What will the cats of the future look like?

In just 10,000 years, cats have come in from the wild and accompanied humans on their journeys around the globe, but felines have been around for an estimated 37 million years of evolution in a world free of humans.

Even during the thousands of years cats have spent in the company of people, we have had little influence on when and with whom they have mated. Physically, domestic cats vary relatively little from their wild relatives; most cat breeds are less than 200 years old and are fairly uniform in size and shape. All of this helps to underscore just how recently cat domestication took place.

Breeds apart

Only recently have breeds like Ragdolls and Birmans appeared, as well as the curly-haired Cornish Rex and the hairless sphinx. Other breeds like Persians are older (their origins can be traced back to the Middle East in the 1600s), but they’re still relative youngsters compared to many dog breeds. 

And though some dog breeds have marked differences in instincts and personality, most cat breeds differ primarily in appearance, not especially in temperament or size. Cat breeders are still actively creating new varieties, including domestic/wildcat hybrids. The Bengal was originally an Asian leopard cat crossed with a house cat. The Savannah is a cross between an African serval and a domestic cat. Some think that both breeds are controversial because of their wild ancestry. 

Cats of the future

 In Europe more than 1,000 years ago, cats were used both as pest control and as a source of fur. When a group of Scandinavian archaeologists compared the size of cat pelts from the time of the Vikings to the bodies of modern-day kitties, they found that 21st-century cats were 16 percent larger.

What made these results so unusual is that domestication usually shrinks an animal. Dogs are a quarter smaller than wolves; livestock animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, are also smaller than their wild counterparts.

And it’s not just the availability of energy-dense kibble that has led to bigger cats. Scientists have also documented larger body sizes in free-roaming and feral cats in the Australian bush. Although those cats might steal human food scraps, they aren’t all being regularly fed by people. Of course, cats won’t magically grow to be Godzilla-size any more than they will suddenly evolve opposable thumbs.

Big and friendly 

But what kind of cat will they become? One possibility is that the cats of the future will be larger than today’s felines. 

Continued contact with humans may also help cats grow friendlier. By nature, cats tend to be more solitary and standoffish than dogs, which have a long evolutionary history as pack animals rather than lone hunters. Ongoing contact with humans may have helped give friendlier cats a survival advantage, making them more likely to pass on more sociable genes to their offspring.

Over time, this might have helped create a more relaxed pet—without ruining one of the most endearing parts of living with a cat: that when your kitty cuddles, you know it’s for real.

When scientists compared the social behaviors and personalities of domestic cats with clouded leopards, snow leopards, African lions, and Scottish wildcats, they found that house cats weren’t exactly suited for group living. They tended to be domineering, neurotic, and impulsive—not exactly the traits you want in a friend.

However, the personalities of house cats were most like those of the more sociable African lion, which has figured out a way to live in groups. This suggests that cats have the raw material to adapt to a more sociable future. And though large cat colonies may not be the same as lion prides, lions do show that cats can live side by side when the circumstances are right.

As humans spend more time learning about cat psychology and behavior, this effort creates an opportunity to improve our relationship. By understanding what makes cats tick—what motivates them, what makes them happy, what they can and can’t tolerate— we can ensure that our cats have the best lives possible.