Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority. Evidence indicates that cats were first tamed in Egypt. The Egyptians stored grain, which attracted rodents, which attracted cats. (No evidence that such a thing happened with the Mayans, though a number of wild cats are native to the area.) I don’t think this is accurate. It is certainly not the whole story. Cats didn’t start as mousers. Weasels and snakes and dogs are more efficient as rodent-control agents. I postulate that cats started as psychic companions, as Familiars, and have never deviated from this function. Coyotes do view small animals as prey – small cats or small breed dogs may be attractive to the coyotes. We encourage people to really monitor their pets. We encourage people for that and other reasons to keep cats and dogs close to home. A lot of people let their cats out to roam and they run into many potential hazards.