Cartoon Cat Characters: 20 Best Ranked (Good Cat, Bad Cat)

Cartoon cat characters have been stealing scenes for more than a century, and I have loved just about every one of them. Cats are built for animation.

They can be lazy, smug, dramatic, sweet, or straight-up evil, sometimes all in a single episode. That range is the whole appeal. You get hero cats who carry the plot and villain cats who exist to ruin someone’s day, and both are a joy to watch. Felix the Cat kicked this off back in the silent era, and cats have never left the screen since.

I ranked my favorites below, counting down to my number one at the very bottom. Some are classic TV, some are movie stars, and a few are big-cat legends. For every one I flagged whether they land on the good-cat or bad-cat side of the fence. Let us get into it.

The Best Cartoon Cat Characters, Ranked

Salem – Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

Salem is a warlock who was turned into a black cat for a hundred years as punishment for trying to take over the world, and he never really stops plotting.

He is the blueprint for the pet that roasts you. I cannot even blame him. If I got sentenced to cat form, I would probably cause problems too.

Snowball – The Simpsons

Snowball is the Simpson family cat, and the naming history is the real joke. The first Snowball died, so the family got Snowball II, then burned through a few more, until they landed on a cat they simply renamed Snowball II to avoid buying a new dish. She rarely says or does much, but she is always somewhere in the Springfield chaos, and I love that about her.

Lucifer – Cinderella

Lucifer belongs to Lady Tremaine, and he is basically the story’s furry menace. His entire job is tormenting the mice, and he throws himself into it. He is the original pet that chooses violence. If you enjoy Disney bad guys, I have a bigger list of ugly Disney characters who left a lasting mark.

Puss in Boots – Shrek

Puss showed up in Shrek 2 as a hired assassin and walked away a fan favorite in about ten minutes. One deployment of those enormous eyes and you forgive every crime he has ever committed. Antonio Banderas doing the voice is half the magic, and Puss is one of those cartoon cat characters from a movie who instantly earns a spin-off.

Meowth – Pokemon

Meowth is one of the original 151 Pokemon, and normally he evolves into Persian at level 28, with newer Alolan and Galarian forms on top of that. What makes the Team Rocket Meowth special is that he taught himself to talk and walk upright, which no other Meowth does. He is proof a side character can quietly steal an entire franchise.

Mufasa – The Lion King

Mufasa is Simba’s father and king of the Pride Lands, and he is the blueprint for the legendary animated father figure. His talks about responsibility and courage still hit me as an adult, which is not something I can say about most 90s cartoons. For a big cat with maybe twenty minutes of screen time, he casts a very long shadow.

Penelope Pussycat – Looney Tunes

Penelope is the black cat who keeps accidentally getting a white stripe down her back and then spends the whole short fleeing a lovestruck Pepe Le Pew. She is peak cute character, brutal consequences. Even if you have not watched Looney Tunes in years, she reads as instantly classic the moment she shows up.

Felix the Cat

Felix is one of the original famous cartoon cats, and his history is wild. In 1928, RCA used a small papier-mache Felix the Cat figure spinning on a turntable as one of the first images ever broadcast on television. He literally helped test the medium. That black-and-white silhouette is proof that simple, strong character design never ages.

Scratchy – The Itchy & Scratchy Show

Scratchy exists inside The Simpsons purely to suffer, and somehow it works every time.

He never learns his lesson, and that is the entire joke. It is a razor-sharp parody of Tom and Jerry cranked to a cartoonish extreme. Every time you think a gag cannot get worse for him, it absolutely does.

Hello Kitty

Here is the twist most people do not know. In 2014, Sanrio corrected the record and said Hello Kitty is not a house cat but a little girl named Kitty White from just outside London, though they later softened that to calling her a personification of a cat. Cat or not, she became a worldwide phenomenon across merch, shows, and collaborations, and she may be the single most successful feline-shaped character ever created.

Cheshire Cat – Alice in Wonderland

The Cheshire Cat is mischievous and mysterious, famous for the wide grin that hangs in the air after the rest of him fades away.

He is helpful in the most unhelpful way possible, sending Alice in circles while smiling the whole time. He sits comfortably alongside the other Disney characters people never quite forget.

Luna – Sailor Moon

Luna is why cartoon cat characters in anime hit differently.

She is cute, sure, but she is also the one who finds Usagi, hands her the brooch, and basically manages the entire team. She is strict, and she is the reason the hero levels up at all. Every great magical girl needs a talking cat, and Luna set that bar.

The Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat is mischievous, playful, and chaotic in a way that feels timeless.

He is basically fun with zero risk management, showing up on a rainy day and nearly wrecking the house before cleaning it in one impossible sweep. If you want to go deeper down that rabbit hole, check out my Cat in the Hat characters list.

Oliver – Oliver & Company

Oliver starts out abandoned on the streets of New York and slowly finds his people.

I have always had a soft spot for this one because it is a gentler, more emotional Disney cat story than most. He is easily one of Disney’s most underrated cat characters, and the movie deserves more love than it gets.

Sylvester – Looney Tunes

Sylvester is cunning and sneaky, and he is almost always outwitted by a tiny yellow bird.

He is the definition of confidence with a zero percent success rate, and that “sufferin’ succotash” spray-talk is unmistakable. He is one of the most classic cartoon cat characters from the golden era, and I root for him every single time even though I know how it ends.

Tigger – Winnie the Pooh

Yes, Tigger is a big cat, a tiger, which is exactly why I let him onto the list.

He is bouncy, fearless, and convinced everything will work out, and the confidence is weirdly inspiring. He is the friend who shows up at one hundred percent energy no matter what the day looks like, and the Hundred Acre Wood would be a lot quieter without him.

The Aristocats

The Aristocats follows Duchess, her three kittens, and the streetwise alley cat Thomas O’Malley on their way home.

It is one of those comfort-animation picks that feels like a warm blanket, and it makes being a cat look like a full-time lifestyle. That jazzy soundtrack is stuck in my head permanently, and I am fine with it.

Simba – The Lion King

Simba’s story works because it is bigger than becoming king. It is about fear, guilt, friendship, and finally owning who you are.

That arc is why the movie still holds up decades later, and it is why he sits near the very top of my list. He is the rare cub who grows into a hero you got to watch earn it.

Tom – Tom and Jerry

Tom is the grey tabby who has been at war with one mouse since 1940, and he never quits, even when he clearly should.

Every failed plan just resets his confidence to “this time I have got him.” He is the beating heart of one of the most award-winning cartoon rivalries ever made, and I still cannot decide if I want him to win.

Garfield

Garfield is a lazy, food-obsessed orange tabby, and he is my pick for the greatest cartoon cat of them all.

Jim Davis introduced him in 1978, and the strip grew into one of the most widely syndicated comics in the world, a Guinness record holder at its peak. Hating Mondays and loving lasagna are two feelings just about everyone shares.

He is the patron saint of “leave me alone,” and I mean that with total respect.

Why Are Cats Such Popular Cartoon Characters?

Cats stay popular in cartoons because they are naturally expressive, funny, and unpredictable. I also think they work so well because they can flip between cute and menace in a single second, and animators can exaggerate that with faces, body language, and perfect comic timing.

A dog is loyal and open.

A cat keeps you guessing, which is exactly what comedy needs.

That good-cat, bad-cat range is the real secret. The same species gives you a wise mentor like Luna, a doting father like Mufasa, and a pure gremlin like Lucifer.

Whether it is a classic like Tom & Jerry, and yes, I did write about whether Tom and Jerry are best friends, or a modern movie star, cats keep showing up because they are independent, relatable, and ridiculously entertaining.

More Cartoon Cat Characters Worth Knowing

Twenty picks was never going to cover every great feline, so here are a few more cartoon cat characters, good and bad, that deserve a shout. If you like digging through the eras, my hubs on cartoons in the 70s and 2000s cartoons are full of them.

Character	From	Year	Good or bad cat	Why they matter
Top Cat	Top Cat	1961	Lovable rogue	Smooth-talking leader of a Manhattan alley-cat gang, a Hanna-Barbera classic.
Azrael	The Smurfs	1981	Bad cat (henchman)	Gargamel’s put-upon ginger cat, forever dragged into Smurf-hunting schemes.
Jiji	Kiki’s Delivery Service	1989	Good cat	Kiki’s dry, sarcastic black cat sidekick in the Studio Ghibli favorite.
Si and Am	Lady and the Tramp	1955	Bad cats	The scheming Siamese duo behind one of Disney’s most memorable villain songs.
Stimpy	The Ren & Stimpy Show	1991	Good cat (very dim)	The sweet, dopey cat half of the show that reshaped 90s animation.
Figaro	Pinocchio	1940	Good cat	Geppetto’s playful tuxedo kitten, later adopted as Minnie Mouse’s pet.
Bagheera	The Jungle Book	1967	Good cat (big cat)	The wise black panther who guides Mowgli through the jungle.
Shere Khan	The Jungle Book	1967	Bad cat (big cat)	The menacing Bengal tiger, one of Disney’s most intimidating villains.

That is my run through the best cartoon cat characters, from silent-era Felix to my top-ranked Garfield.

Loved one I skipped?

That is the fun of a cat list.

Everyone has a favorite feline who follows them around for life.