One of the most fascinating papers I heard at an archaeological conference in England once was about the early modern (say 1500s-1700s) practice of putting items in buildings under construction, apparently for good luck.
Cats are well-documented, but so are items of clothing—in fact, such deposits are often the only way to find specimens of ordinary clothing of the period.
But when you have cat and a possible connection to a well-known case of folk witchcraft, then you have a news story.
When doing work on my house (built about 1890), I discovered a mummified cat body under the front porch. Not knowing how it got there, I buried it near my garden. I hope the poor animal walks in peace.