Cats have often been used as characters in literature and in other forms of media.
- Aslan the lion in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and other Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis.
- Bagheera the panther in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book
- "The Black Cat" in Edgar Allan Poe's short story, a study of the psychology of guilt
- Blackmalkin, Greymalkin, and Nibbins, witches' cats in The Midnight Folk by John Masefield
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
- The Cat That Walked by Himself[?] in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
- The Cat Who[?]... mystery novels written by Lillian Jackson Braun[?] and featuring the detective James Qwilleran[?] and his two Siamese cats Koko and Yum-yum.
- Cats from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, including Macavity, the mystery cat[?], source of the musical[?] Cats.
- The Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, based on the folk saying, "grinning like a Cheshire cat"
- Chester, the cat in Bunnicula[?] and sequels by James Howe
- Clarence the Copy Cat[?], pacifist library-dwelling cat who sleeps on the photocopier
- The Cowardly Lion[?], from the Wizard of Oz series.
- Dinah, Alice's pet cat, featured in Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland and his Through the Looking-Glass
- Graymalkin, Jill the Witch's familiar and accomplice of Snuff, from the novel A Night In The Lonesome October[?] by Roger Zelazny, (a graymalkin or grimalkin is an old or evil-looking she-cat)
- Greebo (in Terry Pratchett novels: see Discworld characters)
- Joseph the feline detective in the novels Felidae and Felidae on the Road by Akif Pirincci[?]
- Mehitabel[?], from Archy and Mehitabel[?], a dialogue between a melancholy cockroach and a heedless cat, by Don Marquis
- Midnight Louie[?] and his daughter Midnight Louise[?], feline companions and fellow investigators of amateur sleuth Temple Barr[?], featured in a series of mystery novels by Carole Nelson Douglas[?]
- Mogget, a magical entity in the form of a cat, in the fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix[?]
- Mr. Underfoot[?] in Robert A. Heinlein's Friday
- Petronius Arbiter, Pete in Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer.
- Pixel[?] in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
- Upgraded cats in Reginald Bretnor's "Genius of the Species" take over the Soviet Union
- Behemoth, the huge, trolley-riding, Satanic black cat in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita[?].
- O'lal[?], monitor of Earth in Alan Dean Fosters Cat-A-Lyst[?]
- Shere Khan the tiger in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book
- Simpkin in Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester[?].
- Fritti Tailchaser[?] from Tad Williams[?]' Tailchaser's Song[?].
- Tigger in Winnie the Pooh
- Tobermory the talking cat, protagonist of a short story by the satirist Saki (Hector Hugh Munro).
- The Owl's fiancée in Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
- Figaro, of Disney's Pinocchio.
- The film Cats & Dogs[?] postulates an ongoing war dating back to ancient times between cats and dogs. The most notable cat is a spoilt Persian called Mr. Tinkles who is also an evil genius.
- Blofeld's unnamed cat from the James Bond movies, which has inspired a number of imitations and spoofs (see Mr Bigglesworth, Madcat, and Nero)
- Milo in The adventures of Milo and Otis[?]
- Mr. Bigglesworth, Dr. Evil's cat from the Austin Powers films, in homage to the unnamed cat of Bond's Blofeld
- The Pink Panther, movie eponym, cartoon character
- Pyewacket is the witch's familiar in the romantic comedy film Bell Book and Candle[?]
- Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Scar, Sarabi, Sarafina and other lions in Disney's The Lion King
- Kovu, Kiara, Zira, Nuka, Vitani and other lions in Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride[?]
- Snowbell[?], the cat in Stuart Little
- The Cat, character descended from cats played by Danny John-Jules[?] on BBC TV sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf (see Frankenstein)
- Frankenstein, the pregnant cat Lister sneaks onboard the Red Dwarf
- Kitty, pet lion from the 1960s TV series The Addams Family
- Lucky, the Tanners' cat in TV series ALF, who weekly escaped being devoured by the wisecracking Alien Life-Form
- Miss Kitty Fantastico, pet cat of Willow and Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Morris, commercial mascot for 9 Lives Cat Food, voiced by John Irwin
- Mrs. Slocombe's "Pussy", an unseen character and the source of many innuendoes in Are You Being Served?
- Spot, pet cat of Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Tony the Tiger[?], commercial spokestiger for breakfast food
- Salem, talking black cat from TV series (and comic book) Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- Bagpuss, British TV cat
- the black cat in Kiki's express delivery service[?]
- cast of Disney's The Aristocats[?]
- Big Cat, campus cartoon character often sighted in graffiti and newspaper columns
- Bill the Cat, mascot and presidential candidate in Berke Breathed's Bloom County
- Black Pete, Disney cartoon character, originally the nemesis of Mickey Mouse then Goofy
- Bucky Katt[?], cartoon cat from Get Fuzzy[?] comic strip
- Catbert[?], the evil human resources director in the Dilbert comic strip
- CatDog[?], star of the Nickelodeon TV show of the same name. See also List of fictional dogs
- Cat Jacob[?], a Swiss cat provides his readers with a humourous little philosophical "poke" along their way.
- The Cattanooga Cats, singing group from Hanna-Barbera animated series
- Choo-Choo Bear, the boneless and oozy pet cat of Davan, in the Something Positive (http://www.somethingpositive.net/index.html) comic
- Courageous Cat[?], superhero friend of sidekick Minute Mouse
- Doraemon, a feline robot from future. From Japanese cartoon and animation series of the same title.
- Custard, nemesis of Roobarb in BBC2 cartoon Roobarb and Custard[?]
- Fatcat[?]
- Fat Freddie's Cat in the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton[?]
- Felix the Cat, pioneer cartoon character
- Fritz the Cat[?], creation of Robert Crumb, changed considerably by Ralph Bakshi in his cartoon, killed later in retaliation by Crumb
- Garfield, comic strip character
- Cast of animated film Gay Purr-ee
- Heathcliff[?], comic strip character
- Hello Kitty
- Henry's Cat[?]
- Hobbes, Calvin's pet stuffed tiger from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
- Jess[?], the eponymous Postman Pat's black and white cat of the title song in the BBC children's TV series
- Mr. Jinks[?], featured with mice nemeses Pixie and Dixie[?] in Hanna-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound Show
- Krazy Kat, surreal cartoon by George Herriman
- Luna, Artemis and Diana in Sailor Moon
- Madcat, Dr. Claw's pet, from cartoon series Inspector Gadget
- Meowth in Pokemon
- Nero, a fluffy white caterpillar, pet of the villainous toad Silas Greenback, from the cartoon series Danger Mouse[?] -- a parody of Blofeld's cat (see above)
- Oggy[?], from Oggy and the Cockroaches[?]
- Omaha the Cat Dancer[?], erotic "furry" comic book character
- Peekaboo from Rose is Rose[?]
- The Pink Panther, movie eponym, cartoon character
- Ragland T. Tiger, aka Rags, on Crusader Rabbit
- Rita, part of the cat-dog couple Rita and Runt[?] in Animaniacs
- Ruff, of Hanna-Barbera's Ruff and Reddy[?]
- Diego[?] and the other sabertooth cats in Ice Age
- The Samurai Pizza Cats[?], cartoon characters
- Scratchy from the fictional show within a show Itchy and Scratchy in The Simpsons
- Sagwa[?] and friends.
- Snagglepuss[?], Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon character
- Snowball (white) and Snowball II (black), The Simpsons house cat
- Lucifer, the cat in Disney's Cinderella.
- Solange[?] from 9 Chickweed Lane[?]
- Stimpy, from the cartoon series Ren and Stimpy
- Sylvester the cat, Warner Bros. cartoon character
- Tom[?], from the cartoon series Tom and Jerry
- Toonces, the driving cat (from Saturday Night Live
- Top Cat, Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon character
- The Thundercats, cartoon characters
- Wildcat[?], Donald Rooum[?]'s anarchist cat, featured in Freedom newspaper
- "The Cat Came Back" (1893) by Harry S. Miller, tells of futile attempts to get rid of a big yellow cat:
- But the cat came back the very next day.
- The cat came back. They thought it was a goner,
- But the cat came back; it just wouldn't stay away.
- "Cat Black, the Wizard's Hat" by T. Rex
- "I Am Your Pussy" by Gong
- Schrödinger's cat, hapless victim (or lucky survivor) of a thought experiment by Erwin Schrödinger illustrating the incompleteness of the theory of quantum mechanics (although Schrödinger himself is historical, the cat is the protagonist in a thought experiment and thus fictional)