COMPANION CATS
As well as big cats, wildcats and even domestic cats also appear as heraldic beasts. In Scotland, where wildcats still survive, Clan Chattan’s badge is a cat accompanied by the motto;‘Touch not the cat but [meaning without] a glove.’ Modern heraldry also includes specific cat breeds. In 1972, David MacDonald Stewart chose for his crest a Himalyan cat holding a tobacco leaf — a reference to his passion for the cats and the business he inherited.
As heraldry loves a bad pun, it’s no surprise to find cats also cropping up on arms belonging to families whose names derive from the word ‘cat’ such as the Katzens who had a silver cat holding a rat. Place names don’t escape either; Katzwang in Germany has a coat of arms that shows a cat standing on a meadow — the ‘–zwang’ part of the name.