Why Nigerians Hate Cats.

I can clearly remember the day I told my roommate that I will be getting a cat. He joked about it, telling me one day I’ll come back home and the food served to me will contain lots of meat of which after eating I’ll be told I just ate my cat.

On the 4th of July 2021, the cat vendor called to inform me that he was close to my location, and I directed him to where I stayed at that time. That was the first time I was having a cat as a pet. I had had much more experiences with dogs. After acquiring my cat, I was asked a particular question lot of times, “Gabriel, why did you buy a cat?”.

Over the years, dogs have always been pets in the home of Nigerians. Nigerians are not used to keeping cats as many are still attached to the superstitious belief that cats are vessels used by witches and wizards. Some blame religion, and in southern Nigeria, Christians reiterate the common belief during the Medieval Ages in Europe when cats were believed to be witches familiars. Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed during the great witch persecutions across mainland Europe. Many regions sought to wipe cats off completely.

Jide Famuyiwa shares his experience with this ideology on Quora:

First of all, not all Nigerians dislike cats, but I’ll admit that this is a very small minority, at least from my personal experience growing up in Lagos. A smaller minority of these own cats — I only knew one family who kept cats as pets in all the 30+ years I had lived in Nigeria. A part of the “minority” who do not dislike cats just love dogs too much to think about even owning cats. I will classify myself as one of these people. I have lived with cats, up to about 5 at the same time, but I just love the excitement and emotion dogs bring to their game. High five dog lovers!

That being said, a reason for this unfounded dislike, for most people, is that cats are seen as the embodiment of evil entities. Most people believe that witches and demons possess cats or turn into cats to torment their lives, thanks to unfounded myths and superstitions. Most people believe hear says without evidence and just accept them as canon, especially, if it comes from a religious leader. Religious leaders are worshiped as gods, but that’s a story for another day. This belief attached to cats is also attributed to animals like owls, bats (generally any animal that moves or flies at night), snakes, alligators, scorpions etc. You grow up hearing nicely crafted far-fetched stories about these animals that by the time you’re an adult it is deeply ingrained in your subconscious and nothing can shake it off, not even an education in an Ivy League school, lol. Please note that my answer only reflects common sentiments of the western and south western parts of Nigeria.

I will share an event I witnessed in my childhood. I must have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time, and this happened at school. I was in class with other kids that morning, when all of sudden we heard an uproar outside. Our teacher-led us out of the class and there at the playground, a mixed crowd of teachers and students were gathered around a tree with some senior students throwing stones at an Owl (I think!) perched quietly on a high branch of the tree. I remember very well hearing some teachers say it must have been a witch who could not transform back into its human form, and so it had to be killed. Some were praying against and cursing the poor bird as well. I can’t remember if the bird was killed or simply flew away after getting bored of the attention, I hope the latter, but the sheer absurdity of the situation still leaves me in wonder and amazement whenever I remember it.

Victor Dirikebamor, a storyteller also shares:

When we were in the woods, my grandma would say, “fear me, fear my family, you can’t wish my family any bad.”

Grandma, are you telling me you understand what that beautiful bird is singing? “I don’t, can’t you see it’s singing so close to us like a human being? I’ve seen a lot, when they sing like that something terrible happens.”

But is there a connection between the incident and the birds? And if there is, who is to blame, the birds or the bad incident or the person who heard them sing? “Victor, they said you’re stubborn, they also said you ask questions like a man and if you try that with me I will whip your ass.”

Sometimes we couldn’t even say, oh what a cool, fresh air, the seniors would damn us, “don’t say that, that is a bad breeze.”

The worst that could happen was a cat’s cry. There was nothing scarier than to hear a cat cry at night, we were innocent kids but the elderly made us believe it’s a bad omen for cats to cry like babies at night.

That of a dog was worse, a dog rarely cries but when they do it’s like a human being, that was certain that something terrible would happen, and a valuable member(s) of the community might die.

All of these miss and hit beliefs were passed down from generation to generation without questioning the source.

Fortunately, my generation won’t get the memo and when they hear birds sing or cats cry they would read no absurd meaning to it. These cats and dogs that were around us weren’t considered pets, they were poorly fed and I’m sure they were crying out of hunger or frustration as they mostly hunt their food but my people believed they were either bewitched or foreseeing evil.

Cats are like humans in certain ways, it might be difficult for humans to accurately interpret every of their behaviour.

They foresee danger. They attack or give hints when, for example, a snake is lurking around. And other times they act in weird ways that people interpret wrongly and attribute to witchcraft.

Many Nigerians have cats as pets in this age, and some don’t share the negativity attributed to cats. My concern is the number of religious folks who see cats as evil, they who claim to bath with the blood of the holy man are the most fearful of cats, perhaps they forgot that the same God made them all.

The Church vs Witches

The term witchcraft may have negative connotations now, but it actually means ‘craft of the wise’, as the word ‘Wicca’ was derived from ‘wicce’, or ‘wise’. Whilst witches claimed to be able to perform magic, they also brewed potions and were known for healing the sick. The Christian Church did not like the fact that people were asking witches to solve their problems, and so spread propaganda that their magical powers stemmed from the devil.

Most of 16th Century Europe began to believe witches were evil, and many were trialled, tortured and sentenced to death. Since witches were at one with nature, it was common for them to have a cat as a companion. Plus, the Celts believed that cats were actually humans who had been forced to return to this world after committing bad deeds. Such theories led to people making up stories of witches turning into cats.

‘Witnesses’ to these transformations claimed that witches would sneak into people’s houses at night to harm them. Some witches even confessed to this crime, presumably because the torture they endured forced them to. Thus, the cat became more than just a witches’ pet; it was her familiar.

Source: Animal Friends Pet Insurance

Also, there is a popular notion that cats are poisonous. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cat owners should be aware that sometimes cats can carry harmful germs that can cause a variety of illnesses in people, ranging from minor skin infections to serious illnesses. One of the best ways you can protect yourself from getting sick is to thoroughly wash your hands after handling, cleaning up after, or feeding cats.

I don’t see any reasonable scientific reason why Nigerians hate cats. I think we take these notions as most believe what they don’t have experience with. Because I can clearly remember my neighbour back then in school, who was so scared when I showed her my cat but after various encounters with it she loved it. It was then I found out that she had no reason why she was scared of this creature but a prejudice you and I have heard about cats while growing up.