We tend to associate cats, in their role of rodent killers, as protectors of grain and other human food. That much is true, but in the Orient cats found themselves as guardians of the
silk industry. Rats and
mice were a constant threat, not so much for
chewing the cloth (though that did happen) but for devouring the silkworm cocoons. China and Japan gave high praise to the precocious mousers that protected a vital part of the economy.
