It's established in the old testament that good angels and bad angels can "appear" to be other shapes. I think there has been some confirmation bias in the demonizing of cats back then.

Who can be seen to skulk around on dark nights, when all "good people" are tightly indoors? Black cats.

Being dark helps them to better hide from those who would kill them, and hunting mice and rats at night is something that helps an oppressed animal survive. Once they see people hating them and trying to kill them (or even just throwing rocks), they don't need to know why. They'd hide out in the day, and hunt at night.