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"This 14th century door at Exeter Cathedral, UK, is thought to be the oldest existing cat flap
A cat was paid a penny each week, to keep down the rats and mice in the north tower, and a cat flap was cut into the door below the astronomical clock to allow the cat to carry out its duties.
Records of payments were entered in the Cathedral archives from 1305 to 1467, the penny a week being enough to buy food to supplement a heavy diet of rodents."
They paid the cat? Or the cats owners
I guess it was just an accountant line about the necessary cat food to keep the cat coming instead of moving to a place with easier food.
Good to know actuaries had dry senses of humor back then too
Well, they were English, after all.
Here's a post with more details - yes, seems like the post I quoted is just people making a joke out of the original Latin phrasing of the payroll, which for some years was written "to the custodians and the cat" rather than the presumably intended "to the custodians for the cat".