There is no middle ground with cats - we either love them or loathe them - but the cat adopted as a power animal represents independence, cunning, dexterity, agility, sensuality, inscrutability and ferocity. And whether the great wild hunter of forests, deserts or grasslands, or an ordinary domestic tabby, they are beautiful creatures. Some would dismiss them as merely killing machines, but we only have to look at the history of their evolution alongside mankind to realise there is nothing on this planet quite like them.