I recall an article a long time ago, maybe in Scientific American, about some cats in the Hebrides or maybe the isle of Man being related to some cats in the Black Sea area, and the explanation they came up with was the Vikings might have carried cats with them on their ships. The Vikings got around.
Talk about a woman in every port...they had kids in every port.
Also, most cats in Europe and North America came from Egypt. The Egyptian religion treated cats as gods and to kill one could lead to your demise. The Romans took Egyptian cats with them to Rome and all over the empire. Eventually they came to America. They kept the rodent population down.