Given the worldwide distribution of cats, differences in attitudes and behaviour toward these animals in different cultures might be expected, especially given differences in levels of economic development and religious traditions in many countries. In 2006 the first author decided to examine those differences in a sample of countries across the globe which also exhibited differences in economic status and religious background. Despite a globalisation of interest in human–animal relations, few cross-cultural studies on attitudes toward cats and dogs were set against religious heritage and none considered simultaneously attitudes toward nature/conservation, wildlife, zoos, intensive farming and animal protection/welfare issues. Most of our results have been published or are in press (IEMT, 2009; Turner, 2010; Fehlbaum et al., 2010; Turner, 2013; Turner & Al Hussein, 2013; Turner et al., 2013). We can therefore summarise the results on human–cat relations while occasionally referring to dogs for comparative purposes. Before doing so, we shall give an update on other cross-cultural studies and provide the historical and social background for potential differences in attitudes and behaviour toward animals.