I know that domesticated dogs played important roles in many American societies as working animals, food sources, and companions since time immemorial. But it's my understanding that domestic cats originated in Afro-Eurasia much more recently and, as such, weren't present in the Americas until the Columbian exchange.

Shortly after house cats arrived in the Americas, how did various Indigenous peoples incorporate (or resist incorporating) these animals into their worldviews and daily practices? For instance, did the Andean peoples who incorporated pumas as potent cultural symbols connect fearsome pumas to the newly introduced little felines?

How might these effects have differed among Nations with very different lifeways in different parts of the continents? Did cats ever start to make an appearance in Indigenous American histories, music, folklore, humor, or religion? And, not to get too contemporary on this sub, are there any significant twentieth-century Native relationships with domestic cats that give us insight into recent Indigenous experiences?