>for domestication to be possible, there has to be a preexisting social structure like herding, colonies, or packs. If it's too weak or non existent, there's no chance that domestication is possible.
Is that really true? A cat seems to relate to a person as if the person were the cat's mother. The kneading with its paws that a cat does after it jumps into your lap is what a kitten does in the wild to induce its mother to express milk.
Feral domestic cats have colonies. I don't think their nearest wild relatives do, but its at least conceivable that colony structure of cats living around human populations, off of leavings and rats, etc., that were attracted to human populations developed first, then domestication happened later.
Is that really true? A cat seems to relate to a person as if the person were the cat's mother. The kneading with its paws that a cat does after it jumps into your lap is what a kitten does in the wild to induce its mother to express milk.