The records are scarce concerning the importation of dogs to the New World on the Mayflower. However, it is known through a 17th century publication that Pilgrim John Goodman did bring with him a mastiff and an English springer spaniel. He reported that he was glad for the presence of the dogs when he was lost in the woods and heard the cry of lions (probably cougars), and the spaniel in another incident cowered with him and provided limited moral support when he was surrounded by, but not attacked by, wolves. Goodman died within a year of coming to America, but his canines no doubt found employment with someone else thereafter.
There are no records of cats on the Mayflower. Cats were commonly found on ships during that era due to their rodent-killing proclivities and were ubiquitous in English households at that time. It is very likely that several cats traveled to America with the Pilgrims but that no one made a note of it because it would not have been regarded as a remarkable event. Domesticated felines were definitely in New England by 1634, as there is a report indicating that they saved crops from squirrels and chipmunks during that year.
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