The cat, Felis catus, is a domesticated mammal in Carnivora. The name here refers to the domestic species, rather than every wild member of the broader cat family. Coat patterns and named breeds vary within the domestic species; a breed is not automatically a separate species.[ref]
Cats provide a useful example of how ancestry is investigated with DNA. A 2007 study compared 979 domestic and wild cats using mitochondria-associated DNA and nuclear genetic markers, including microsatellites. Domestic samples clustered with the sampled Near Eastern wildcat lineage, supporting ancestry from that population rather than an origin independently from every regional wildcat population.[ref]
The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication by Carlos A. Driscoll and others. Abstract; sampling and genetic-clustering analyses
This is a comparison of inherited variation, not a direct measurement of the moment a wild animal became a domestic one. A phylogenetic tree can connect sampled populations while the cultural process of domestication extends across many generations. Similarly, a cat living away from people is not thereby a different species: present living conditions and genetic ancestry answer different questions.
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