows heart to such an extent that when she passed Assunta made him a property magnate, leaving him her empire of properties across Italy from Milan to Calabria valued at an incredible $13 million in total. Sadly, the laws of the land prevented Tommaso from gaining access to his hoard of wealth, as animals are not legally allowed to inherit directly (see you outside the Italian embassy with your picket signs). As a result of this oppressive legislation which I assume is some kind of overhang from the fascist period, this fortune was entrusted to Stefania - a friend of Assunta who met her in a park and bonded with her over a love of cats. They would organise play dates with their cats in Assunta’s home, and when Assunta’s health began to decline Stefania (who happened to be a nurse) tended to her till the end. The Guardian quoted her in 2011 remarking that she ‘had no idea’ Assunta was so wealthy. Assuming that this is true… this wacky story reads like an Of Matters Relating to Felines reader fanfiction, but I can assure you this is real - in fact, Tommaso holds the record for the largest inheritance of a cat in history so far.

Funnily enough, despite the cat's reputation for laziness, the highest-earning cat is, in fact, a great deal more wealthy than Tommaso – Mrs Tardar Sauce is worth far more after a successful career as an internet celebrity which landed her status as a living brand under the alias ‘Grumpy Cat’. Her unique facial structure which was in part a product of feline dwarfism became a very popular meme with over 10 million followers across her own social media channels. Her owner Tabatha Bundesen even employed a ‘meme manager’ who also worked for the creators of Nyan Cat and Key Board Cat. Her owners quit their jobs to work as supporting staff while Tardar Sauce made public appearances, merchandise, and signed advertising deals with Honey Nut Cheerios, US cat food brand Friskies, and more. Grumpy Cat Ltd even won a legal battle against a coffee company that was given the approval to produce a 'Grumpaccino’ but overstepped their contract by delving into other products using Tardar Sauce’s personal brand. This case increased the cats net worth by $710,000 in damages. Tardar Sauce also featured in two films. Lil Bub and Friends was the first – a critically acclaimed documentary hosted by another famous cat Lil Bub, who visited and consulted with other ‘catlebrities' and visited the Internet Cat Video Film Festival which was sadly discontinued in 2015.

The documentary won best feature film at the festival it was debuted at. Grumpy Cats second film would sadly not deliver in the same way, despite starring Tardar Sauce. Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever has a rating of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes and received mostly negative reviews from critics, some of which positively lost their minds. Libby Hill of the A.V. Club called it "the largest turd in a crap crown of original programming...so unforgiving, so psychologically trying, that the process alone leaves the viewer straining to hear the dialogue over the sound of the soul being crushed wholesale, bone and sinew wrenched apart at the joint." Despite such zealotry from some critics, the Rotten Tomatoes rating, and a 5/10 IMDB rating, many people certainly enjoyed this film. An amazon rating of 4.5/5 shows that hardcore Tardar Sauce members were not disappointed with it. While I assume most of our readers will know about the Grumpy Cat, what’s less well known is that Tardar Sauce sadly passed away on May 14th of 2019 in early middle age. At aged 7, she was about 44 years old in cat years. Rest in peace Mrs Sauce.

The most famous cat of history may heavily predate the internet, however. Before the digital age, the fame of a cat could still spread via a far more ancient method – religious conversion. The prophet Mohammed is well known to have had a favourite pet cat known as Muezza. The Arabic name means ‘cherished’. While dogs and pigs are considered unclean in Islam cats are respected and rated as clean, civilised beasts. This is certainly bolstered by the prophet Mohammed's well-documented love of cats. The Quran features a short story wherein Mohammed wakes up from a nap to the sounds of the call to prayer known as the adhan. He realises that Muezza had joined him in his nap, curled up inside the loose sleeve of his robe. Rather than get up and jostle the cat awake, Mohammed cuts off the sleeve of his robe to leave Muezza sleeping, now I imagine fajita’d up in a soft sleeping bag made from the severed sleeve.

It’s written that when Mohammed returned from the Mosque, she bowed to Mohammed in thanks, and received three strokes down her back in acknowledgement; the bow of thanks had secured Muezza a place in the afterlife because of Mohammed’s blessing. Islamic teaching states that Muslims are only free to live with cats if they feed water and treat them well, as well as giving them time to roam around. Cats also cannot be sold for money or traded for goods. All of these decrees can be traced back to recorded statements from the prophet Mohammed during his life, taken on as guidance because of his status as the messenger of God. One of the friends of the prophet Mohammed was known as ‘Father of Kittens’ for his love of cats, and this man ‘narrates’ many of the hadiths relating to Mohammed’s stances on cat issues. Although Abu Hurairah - ‘Father of Kittens’ – is not recorded as a name from the period, he is only ever referred to by this moniker in the surviving texts. This paints us a picture of a man who amassed true renown for his kitten fathering. Cats are allowed inside mosques, and even the saliva of a cat is not considered unclean, allowing Muslims to eat from food that a cat has sampled. It is written that Mohammed said ‘Cats are not impure. They intermingle with you’.

As is popularly known, the ancient Egyptians also held cats in great regard. Associated with Bastet and Sekhmet, they were considered to be potentially divine messengers. I assume many of you don’t need to hear that the ancient Egyptians predate Islam by a great deal of time, despite Egypt later becoming majority Sunni Muslim and part of the Arab cultural sphere into the modern-day. Interestingly, however, they had a similar policy to those mandated by Mohammed many years later – it was forbidden to kill a cat in ancient Egypt. Some sources say those who killed a cat, even by accident, were often lynched on the spot by angry mobs – perhaps out of fear that Bastet or Sekhmet would take revenge on the area.

As we know, many of these cats were very pampered, wearing expensive collars earrings or nose rings, starring in art, and mummified upon death in lavish burials. It’s surprising in light of this that there seems to be no evidence that this ancient culture named cats, more that they were commonly referred to as mau – ‘he who mews’ as a collective name for all of them. This makes a cat owned by a low-level Priest of Amun known as Puimre very historically significant, as it is recorded on the wall of his tomb that he named the cat Nadjem. The means ‘dear one’ or ‘star’, and Nadjem was buried alongside Puimre, who must’ve been very fond of the floofer. This tomb was found in the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes – not the one in Greece – which is found in the ruins of the modern city of Luxor. Thebes was the capital city of the Pharaohs from the 1500s to 1000s BC, where Egypt was at the height of its power.

Much like Tardar Sauce, Tee Cee was a working cat. Unlike this latest brand of self-absorbed, flexing, Instagramming, influencer Ecats, however, Tee Cee was a traditional professional with real skills. Tee Cee was a UK cat from Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, who made international news for his ability to detect seizures in his owner before they even happened. His life however began tragically, as his original owner stuffed Tee Cee and the rest of his litter in a box and threw it in a river, reminiscent of the story of fellow heroes Moses and Romulus and Remus. His owner Michael Edmonds had a dangerous and unorthodox form of epilepsy which meant he could barely leave the house unsupervised. After purchasing Tee Cee for some fluffy company, Michael discovered that the moggy had an uncanny interest in him right before he was about to seize – even though, at least the eyes of human medicine, he showed no symptoms before his seizures. Tee Cee's daughter said 'we noticed that Tee Cee began staring at my step-father before a seizure and then ran to my mother to let her know all is not well, acting as an early warning system. Once assistance arrives Tee Cee doesn’t leave his side until he regains consciousness, and his warnings have proved invaluable for the family. ‘It took some time for Tee Cee’s family to realise the connection between his behaviour and the fits of Michael Edmonds, but the story soon made great waves in the media. Tee Cee was awarded the Rescue Cat of the Year award in 2006 for his sorcery.

It’ll be no surprise to this audience that there have been so many famous cats over the centuries, because of the magnetic force they sway their human admirers with. The rise of social media is rapidly creating a whole new constellation of feline stars. Anybody’s cat can become famous. Your pet could become the next grumpy cat if you know how to make TikToks. The sad side to this story is that the great cats of old may be buried under this rising tide of influencer floofs. When a cat can get famous for its looks and get jazzed up with fancy outfits edits and cute songs – where does that leave those in search of positive role models? Cats like Tee Cee and even more tragic cases like Félicette, who sacrificed so much for science, can be buried underneath the proliferation of superficial e-cats. This is why cat history is so important – cats must be appreciated for their real impact on the world, which goes far deeper and is much more significant than the pleasures of the floof. I have endeavoured to write cat history which engages with the powers that made cats what they are and explains their relationship with humans deeper than exploitative ornamentation. With that said, I wish you all the best and hope the end of lockdown brings all you hoped it would.

Composed by,

William Price, Undergraduate of History from the University of East Anglia