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78 Famous Cats: The Most Recognized Felines on Earth (With Pictures)

Written by: Elizabeth Gray

Last Updated on February 28, 2024 by Catster Editorial Team

red tabby cat in pain walking on grass outdoor

78 Famous Cats: The Most Recognized Felines on Earth (With Pictures)

Let’s face it: every cat is a celebrity in their own mind. Some, however, find fame in the outside world as well. From fictional characters to cats that made their mark in the world of entertainment and the pages of history, famous felines are everywhere. In this article, we’ll explore 78 famous celebrity cats, both real and fictional.

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The 78 Famous Celebrity Cats

1.  Grumpy Cat

Her real name was Tardar Sauce, and according to her owner, she wasn’t the least bit grumpy! That fact didn’t stop this cat with the sour expression from becoming a global Internet sensation.


2. Crookshanks

Hermione Granger’s fluffy cat was more than just an ordinary feline, which seems fitting for an inhabitant of the wizarding world.


3. Mrs. Norris

Like her owner, Argus Filch, Mrs. Norris delighted in catching Harry Potter and his friends out of bed and up to mischief.


4. Orangey

Orangey was an award-winning cat actor in the mid-20th century who appeared with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast With Tiffany’s, among other films.


5. Lil’ Bub

Another Internet-famous kitty, Lil’ Bub, was known for her kitten-like appearance, the result of her rare and severe medical conditions, including dwarfism.


6. Nala

An 8-year-old rescue cat, Nala holds the world record for the most popular cat on Instagram, boasting over 4 million followers.


7. Garfield

This comic strip feline is famous for his love of lasagna and his hatred of Mondays and exercise.


8. Cole and Marmalade

A pair of rescue cats, Cole and Marmalade became YouTube celebrities when their owners decided to feature them in videos advocating pet adoption and education.


9. The Cheshire Cat

One of the many mysterious inhabitants of Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat welcomes Alice to the realm with his trademark wide grin.


10. Hamilton the Hipster Cat

Born with a natural ‘stache, Hamilton became an Instagram sensation when his owner began posting photos, leaning into the hipster aesthetic.


11. Felix the Cat

An early silent film star, Felix the Cat made his cartoon debut in 1919 and appeared in numerous films and TV shows for over 50 years.


12. Jinx

A Himalayan cat, Mr. Jinx is the beloved pet of “The Parents” in the Meet the Parents series of films. He appears in several memorable scenes, including one where he uses a toilet.


13. Snowball, Ernest Hemingway’s Cat

Snowball was the original Hemingway cat, a six-toed feline that was a gift from a ship captain to the famous writer.


14. The Cat in the Hat

Probably the most famous of Dr. Seuss’ many eccentric characters, The Cat in the Hat brings chaos and fun to the lives of two bored children one rainy day.


15. Tom

Forever outsmarted by a mouse named Jerry, Tom first appeared in animated films in 1940 and remains well-known to this day, starring in a live-action/animated movie as recently as 2021.


16. Oscar (“Unsinkable Sam”)

Over 5 months in 1941, a cat called Oscar, later nicknamed “Unsinkable Sam”, reportedly survived three different shipwrecks in the Atlantic.


17. Ted Nude-gent (“Mr. Bigglesworth”)

sphynx cat with curly tail
Image by Igor Lukin from Pixabay

Ted Nude-gent is the real name of the Sphynx cat who played the pet of Dr. Evil, Austin Power’s nemesis.


18. Dewey

Dewey was a library cat in Iowa, found as a kitten in the book drop, that became world-famous and featured in his own book and documentary.


19. Room 8

close up of a tabby cat
Image Credit: Sunshineshook, Pixabay

Room 8 was a tabby cat that lived in a Los Angeles elementary school from 1952 to 1968. He received over 10,000 pieces of fan mail during his life.


20. Salem

A witch forced to take the shape of a cat as punishment, Salem appears in comics and TV series as the pet of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.


21. Felicette

A stray from the streets of Paris, Felicette was the only cat successfully sent into space. She made her 13-minute flight in 1963 so scientists could study the impacts of space travel on her body.


22. Venus

A stray cat from North Carolina, Venus became Internet famous in 2012 when photos of her unique half-black and half-red face first appeared online. With 2 million Instagram followers, Venus is a true online celebrity cat.


23. Scarlett

A real-life hero cat, Scarlett became famous in 1996 when she saved her five kittens from a fire in Brooklyn, New York.


24. Creme Puff

Believed to be the oldest cat ever recorded, Creme Puff reportedly lived to the unreal age of 38 years old.


25. Honeybee

An adorable blind kitty, Honeybee was a famous adventure cat, accompanying her owners on hikes and vacations all around the world.


26. Tama

In the late 1990s, a sweet calico cat named Tama took up residence in a Japanese railway station. She became so popular with tourists that she was officially named a station master in 2007 and helped attract thousands of extra riders and over 1 billion yen to the local area.


27. Maru

A huge fan of cardboard boxes, Maru the Scottish Fold cat holds the record for most YouTube views for an animal. Since his first video in 2008, Maru has accumulated over 325 million video views.


28. Stubbs

In 1997, Stubbs the Cat was elected mayor of the town of Talkeetna, Alaska, via a write-in vote. Stubbs served as the honorary mayor for 18 years before “retiring” from public life.


29. Larry, “Chief Mouser”

The latest in a succession of cats that have lived at 10 Downing Street in London, the residence of the Prime Minister, Larry serves as the official Chief Mouser, keeping the premises free of rodent pests.


30. Chippy

Mrs. Chippy was a (male) cat that rode along on Ernest Shackleton’s sea voyage to Antarctica in 1914.


31. Snoopy

Snoopy is an Exotic Shorthair cat from China whose huge brown eyes made him a popular Internet star.


32. Colonel Meow

A Persian and Himalayan mix, Colonel Meow holds the world record for the longest fur coat on a cat: 9 inches.


33. Tommaso

In 2011, Tommaso became the world’s richest cat when his 94-year-old owner died and left him her 13-million-dollar fortune.


34. Morris

The spokescat for 9Lives cat food, the original Morris, was rescued from a shelter in Chicago. He appeared in commercials for the brand for nine years until his death.


35. Hello Kitty

Created in 1974, this famous cartoon kitty is now a global icon, with a brand and franchise worth over 8 billion dollars per year.


36. Bob the Street Cat

Bob was a stray cat found on the streets of London in 2007 by a homeless man struggling with drug addiction. The pair formed a unique bond, which the man credits with saving his life. He wrote a book about their life together, which was later made into a film.


37. Azrael

The sidekick (who often proves smarter) of the evil wizard Gargamel, Azrael, helped his owner harass the Smurfs in the popular Saturday morning cartoon.


38. Choupette Lagerfeld

The pampered pet of fashion creative Karl Lagerfeld, Choupette is also a fashion model and Instagram influencer. She is believed to have inherited millions of dollars when Lagerfeld died in 2019.


39. Puss in Boots

Originally a fairy tale character from the 16th century, Puss in Boots is more well-known to modern audiences as the swashbuckling cat that first appeared in the Shrek films before earning his own franchise.


40. Frank and Louie

Born in 1999, Frank and Louie were a Janus cat born with two faces. Unlike most cats with their condition, Frank and Louie lived for 15 years.


41. Goose

Goose appears in the Captain Marvel film, accompanying Carol Danvers on her space adventures before revealing himself to be (spoiler alert) more than meets the eye!


42. Little Nicky

Little Nicky is the first commercially cloned cat. Created in 2004 as a genetic copy of a Maine Coon from Texas, Little Nicky cost his owner $50,000.


43. All Ball

All Ball was the first pet of Koko, the gorilla that learned to communicate with sign language in the 1970s.


44. Simon

Simon is the only cat to earn the Dickin Medal, Britain’s highest honor for animal war heroes. The cat survived an attack on the warship he lived on in 1949, helping the stranded sailors survive by killing off the rats that were eating their supplies.


45. Tabby and Dixie

a close up of an orange tabby cat
Image Credit: Sam Chang, Unsplash

Tabby and Dixie were the first cats to live in the White House, the pets of Abraham Lincoln.


46. Snowball the Detective Cat

Snowball helped solve a murder in Canada when her hair was found on the victim’s shirt, transferred by her owner, the murderer.


47. Sylvester

Sylvester is one of the most well-known Looney Tunes characters, forever trying and failing to devour his nemesis, Tweety Bird.


48. Thomas O’Malley and Duchess

These two famous cartoon kitties are central characters in the Disney film The Aristocats.


49. Lucifer

Lucifer delights in tormenting Cinderella in the Disney film of the same name, just like his owner, the Evil Stepmother.


50. Snowbell

Snowbell is the family cat from the Stuart Little book and films. Unsurprisingly, she isn’t thrilled to have a mouse join the household, especially one that she isn’t allowed to eat.


51. Sam With Eyebrows

An Instagram influencer, Sam has unique markings in the shape of eyebrows on his head.


52. Banye

A British Shorthair cat whose facial markings resemble the shocked face emoji, Banye became Internet famous in 2016.


53. Oscar the Nursing Home Cat

Oscar “predicted” the deaths of over 50 nursing home residents by napping with them just before they passed away.


54. Figaro

Figaro first appeared as Geppetto’s pet in Pinocchio but was so popular that he branched out to become a character in Mickey Mouse cartoons as well.


55. Thackery Binx

Like Salem, Thackery Binx is actually a human cursed to live as a black cat, this time in the beloved Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus.


56. Church

The central villain in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary Church is an undead feline menace responsible for some truly horrifying carnage.


57. Pete the Cat

If you have kids, you’re probably familiar with Pete the Cat, the star of a series of children’s books written by James Dean and recently adapted into an animated TV show.


58. Beerbohm

A cat who lived in the Globe Theater in London in the 1970s, Beerbohm regularly destroyed props and wandered into dressing rooms.


59. Snowball(s)

Snowball is the Simpsons pet cat from the long-running cartoon. The current Snowball is the fifth to hold the name, the previous versions all having met unfortunate ends.


60. Lord Tubbington

Lord Tubbington belongs to cheerleader Brittany S. Pierce on the TV show Glee. The enormous feline made only a few appearances on the show, but it was enough to earn him icon status among fans.


61. Jonesy

Jonesy, the space mouser, is (spoiler alert) one of only two survivors of the first Alien movie, alongside his owner, the legendary Ellen Ripley.


62. Garfi

A fluffy Persian with a perpetually angry face, Garfi is known as The World’s Angriest Cat on Instagram.


63. Milo

Milo is the cat companion to Otis the Pug and the star of the movie The Adventures of Milo and Otis.


64. Sassy

A spoiled Himalayan cat, Sassy, is forced to make a treacherous journey through the wilderness with her two dog brothers, Shadow and Chance, in the childhood tearjerker film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.


65. Ser Pounce

Ser Pounce is the pet cat of young Tommen Baratheon in the Game of Thrones television series.


66. Demon Cat

This ghost cat supposedly haunts the monuments in Washington, D.C. Sightings of this supernatural feline are most commonly reported in the basement of the Capitol building.


67. Muezza

The prophet Muhammad was reportedly a cat lover who pampered his favorite feline, Muezza.


68. Emily

Emily the Cat survived a three-week journey across the Atlantic to France in 2005 after accidentally being trapped in a shipping container.


69. Trim

This ship’s cat sailed around the coast of Australia on a mapmaking excursion from 1801 to 1803.


70. Socks

President Bill Clinton’s cat was so famous in his own right that the family had to ask the press to leave him alone.


71. Tibbles

Tibbles was a cat that hunted a whole species of rare bird into extinction on Stephen’s Island off the coast of New Zealand.


72. Faith

Faith was a church cat from England, that survived the destruction of her parish home during the German bombardment of World War II.


73. Bastet

This ancient Egyptian goddess is most commonly pictured as a cat.


74. The Cat from The Godfather

A stray cat found wandering on set by director Francis Ford Coppola, this anonymous feline made an unscripted cameo during a pivotal scene with Marlon Brando. Reportedly, his purring thwarted the sound mixing for the scene.


75. Barivel

The world record holder for the longest cat, this Maine Coon is nearly 4 feet long.


76. Ta-Miu

Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose's cat
Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose’s cat (Image Credit: Larazoni via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

Ta-Miu is famous for having its very own sarcophagus. In fact, the sarcophagus of this ancient Egyptian cat is far grander than anything an average person will be buried in. That is because Ta-Miu was the cat of Prince Thutmose. He adored his cat and had him mummified and defied in its death.

Cats were already a big deal, and Thutmose’s attention to Ta-Miu only added to the obsession. Archeologists have discovered thousands of mummified cats in Egypt, and Ta-Miu is one of them.


77. Keyboard Cat

Keyboard Cat, also known as Fatso, starred in a home video in 1984 that was put onto VHS that showed her wearing a shirt and seemingly playing an electric keyboard. Fast forward to 2007, and Fatso’s video is posted to YouTube, where it immediately becomes famous. Keyboard Cat was one of the first YouTube videos to truly go viral, and it is still a strong part of internet lore today.

Sadly, Fatso died way back in 1987, but her legacy lives on. Keyboard Cat has been viewed nearly 65 million times. Not bad for a cat that made their debut in 1984.


78. Nyan Cat

Nyan Cat inexplicably took the world by storm by appearing on YouTube in 2011. The video features a mashup of a cat and a pop tart flying through space with a glowing rainbow appearing behind it. Besides the quirky artwork, the real draw of Nyan Cat is the extremely catchy techno-pop song that plays alongside the video.

The Nyan Cat video has been viewed over 195 million times and has over 600,000 comments. Nyan Cat is one of the most famous YouTube videos of all time and is one of the most viewed cats in history.

divider-catclaw1 Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this exploration of some of the most famous real and fictional cats. Your cat may not be as famous as the ones listed here, but they’re deserving of just as much time and attention. Give your kitty a few extra treats, and maybe post a cute photo online for good measure. You never know what could happen!

See Also: 


Featured Image Credit: lagunabluemolly, Pixabay

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