A seemingly random yet highly relevant question to pose among cat fanciers and feline fanatics. Before you grab the cat by the tail and launch it into space, it’s important to note that while there is a popular legend suggesting that Isaac Newton invented the cat door, he actually did not.
In an unlikely story, Newton supposedly fashioned a flap by cutting a hole in his door and covering it with cloth to prevent his cat from disrupting his photosensitive experiments by letting in light. Some variations of the tale suggest he made one large hole for his cat and a smaller one for his kitten, unaware that the kitten would simply follow the cat through the larger opening.
The story that Newton invented the cat door is unlikely because it originated about 70 years after his death. If you aced the Cat Knowledge quiz, you will know that Albert Einstein was also not the man who invented the cat door, so who was it?
The concept of the cat flap is surprisingly ancient, with its origins traceable to 16th-century churches. It is nonetheless important to note that these flaps were primarily designed as doggy doors for the local canines rather than specifically for cats.
The Oldest Cat Flap In The World
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter boasts what may be the world’s oldest cat flap, cleverly integrated as a small opening in one of the ancient oak doors at the base of its north tower. There’s also evidence that a 14thC cat was paid 13 pennies a week to catch mice, strue’s Bob! Undoubtedly a must-visit destination for feline enthusiasts seeking adventure, where they can discover cats in the most unexpected places and spaces across the globe.
It’s difficult to track exactly when the cat door was invented, though we know it was sometime before Newton. The cat hole was mentioned as far back as Chaucer’s late-14th-century The Canterbury Tales, and used by a servant to peek into a room.
“An hole he foond, ful lowe upon a bord
Ther as the cat was wont in for to crepe,
And at the hole he looked in ful depe,
And at the last he hadde of hym a sighte.”
Cats have been partially domesticated for around 9,000 years, initially welcomed by humans for their prowess in pest control, particularly in managing rodents that threatened grain harvests. Over time, humans started to offer food to cats to entice their presence, allowing these independent creatures the freedom to roam in and out of homes, and even taking to the seas as sailors and joining captains aboard ships—an opportunity rarely extended to dogs.
