Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Let me say up front that I am not a cat person.

Dogs, for sure. Cats? Not my thing.

But discovering the history of cats, their epic survival in the face of incredible cruelty has softened my views.

They've endured some really mean stuff.

Take, for example, 1730s Paris.

Cats were becoming a popular pet for the upper class.

Having a cat meant you or somebody, a big timer.

But that also made cats a target for revenge.

Back then, there was no such thing as workers' rights, and bosses weren't so friendly. And so when some printer's apprentices got mad at their

overlord, they decided to take it out on the neighborhood cats, including the gray, fluffy one

belonging to the printer's wife. They held a mock trial for dozens of neighborhood cats.

The felines were quickly declared guilty and then they were hung from the rafters, beaten

and tortured.

This wasn't the first time cats had been treated savagely.

Going back even further, cats were attacked for religious reasons.

They were tagged as non-Christian, tools of witches and the devil.

Their incredible ability and interest in procreating made them a promiscuous symbol in a time of prudeness.

Popes issued orders to kill any cat on site.

At Mardi Gras, everyone looked forward to the ceremonial execution of cats. Cats were even

used for music, their hair ripped out so their howls could be added to songs. Historians have

described cat abuse going back to the days of St. John the Baptist when crowds celebrated the summer

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