The Alphabet of Ben Sira, a medieval text composed between 700 and 1000 CE, tells the longest and wildest origin story for why dogs and cats can't stand each other. It goes all the way back to Adam.
Originally, the cat and the dog were hunting partners. But food grew scarce. The dog proposed a split: the cat would go live with Adam and eat well indoors, while the dog would fend for himself in the wild. One condition - they swore an oath never to serve the same master. The cat agreed, moved into Adam's house, found mice to eat, and thrived. Adam was delighted: "God has sent me a great gift!"
The dog's luck was the opposite. He tried staying with the wolf, who sent him to fight off intruders and nearly got him killed. The monkey chased him away. He tried the sheep, but his barking led wolves straight to the flock - and they devoured the sheep. Homeless and desperate, the dog wandered from place to place until he finally came to Adam's door.
Adam took him in immediately. At midnight, the dog heard footsteps and alerted Adam, who grabbed a spear. Together, man and dog chased off the wild animals. "Come live with me," Adam said. "Eat my food and drink my water." It was the beginning of humanity's oldest partnership.
But when the cat saw the dog walk in, he was furious. "You broke our oath!" The dog tried to make peace: "I won't take your food, I won't come into your space." The cat refused to listen. The dog eventually fled to the house of Adam's son Seth. He kept trying to reconcile, but the cat never forgave him.
"The practice of the ancestors is the practice of the descendants," the text concludes, "whether among animals or people." A broken oath echoes forever.
י"ג He said to him, "And why is there hatred between the dog and the cat?" He said to him, "When the cat was created, he went and partnered with the dog, and the two of them would hunt and eat. One day came along, and then a second and third, when they could not find anything to eat. Then the dog said to the cat, 'How long will we sit hungry? You, go to First Adam and live with him in his house, and eat and be satisfied, and I will go to the creeping, crawling animals, and though nothing is found, we will eat and we will live.' The cat said to the dog, 'Let us both swear not to go to the same master.' He said to him, 'You have said well.' Immediately they both swore, and the cat went to the house of the First Adam and found mice and ate and was satisfied, and the remaining ones fled from him. When he saw this, Adam said, 'The Holy Blessed One has sent me a great healing!' Immediately he settled him in his house and fed him bread and gave him water. Then what did the dog do? He went to the wolf. He said to him, 'Can I come to you tonight and sleep over?' He said to him, 'Yes.' They both went into a cave and lay down. The dog heard the sound of loud animal footsteps. Immediately he woke the wolf and said to him, 'I hear the sound of bandits!' He said to him, 'You go out and chase them away.' They stood up against him as if to kill him. He ran away and went to the monkey, and he chased him away. He went to the sheep, and he accepted him and lay down with him. He heard the sound of footsteps. The dog said to the sheep, 'I hear the sound of bandits!' He said to him, 'You go out.' The dog went out and started barking. The wolves said, 'The sheep went there,' and they went and found him [the sheep] and ate him, and the dog ran away from lodging to lodging and could not find any rest at all. Immediately, he went to First Adam, who accepted him and lay down to lodge with him. At midnight, the dog said to Adam, 'I hear footsteps!' Immediately, Adam stood up and took up the spear and went with the dog, and they chased the animals until they had made them run away, and the two of them returned together. Adam said to the dog, 'Come with me to my home, and live with me and eat my food and drink my water.' So he went with him. When the cat heard the dog's voice, he came out to greet him. He said to him, 'Why have you come to me?' He said to him, 'Adam brought me.' They began to quarrel. Adam said to the cat, 'Why are you fighting with him? I brought him, because I saw that he is he is entirely loyal.' He [Adam] said to him [the cat], 'Do not worry! You will be with me as has been your habit.' He said to him, 'My master, he is a thief. Is it nice to live with a thief?' The cat said to the dog, 'Why did you break your oath?' He said to him, 'I will not come into your residence, I will not eat what you have, I will not harm you at all.' He would not listen to him, so they began to quarrel. When the dog saw that it was so, he immediately ran to Seth's house and lived with him. The dog would try to make peace with the cat, but the cat was not amenable, and from that moment until this day they are in a quarrel. And the practice of the ancestors is the practice of the descendants, whether wild animals, domesticated animals, or people. And they say this parable about them: 'One ewe follows another.'"
