Terry Kent, age 9, of Rochester, New York, for his question:
Did pet dogs or pet cats come first?
Neighborhood cats and dogs often carry on like mortal enemies. Naturally we try to keep the peace by teaching them polite manners and respect for each other. On the home front, our good example works like a charm and as a rule the family cat and dog love each other. This makes us wonder why strange cats and dogs usually behave like hostile savages. Perhaps the misunderstanding goes back to the very first pets.
Wild cats and dogs arrived millions of years before the first human families. They were fierce and hungry meat eaters and sometimes they hunted the same food. Often they fought each other and the strongest dog or cat grabbed most of the banquet. Wild cats and dogs still compete for food, but the battles are soon settled and forgotten.
On the home front, things are very different. We serve suitable diets to our pet cats and dogs and few of them go hungry. Certainly there is no need to fight to steal food from each other. In the family, they usually get along just fine. But when they catch a glimpse of the neighborhood cats and dogs, our peaceable pets sometimes turn into shrieking savages.
Some experts claim that cats and dogs always were natural enemies. It is true that in the wild they often fight to grab each other's food. But between meals they tend to ignore each other. Most likely they never did hate each other like born enemies. It seems very odd that our civilized pets fight "like cats and dogs." Maybe their quick fear and anger flare up because they are jealous of each other.
The story began more than 20 thousand years ago, when our caveman ancestors and the wolfish wild dogs began to notice each other. The Stone Age folk of 10,000 years ago teamed up with half wild dogs. .After a hunt together, the dogs were happy to get juicy hunks of delicious cooked meats.
Small wild cats also hovered near the campfire, hoping for handouts. Maybe the proud dogs felt jealous and tried to drive them away. maybe this started the ancient cat and dog hostilities. When a Stone Age family moved, the dogs went along and the cats followed from a safe distance.
Gradually the dog became a trusted worker and learned his place in the human family. Gradually the little cat grew braver and fell head over heels in love with the human children. No doubt the dog was man's first animal friend. But without a doubt, the first true pet of the human family was the furry little, purry little cat.
The dog was adopted about 20,000 years ago and gradually trained to work as a hunter and guardian. But the little cat refused to be trained for duty or even to obey orders. Yet the family enjoyed her furry affection. They liked her to sleep by the fire because she added a touch of comfort and contentment to the home. In time, the family learned to love her for herself alone, just as a pet. More than 4,000 years ago, she was adopted in Egypt as the first true pet of the human family. At that time, the dogs had been man's hard working partners for about 15,000 years. Perhaps the arrival of pampered pets made them fiercely jealous and perhaps the adopted cats felt fearful.