Angela Daniels, age 12, of Rushville, Ind., for her question:
There are more than 300 cat clubs as well as seven national cat associations in the United States and Canada. The organizations set up standards for judging each breed of cat. The first cat show held in the United States was in 1870, with major shows held in New York City in 1895 and another one in Chicago in 1900.
Since ancient times the cat has been domesticated and has been a member of the human family's inner circle.
More than 4,000 years ago, carved wooden figures of cats were being turned out by Egyptian craftsmen. Furniture and jewelry was also made in the shape of cats during these early days of civilization.
During the days of ancient Rome, the cat stood as a symbol of liberty. Roman artists in many paintings showed the goddess of liberty, Libertas, with a cat lying at her feet.
The first cats tamed to live with men most likely showed their appreciation by taking over the job of ridding homes and storehouses of rats and mice. Cats were known to have been assigned duty in grain warehouses for the ancient Egyptians.
The Egyptians even worshiped cats as gods. The goddess Bast, who represented the life giving heat of the sun, had the head of a cat. Cats were mummified, and often buried in special pet cemeteries along with mummified rats and mice.
The first domesticated cats mostly likely came to Europe in about 900 B.C. when Phoenician traders introduced Egyptian cats. The crossing of domesticated Egyptian cats with European wildcats produced the domestic cat of Europe.
When the European explorers, colonists and traders went to the Americas during the 1700s, many of them took domestic cats with them. These early animals are the ancestors of most of the cats living in the United States and Canada today.
Cats are either of the short haired or long haired breed. Short haired cats are divided into eight breeds: Domestic Shozthair, Siamese, Burmese, Abyssinian, Russian Blue, Havana Brown, Manx and Rex. There are two types of long¬haired breeds: Himalayan and Longhair.
Most cats have between 25 and 30 long whiskers that grow in four rows from the side of the mouth to above the eyes. Some believe the whiskers are used to measure a space through which they can walk, but this is not true. The whiskers are attached to sensitive nerves in the skin, and they are used to help the cat feel its way through bushes and undergrowth.