A cat's usually aristocratic, aloof, and I-don't-care attitude may be the outcome of a mixed domesticity and wildness that took place in the not-so-distant past.

An analysis of the cat genome led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals how this highly independent and wild creature became domesticated since it has started sharing households with humans some 9,000 years ago. Such relationship eventually blossomed into a closeness that led to the taming of an animal that was born to be wild.

The researchers compared the genomes of domestic cats and wild cats, finding specific regions of the domestic cat genome that differed significantly. Bloomberg reported that the scientists sequenced the genome of a female Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon and compared her DNA to genomes from six other domestic cat breeds, two wild cat species, and to the genome of a tiger, dog, cow, and human.

According to reports, the scientists found changes in the domestic cat's genes which are involved in behaviors such as memory, fear and reward-seeking. The reward-seeking behavior, according to the researchers, played a big role in the domestication of household felines.

"Humans most likely welcomed cats because they controlled rodents that consumed their grain harvests," said senior author Wes Warren, associate professor of genetics at The Genome Institute at Washington University. "We hypothesized that humans would offer cats food as a reward to stick around."

He added that cats are really only semi-domesticated, which is unlike dogs which has a longer history - 30,000 years-- of domestication. "They only recently split off from wild cats, and some even still breed with their wild relatives. So we were surprised to find DNA evidence of their domestication," Warren said.

The domestic cat genome, however, shows a relatively small number of changed genetic regions compared to domesticated dogs. "Cats are clearly still very independent in their behaviors, and, importantly, still interbreed with wild populations," Warren explained.

The findings may help researchers better understand and treat cat diseases, including illnesses shared with humans, such as kidney calcification.

"Using advanced genome sequencing technology, we were able to shed light on the genetic signatures of cats' unique biology and survival skills. And we were able to significantly jump start our knowledge about the evolution of cat domestication," Warren said.

The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

Around 96 million cats are owned by Americans, according to the Humane Society.