The phrase “there’s not enough room to swing a cat” is used to describe cramped, enclosed spaces, but it may have left you wondering who, exactly, came up with the phrase and what reason they would have for swinging a cat around in the first place.
It is widely believed that the origin of the phrase has nothing to do with a real cat but a type of whip known as a cat-o-nine-tails.
The cat-o-nine-tails was used as a form of corporal punishment and it was a common form of discipline on sea voyages. Sailors would be taken on to the deck of the ship to be whipped because below deck there was not enough room to swing the cat, and this developed into the expression we are familiar with today.
Source: Wikipedia
