Always thought the story of how cats became domesticated was fascinating. Early man noticed that when these cats showed up and started hanging around, disease would become less common. They attributed this to superstition- cats chasing away evil spirits or some such. The reality is that the cats were killing disease carrying vermin. So, a mutually beneficial relationship formed- cats would deal with our pest problems, literally saving lives and prolonging lives, and we'd provide them with some attention and pets and such. I hate this notion that you can't like dogs and cats, like you're either a "cat person" or a "dog person". Why can't I love both? I do. If you asked me to pick, I'd say I like them both equally, for different reasons mostly. Of course, like any animal, a stray population left unchecked can become a problem, which is always unfortunate when it's something like cats or dogs. Someone above brags about how he used to get to blast cats all night at some job he had.