Cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt. If a cat died, everybody in the house shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning (if a dog died they shaved the whole body).
Cats have long since lost their sacred status. When, in 1888, over three lakh mummified cats were found in a burial ground in Egypt, thousands of the mummies were pounded into powder, packed into bags and sent to England as fertiliser.
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