A recent national pet owners survey estimated the pet population in the USA to include 90 million cats. This number exceeds the estimated dog ownership of 73 million. It would be unrealistic to expect exact numbers, especially as there are so many stray cats, but there is no getting away from the fact a very large number of family homes in the USA have pet cats.

Around the world it is estimated there are around 600 million cats living with people as pets, and cats appear to be the most popular of all animals kept as pets.

Why are cats so popular as family pets?

First, the association between man and cat goes back a very long way. The earliest archaeological evidence appears to be a burial site on Cyprus where the remains of a human and a cat were found to have been buried together some 9,500 years ago. History also records there was a close relationship between cats and humans in Ancient Egypt, some 5,000 years ago.

Probably cats were first domesticated when man settled into farming civilizations, and the threat of mice and rats to food stocks emerged. Cats offered a solution by predating the rodent population while, unlike dogs, having no interest in consuming the stored fruit, vegetables and grains they were protecting.

For many centuries, cats were kept to prevent rodent infestations in homes. Some historians even attribute the large scale tragedy of the Great Plagues of the Middle Ages, spread by fleas carried on rats, to the extermination of cats in many communities. The cat population in Europe was heavily culled at the time out of a fear that they were linked to witchcraft.

The step from this functional reason for keeping cats to their popularity as pets was not a large one. Cats are small and of little or no threat to humans.

They are relatively unobtrusive and content to remain solitary most of the time. Unlike a dog, a cat requires little time and attention and can be largely self sufficient. If there are rodents for them to catch and eat, the cost of cat ownership is negligible.

Cats are naturally clean. Unlike dogs, they pay fastidious attention to their grooming and have tidy toiletry habits. When they lick themselves clean, their saliva contains a natural deodorant. This is believed to play an important role in their ability to stalk their prey undetected, but is also a welcome characteristic for a family pet.

Of course, cats are also appealingly furry, cuddly and cute, with large eyes, which brings out the “mothering instinct” in many pet fanciers. Add to that the affection that cats brought up from a young age will naturally display towards owners they trust, and it is easy to see why they have become so popular as family pets.

Selective breeding over a very long time for desirable physical and behavioral traits has added to the attractiveness of today’s domestic cat as a family pet. With de-sexing to eliminate some undesirable behavior, such as female wailing and male scenting, a cat is seen by a large number of families as the ultimate easy care family pet.