The Egyptians not only domesticated the cat, but also worshiped her as a goddess.  Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility, took the shape of a cat.  Every young Egyptian couple kept a statue of Bastet in their home because they believed that this would ensure them many children.  Very year, a huge festival in honor of Bastet was held in the city of Bubastis.  It is though that as many as 700,000 people traveled to Bubastis from all over Egypt to take part in the celebrations.

Real cats were associated with the goddess Bastet and because of this, were treated very well.  Anyone who killed a cat was guilty of a crime punishable by death.  It was considered quite unlucky to come upon a dead cat in the street.  Whoever did so would beat his chest and cry loudly to let others know the animals death was not his fault.

The death of a pet cat was also a sad occasion, and the family members showed their grief by shaving off their eyebrows.  Cats were given real funerals, and even the poorest Egyptian family made sure the cat had a decent burial.  The pet cats of wealthy Egyptians were often mummified and laid to rest with jeweled collars.  Sometimes saucers of milk and mummified mice were placed in the tomb along with the cat so she would have something to eat during her afterlife.

The practice of mummifying cats was very common.  In the middle of the 19th century, archaeologists found over 300,000 cat mummies in a cemetery in Egypt.