What Kind Of Pets?
The kinds of pets that the Ancient Egyptians had were dogs, cats, ducks, pigeons, gazelles, monkeys, lions, hawks, mongooses, scarab beetles, baboons, rams, shrews, snakes, fishes, hippopotamus', frogs, toads, locusts, scorpions and cheetahs.
Cats were very sacred to Egyptians and the goddess Basset ( the cat headed god.) Cat cemeteries became popular in Egypt. The people of Egypt mummified cats and buried them with their owner when they died. Sometimes they were put in hallowed-out coffins. If someone killed a cat they would be killed. Cats were used for catching mice and rats. In fact, some mice were mummified and put in the cats coffin. Cats were like gods to the people of Egypt. The cats were wrapped in linen. Priests even said cats had power to protect the temple. People also carved little statues of cats.
One of the dogs in Ancient Egypt was the Basenji. It's fur is red, white, black and tricolor. They have wrinkles on their forehead. They don't bark because their vocal cords aren't made for barking. Instead of barking they yodel. They are sight hounds. They are also very intelligent dogs and they are dogs of the pharaoh. Their closest relative is the wolf. They were called Pharaoh Hounds and they were mummified and placed at their owners feet at death. Ancient Egyptians also had a dog called the Saluki. Some parts of this dog were found in Egyptian tombs. They come in two varieties which are smoothed and feathered. They were used for hunting. It also looks like a greyhound.
References:
6th grade students at Urbana Middle School. Pets.com - Pets. February 12, 2001
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/VideoTestbed/Progects/Mummy/pets.html
