The biggest-ever genetic analysis of cats is in, and it’s official: they are cats. After two centuries of breeding, cats remain true to the ancestral animal, about the same size and shape.
That is in contrast to the domesticated dog. All dogs are just one species, but some don’t look like it: certain variants have traveled far – in some cases, extremely far – from their point of origin, the gray wolf.
Why has so little work been done on cat genetics compared with dogs, for whom there are hundreds of studies?
“People have historically been more willing to spend money on dogs, so there’s been more funding for dog research,” Anderson explains. Dogs are “man’s best friend” and the species can be useful to boot: research proposals on dogs will get grants.
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Dogs were bred over thousands of years to perform functions: to help hunt, to catch “vermin,” to shepherd the kids, guard the homestead, even for docility, and so on. This cannot be said of cats. The feline has not been bred for functionality.
“They are naturally already good,” Anderson points out. “They are perfect.”
