Show of hands: Who has had a black cat cross their path? How many of you have been doomed to a life of bad luck? Black cats shouldn’t get a bad rap just because they look sneaky. In fact, they’re considered good luck in many cultures. In Scotland, it’s lucky for a strange black cat to arrive at your doorstep. In Japan, black cats are thought to help single women find suitors. There’s a lot of silly superstitions out there, but most of the world acknowledges black cats as cute—not creepy.
There are more black cats than any other color because the black fur gene is most dominant for felines. There are as many as 22 recognized breeds that can have solid black coloring but the only all-black feline is the Bombay cat. The breed was developed in the 1950s by crossing Sable Burmese with black American Shorthairs with the aim to create a cat that resembled a miniature black panther. Everyone’s gotta have a hobby we guess.
In Ancient Egypt, all cats, including black cats, were considered sacred and worshipped. The goddess Bastet, a deity often depicted as a woman with the head of a black cat, was strongly associated with domestic cats. Every house and temple had at least one cat (and yet kitty litter wasn’t invented until 1947) as it was seen as a way to bring luck into your family.