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Growing crops became a way of life for Egyptians, as it did for the tribes of Africa and primitives of southwestern Asia where cats later appeared. Since crops could only be harvested once or twice a year, the question became how to store the life-giving grains? Enter rats, mice and other vermin who quickly adapted to human ways for the promise of a free meal. Before long people noticed that the local cat population ate the rats that ate the grain, which to them was a very good thing indeed.

Diligent in ridding the area of rodents, people welcomed cats into their communities with open arms. The perfect supply side economics involved the farmers who wanted their grain intact, rodents who wanted the grain, and cats who wanted the rodents. The farmers wanted to encourage cats to stay around the house and farm so they left milk soaked bread, fish-heads and other scraps of food to attract cats. Cats simply discovered an ecological niche for themselves, a steady source of food, and affection from their human company.

If you think that cats are snooty, you might be right. Cats are simply remembering their exalted place in history. The relationship between Egyptians and cats was unique. During that period of time, Egyptians owned all kinds of animals including cattle, sheep, fowl, pigs, and monkeys. Cats freely roamed the land and came and went at will.

Laws were created at that time to protect cats, since they were held in such high regard. Due to the cat's exalted status, a religious order of cat worship developed that lasted for more than 2,000 years. The cat goddess Bastet became one of the most revered figures of worship. Bastet had the body of a woman and the head of a cat. Associated with fertility, motherhood, grace, and beauty, Bastet's largest temple was in the city of Bubastis. The word for cat in ancient Egypt was "__________," similar to our "meow," a universal cat word.

Inscription on the royal tombs in Thebes read:

"Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed…the Great Cat

During the reign of the Pharaohs, it was considered a capital crime to kill or injure a cat, even if the cat died through an unfortunate accident. If a house caught fire, the rule went like this—cats first, humans second. If a cat should die of natural causes the entire household went into elaborate mourning with chanting and pounding of chests as an outward sign of grief. The body of the cat had to be wrapped in linen and delivered to the priest who inspected the cat's body to be certain the cat had died a natural death.

After death the cat's body was embalmed, wrapped again in linen, decorated and either buried in special cemeteries or entombed in temples. Thousands of cat mummies were preserved in a huge temple at Bubastis. Mouse mummies were also found in the tombs, to assure that the cat had food for the journey into the afterlife. In fact, the Egyptians so loved their cats that cats mummies far and away out numbered human mummies found in Egypt. Over 300,000 cat mummies were found in one excavation alone at Beni-Hassan in the 1800s.

Because the Egyptians so prized their feline companions, there was a strict enforcement of the law against exporting cats. However, cats were so good at catching rodents they soon found their way aboard barges on the Nile River as mouse catchers and companions to captains and sailors.

Cats soon sailed aboard ships to countries bordering the Mediterranean including Greece and Italy. Overland caravans lengthen the cat's popularity to the north and east. Slowly cats migrated to India, China, and Japan, where they were highly prized as pets and impressive rodent killers.