Throughout history, cats have been subjected to many unfair and untrue stereotypes. "But cats are heartless,they don't show any affection!" or " They aren't loyal at all!" These are just a few of the misconceptions about cats I have heard, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. Of course I may be biased, as I own a wonderful Birman cat named Portia. She is incredibly friendly and affectionate, and she loves nothing more than a lap to curl up on and take a nap. But where do these preconceived ideas that cats are heartless and evil come from? Well it largely started in the 13th century in Western Europe, in which (no pun intended) there was a witch craze. Soon, everyone was convinced that their neighbour was a witch. It wasn't long before cats became synonymous with witches. How, you might ask, well it had something to do with a man called Pope Greogory ix. He was a notorius cat hater and believed that cats were bad omens and that they "bore satans spirit". Anyone who was seen to be around a cat was immediately accused of being a witch. Pope Gregory hated cats so much so, that he ordered a purge of cats across Europe.

Nowadays people don't exactly believe that cats are the devil incarnate, but cats, particularly black ones, still suffer because of these old superstitions. For example, black cats have the lowest adoption rates in shelters, making up only 10% of all adoptions. They are also most likely to be euthanised out of all the different colours of cats.