House cat

This page is about a genus that contains extinct and extant species; species marked with † are extinct.

## Statistics

### Synonyms

*F. c. domesticus
F. angorensis
F. vulgaris*

### Diet

Carnivorous

The house cat (*Felis catus*) is a species of feline that lives worldwide as a common pet since 7500 B.C..

## Extinct Breeds

* Mexican Hairless Cat
* Oregon Rex

### Breeds previously considered extinct

* Chantilly-Tiffany (thought to be extinct; extant)[*citation needed*]
* Pittsburgh refrigerator cat (urban legend; not recognized as having actually existed)[*citation needed*]
* Sumxu (debated to have existed; likely a misidentification of the yellow-throated marten (*Martis flavigula*) by European missionaries)[*citation needed*]

## Classification

*F. catus* is a member of Felidae, the family having a common ancestor 10-15 million years ago. *Felis* diverged from other felids 6-7 million years ago, likely evolving through sympatric speciation and domestic breeds through artificial speciation, as proved by phylogenetic research. The domestic cat and its closest wild ancestor are diploid, possessing 38 chromosomes and ~20,000 genes.

The earliest evidence of taming of the African wildcat was found near a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, about 7500–7200 BC. Since then, there has been no evidence of native mammals from this area have been recovered, so it is likely the Neolithic village brought fauna from the Middle Eastern mainland. It is therefore assumed these cats were attracted to human settlement due to farmers domesticating the house mouse. This relationship lasted for thousands of years. As agriculture spread, the amount of tame cats did as well. Egyptian wildcats contributed to the maternal gene pool in modern cats.

The earliest domestiic cat from Greece f=dates to 1200 BC. Greek, , Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders had introduced domestic cats to south Europe. In the Roman Empire, cats were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium. By the 5th century BC, cats were regular inhabitants of Magna Graecia and Etruria. By the end of the Roman Empire (5th century, the Egyptian domestic cats had arrived in north Germany.

Cats have undergone minor anatomical and behavioural changes throughout the domestication process, but they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Some natural behaviours and characterists of the wildcat may have adapted them to domestication long before it ever happened. They are small, social, have obvious body language, love to play and have a relatively high intelligence. Captive *Leopardus* may also display such affectionate behaviour towards humans, but they were not domesticated. House cats mate often with feral cats, producing many hybrids. This can also happen with other felines.

Cat breed development started during the middle 19th century. Analyzing the domestic cat genome reveals the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered during domestication, where certain mutations were selected to produce different breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred house cats. These breeds, genetically, vary through region. The lowest are known as purebreds, which have 20+ deleterious genetic disorders.

## References

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Extinct\_cat\_breeds
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat