Domesticated cats belong to the same family as wild, bigger cats such as lions and tigers. If you watch a pet cat playing at hunting, you might see it behaving in the same way as its wilder relatives. Cats have been living with people for over 2,000 years. The Ancient Egyptians tamed wild, desert-dwelling cats to act as rat-catchers and protect their grain stores from ravenous rodents. Many experts believe that Ancient Egyptians used to take cats hunting and fishing, and trained them to retrieve the animals they killed.