Heraldry Etc
A cat (hieroglyphically) represents false friendship, or a deceitful,
flattering friend.
The cat (in heraldry) is an emblem of liberty, because it naturally
dislikes to be shut up, and therefore the Burgundians, etc., bore a cat
on their banners to intimate they could not endure servitude.
"It is a bold and daring creature and also cruel to its enemy, and never
gives over till it has destroy
d it, if possible. It is also watchful,
dexterous, swift, pliable, and has good nerves--thus, if it falls from a
place never so high, it still alights on its feet; and therefore may
denote those who have much forethought, that whatsoever befalls them
they are still on their guard."
"In coat armour they must always be represented as full-faced, and not
showing one side of it, but both their eyes and both their ears.
Argent three cats in pale sable is the coat of the family of Keat of
Devonshire."
Many families have adopted the cat as their emblem. In "Cats, Past and
Present," several are noted. In Scotland, the Clan Chattan bore as their
chief cognizance the wild cat, and called their chief "Mohr au Chat,"
the great wild cat. Nor is the name uncommon as an English surname,
frequently appearing as Cat, Catt, Catte; but the most strange
association of the name with the calling was one I knew in my old
sporting days of a gamekeeper whose name was Cat.