For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 80
To download, click/tap here: PDF
"In the meantime, while all this was going on, a cat [shunara] came and severed the hand of the baby.
Rav emerged from the house and taught: With regard to a cat, it is permitted to kill it even if it is privately owned; and it is prohibited to maintain it in one’s possession; and it is not subject to the prohibition against theft if one takes it from its owner; and, in the case of a lost cat, it is not subject to the obligation of returning a lost item to its owner."
We explore the history of cats and its role in the plague (blaming Jews) down to the disappearance of the Jerusalem cats.