Just read an interesting story.

I'm not a "cat person" but my son and lover are.

I now sympathize more with them after having read this;

To sum it up- It was fear of cats being associated with evil and witches in the early middle ages, that caused "decries requiring their elimination" which - in turn - invited the plague in to Europe.

Interestingly, the fate of mankind was curiously linked to that of the common house cat. When the cat populations rose, the pandemic ebbed, and when the cat population plummeted, the black plague made a resurgence.

Why? Glad you asked.

[owlcation.com]