It may have given the Egyptians comfort to think of such an animal as guarding the cemeteries, protecting the dead. Atum is usually shown as a king. He can symbolize the setting sun. Babi is a deity shown in Baboon form, and it's from his name that we get our word for these animals. Babi is ferocious, even blood-thirsty, unlike the usually calm and reasonable Thoth who also appears as a baboon.
Cats are very useful animals in a country that depends on grain.
The cat's hunting instincts were honoured by the Ancient Egyptians, but so was the cat's gentler side as a warm and loving mother to her kittens. Bastet can be shown as a woman with a feline head. There are disagreements among zoologists as to when these animals first began to live with humans along the Nile, and about which feline became the Egyptian pet. Cats do not appear as household pets during the Age of the Pyramids , though they were very popular animal companions in later times. Ancient goddess shown with the horns of a buffalo or cow.