What is a cat?

Cats have intrigued people ever since they first came to live among us. Irish legend has it that “a cat’s eyes are windows enabling us to see into another world”—but what a mysterious world that is! Most pet owners would agree that dogs tend to be open and honest, revealing their intentions to anyone who will pay them attention. Cats, on the other hand, are elusive: we accept them on their terms, but they in turn never quite reveal what those terms might be. Winston Churchill, who referred to his cat Jock as his “special assistant,” famously once observed of Russian politics, “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key”; he might as well have been talking about cats.

Is there a key? I’m convinced that there is, and that it can be found in science. I’ve shared my home with quite a few cats—and have become aware that “ownership” is not the appropriate term for this relationship. I’ve witnessed the birth of several litters of kittens, and nursed my elderly cats through their heartbreaking final declines into senility and ill health. I’ve helped with the rescue and relocation of feral cats, animals that literally wanted to bite the hand that fed them. Still, I don’t feel that, on its own, my personal involvement with cats has taught me very much about what they are really like. Instead, the work of scientists—field biologists, archaeologists, developmental biologists, animal psychologists, molecular biologists, and anthrozoologists such as myself—has provided me with the pieces that, once assembled, begin to reveal the cat’s true nature. We are still missing some pieces, but the definitive picture is emerging. This is an opportune moment to take stock of what we know, what is still to be discovered, and, most important, how we can use our knowledge to improve cats’ daily lives.