Rod Phillips answering questions about the history of cats

Hi! I'm Rod Phillips, a professor of history at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. My latest book is Cats: A History, published by Johns Hopkins University Press last week. In it, I survey the long and tumultuous history of the relationship between cats and humans. It goes back about 12,000 years and includes cats being valued as rodent killers, despised by Christians as associated with heretics and witches, valued by Muslims, condemned ny nationalists as 'outsiders', loved as pets, criticized for their harmful effects on wildlife, and celebrated as video stars on the internet. They are still polarizing animals: a third of people say they hate cats vs only 5% who hate dogs. I'm happy to answer questions about the long story of cats and humans. I'll here today until 2:00pm Eastern, and I look forward to discussing cats with you.