“Cat on its brain”

Here’s an old British weather tidbit: “Cat on its brain, it’s going to rain.” This expression refers to a cat’s nap pose: curled up so the t...

The Nativity cat

cat , who ever since has had the M—for Mary, or Madonna — on the forehead.

Wake me for the funeral

Cats are generally well thought of in eastern Asia, yet there is an old story that casts the cat in a badlight. According to the story, when...

“Contemptible sneaks”

people who don’t want an animal entering (or leaving) a room with no sound at all. For us cat lovers, sneakiness is part of the total appea...

English meets native

American girl who saved the life of the English settler John Smith, who was about to be executed by the girl’s father, a chief named Powhat...

The high road to China

silk , and the Chinese eagerly brought the elegant rodent hunters back home. Among the Chinese of centuries ago, the cat became a symbol of...

Run of the mosque

people of Europe began to think of cats as “those things that the wicked Muslims are so fond of.”