Originally posted by reh321 My understanding is that cats came to live with people when cats discovered that people have places called “granaries” where they store mice, and people discovered that even a well-fed cat will hunt mice for sport.
We used to have a cat named “Velcro”; I discovered that if she stared at a spot, there was probably a mouse nearby. At first I thought she was doing it by odor, but our daughters pointed out that she had a great memory. She had left her favorite toy mouse at my parents’ house {we thought she had lost it and purchased her another one}; the next time we went there {several months later}, she went straight to it.
Cats came to humans walking by themselves from the wet wild woods, but it could make a cranky child content, so it's been tolerated, except by dogs.
Our Laura cat used to assume the low crouch and stare under the mobile dishwasher. When the machine had to be repaired, I discovered a large mouse nest in it, packed with dry cat food pellets that one or more mice had been stealing from Laura's dish for many months. She knew they were there, and she was generally a good mouser, but SFAIK they timed their foraging to her times of deep sleep.