According to BBC news online, the Egyptians may not have been the first to domesticate cats. Instead, Neolithic people in Cyprus may have kept cats as pets 9500 years ago.
Dig discovery is oldest 'pet cat'
Bastet
Review of Steven Saylor's The House of the Vestals
In Steven Saylor's collection of short stories called The House of the Vestals, is "The Alexandrian Cat," a memorable story about the Egyptian infatuation with cats.