mc wrote:

Thanks for the great advice :-) I am very encouraged! She/he even let
me hold her today... She was very open to letting me pick her up... I
was rather suprised!


As far as your query regarding its fur color, it's next to impossible to
find a truly black cat. Either they will have some other color of fur in
places, or they're actually a very dark color--sable, chocolate,
etc.--but not gentualy black.

History: Witch-hunting became active in Europe in the 13th century.
Prior to that, it was virtually unknown in medieval Europe. The Roman
Catholic Church had rescinded all laws against witchcraft, claiming
there was no such thing, and therefore no one could be arrested, tried,
convicted or punished for an uncommittable crime.

When persecution of witches became revived in the 1400s and later
centuries, cats were part of the pogrom against witchery. Witches would
have animals hanging around their homes, known as familiars. Often cats
would be such animals, since they're attracted to the rodents that would
infest a domicile. Witch-hunters came to believe that witches could turn
themselves into other animals. Thus cats became associated with
witchcraft, thought to be witches themselves in animal form. They were
also considered to be "grimalkins," minor demons who acted as
intermediaries for witches, carrying out their orders so the witch
wouldn't be in the vicinity when the nefarious deeds were done.

In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII decreed that anyone who owned a cat was a
witch, and that when a witch was burned at the stake her cat must be
burned with her. In the 1500s Inquisitor Nicholas Remy declared that all
cats were demons. The Church became rife with cat persecution, blaming
them for the Black Death of the mid-14th century, which decimated a
third of Europe's population. Catholic priests during this time presided
over festivals where cats were burned to death by the hundreds.

Black cats got the worst of it, since black is a color commonly
associated with evil, Satan, and dark spirits. Besides being immolated,
they were beheaded, drawn and quartered, buried alive, and numerous
other manner of cruel execution. Because of this, cats that are pure
solid black disappeared from the landscape. And thus today true,
completely black cats are unheard of.

Ironic Side Note: As noted above, cats were blamed for the Black Death
by the Inquisition. In fact, it was in part the lack of cats that caused
it. Yesinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the Black Plague was
carried by fleas on rodents. Cats would kill the rodents, and would be
the new host for the fleas. When the cat population was decimated by
witch persecution, the rodent population multiplied greatly, not having
to fear one of its main predators any longer. So when the rodents died
of natural causes, the fleas used humans as their hosts. That accounts
in great measure for how the plague was spread--because there were fewer
and fewer cats around to take up the bacterium-carrying fleas from the
rodents they were no longer around to kill.