Animals and birds of prey were Syme Boyd’s favourite subjects to draw and sculpt. During her student days at Edinburgh College of Art, Boyd would avoid going to life drawing classes, spending her time in the department of the animal painter William Walls instead. Walls kept animals on site at the College and having been dissuaded from bringing live animals into the studio herself, Boyd compromised by drawing these. The bronze sculpture 'Cat' was produced while Boyd was on a travelling scholarship to Paris where she trained under the animal sculptor Edouard Navaillier.