https://www.legalnomads.com/istanbul-cats/"In addition, the documentary looks into the history of cat domestication, and how in the middle ages the church tried to get rid of cats due to their association with witches"
only difference is, now it's "toxoplasmosis and cat scratch fever" instead of witches.
Do you have numbers on the prevalence of those ills? As compared to well-known rat-borne illness?