A brief history of feline companions

Ancient Egypt
The exact known history of human interaction with cats is still incomplete. The earliest written records of attempts to domesticate cats date back to ancient Egypt, circa 4000 BC, where cats were employed to keep rodents away from stored grain in order to prevent food poisoning.However, a gravesite discovered in 1983 in Shillourokambos, Cyprus, dating back to 7500 BC, contains the skeletons of a ceremonially buried human and a type of young cat. Since cats are not native to Cyprus, this suggests that cats were tamed or even domesticated at least this early. The cat found in the Cyprus grave was more similar to the ancestral wildcat species than to modern housecats. Statues from Anatolia, created around 6000 BC have also been found depicting women playing with domesticated cats, which implies that cats were domesticated there around the same time period.Ancient Egyptians regarded cats as embodiments of the goddess Bast, also known as Bastet (prononced Bas·tet (bä'stĕt)) or Thet, who was a household goddess and protector of women, children and domestic cats. She was also the goddess of sunrise, music, dance, pleasure, as well as family, fertility and birth. The penalty for killing a cat was death, and when a cat died it was sometimes mummified in the same way as a human. Recently, deep scans of several mummified felines indicated they had suffered broken necks before mummification. It is unclear why, but researchers theorize that some cats may have been sacrificed to honor Bast. Recent research indicates that cats were so popular in tombs that sometimes other animals would be wrapped up in the form of a mummified cat.

Vikings
Vikings used cats as rodent catchers and companions and are sometimes credited with the domestication of the Norwegian Forest Cat, or Skogskatt. The Viking goddess(frā´yä) or Freya (frā´ä) , Norse goddess of love, marriage, and fertility. Her identity and attributes were often confused with those of the goddess Frigg. As a deity of the dead, Freyja was entitled to half the warriors killed in battle, the other half going to Odin. She was the sister of the god Frey and was frequently represented as riding in a chariot drawn by two horse-sized winged cats. Kittens were often given in her name to brides, linking together Freya's influence over both cats and romance.

Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, cats were superstitiously thought to be witches' familiars or even witches (for example, Greymalkin, the first witch's familiar in Macbeth's famous opening scene), and during festivities were tortured and burned alive as such.The human killing of cats in the Middle Ages has also been cited as one of the main reasons for the spread of bubonic plague - the Black Death, which was spread by the increased rodent population caused by the death of so many cats.

Europe
Superstitions folklore dating back to as early as 1607 holds that a cat will suffocate a newborn infant by applying its nose to the child's mouth, sucking the breath from it. A jury in England once found that a child met his death from a cat sucking the breath out of him; this conclusion was probably reached because of the widespread acceptance of the tale. Many explanations have been given to attempt to support this strange tale, the most common of which is jealousy from the cat towards the infant, as a result of the level of attention that the child receives that the cat may have lost after the child's birth. Another explanation is that the smell of milk from the infant's mouth attracted the cat to do so. However, research has shown that, unless the cat had been raised on milk, they prefer to drink water.

Modern Day
It is a common belief that cats have a "sixth sense" and can sense ghosts, spirits, or evil especially white cats. To date many still believe that black cats are unlucky or that it is unlucky if a black cat crosses one's path or one crosses the path of a black cat, while others believe that black cats are lucky. Black cats in particular are associated with Halloween/Samhain festivities. Because of this, many animal shelters will not adopt out black cats during the month of October because of concerns that the prospective owners are only going along with the season and, as a result, will not make a lifelong comitment to the pet. They are also afraid that the prospective owners will do away with the cat because of its alleged unluckiness. Some animal shelters will not adopt out cats of any kind (or sometimes pets in general) around Halloween because they are afraid, as a result of moral panic claims of believers in Satanic ritual abuse and witchcraft, that the animals will be ritually sacrificed. A far more plausible fear is that they may be used in Halloween-oriented pranks which could harm or even kill them.