Cats
| Trope · Genre | |
|---|---|
| Synonyms: | |
| Related: | Animals in Fanworks, Animal Transformation |
| See Also: | Kemonomimi/Catboys & Catgirls, Lolcat in Fandom, Maru, Furry Fandom |
| Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Cats, small and large, have appeared regularly in fanworks.
When canon human characters are portrayed as cats, it is Animal Transformation or AUs in which the characters are not transformed into but have always been cats.
Catboys & Catgirls are human with cat-like characteristics such as ears and tails. They may purr, hiss or meow, be territorial, and love fish, stroking, and naps in the sun.
Some fandoms have canonical cats, such as Data's cat Spot, Jim Ellison's panther spirit guide and Argus Filch's Mrs Norris, which will then appear in some fanworks. Sydney, the pet cat of one of the characters in Forever Knight, even had his own Forever Knight Faction, called FoSiLs. Rodney McKay's (unnamed in canon?) cat left behind on Earth shows up regularly in Stargate Atlantis fanworks. Willow Rosenberg's cat Miss Kitty Fantastico appeared in several episodes, occasionally appears in fanfic, and has its own dedicated fan site. Diane Duane's Young Wizards series has a canon offshoot, the Feline Wizards series (currently running to three novels), featuring a group of cats who operate New York's worldgate (dimensional portal), and told from their viewpoint. They and other feline wizards are often seen in YW fanfic.
The Professional Wrestling promotion Excellence Professional Wrestling is, in Kayfabe, owned by a cat named Edgar, and many of their events have had cat puns in their titles (e.g., The Color Purrple.) It is not known who the actual owners are.
Fictional villains are often portrayed as owning cats (see e.g. Guy Boothby's Doctor Nikola (1895 onwards), Sapper's Carl Peterson (1920), the film version of Fleming's Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Inspector Gadget's Dr. Claw) but they seem to inspire relatively few fanworks.
Some fanfic is told from the point of view of cats, usually with the cat anthropomorphized to some degree internally, while it remains a cat from the viewpoint of the characters. For example, the ST:XI story The Enterprising Cat by Mockingbird Quester, in which a stray cat gets onto the Enterprise.
Resources
- See the Cats tag at the Archive of Our Own
- See Sydney (Forever Knight) for Forever Knight fan fiction featuring Natalie Lambert's cat
- See Miss Kitty Fantastico for the Next Big Bad for fanfic and art related to Miss Kitty Fantastico.
Fanfiction Featuring Cats
- The Feline Specialist by Supertights. Alien from the point of view of Ripley's canonical cat Jones. Written for Yuletide 2013
- I succeeded in crawling into the breast of my big boss! by miss_pryss, a story about Maru the cat. (2009)
- Of kittens and teacups and love by Ren. XMFC story in which Erik is Charles' roommate, and Charles adopts more and more kittens. The story also inspired cat-related fanart. Although XMFC fandom has its fair share of cat fanworks, no cats appear in the film. (2011)
- Time in a Bottle by astolat, a Stargate Atlantis story that includes an original cat character named Fermi. Fermi is presented as a virtual copy of Rodney McKay's first cat and is presumably inspired by the fact that Rodney is canonically a cat person; he is briefly shown giving away an unnamed cat in the pilot episode. (2005)
- The Flynt Coal the Cat Series by Vertiga. Rooster Teeth Fake AH Crew series in which a mysterious kitten changes the very nature of the humans who care for it.
- Trying to Communicate by Copperbadge. There's an alien in the Hub, and it's trying to communicate. Torchwood encounters a LolCat (2008)
- Homecooked, At Last, a Fire Emblem: Three Houses fic. Dedue, Ashe, Caspar, and Linhardt share an apartment and have two cats; one of them curls up on Felix's lap, and later Ashe wakes up to find both of them on his bed. (2019)
Cats as Romance-starters
- These Precious Things by Mistiel, Supernatural. A Dean/Castiel story in which "Cas is in need of Dean's assistance and Dean is not happy. But a cat? Really?". (2011)
- A Feline Intervention (accessed July 9, 2019) archive link by STARSdidathing: It doesn't take Natasha long to realise what is wrong with her human. It takes her even less time to work out that Loki's fixation is actually with Clint's human and that Loki has no idea that the man he desires lives directly above them. Loki/Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) (2017)
- Prisoners of the cats by Kris_lazycat. A Fire Emblem: Three Houses fic where Felix and Annette end up cuddling in the garden together after she finds him "trapped" by cute cats sprawling all over him. (2020)
Human Characters Transformed into Cats
- The Professionals zine Cat Tales by Fanny Adams featured characters as cats. (pub. 1986)
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night by Suzan Lovett, Starsky & Hutch story, featured Starsky & Hutch transformed into cats, inspired by the Cat Tales zine. Originally published in Code 7 v.4 (1987)
- Gods and Monsters by silverkit, Supernatural fic written from outside POV in which Sam and Dean are transformed into cats who temporarily seek shelter with some humans (but Sam still has visions and they're still on the case). (2007)
- Allotropy by SkoosiePants. Bandom/SGA fusion story in which alien technology transforms Alex DeLeon into a cat. (2008)
- Momentary Paws (or, DO NOT WANT) by velithya. Avengers story in which Tony Stark gets transformed into a kitten. (2008)
- Checkmate 'Verse by beadattitude. SGA McShep canon-setting story in which John Sheppard is transformed into a cat for a month. (2009-2011)
- The first eight don't count by storm petrel. The Losers fic in which Jensen's got a secret (spoiler: he turns into a cat!!) (2010)
- Humane Society by smilebackwards. XMFC story in which Erik is temporarily transformed into a kitten. "Once Erik finally allows himself to decide that Charles is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, he spends the next week being incredibly bitter that he's Charles' cat and not his boyfriend." Example fanart based on the story. (2011)
"Always Been a Cat" AUs
- When John Met Rodney by bethynyc, an SGA Earth-based AU fic in which Rodney is a Scottish Fold and John a rescued alley cat. (2007)
Gallery of Cat-Related Fanart and Fanzines
inside art from Avon Calling #2 (Blake's 7)
cover of Powerplay #3 (Blake's 7)
back cover of Powerplay #6 (Blake's 7)
interior art from Code 7 #4, Starsky & Hutch as cats, artist is Jean C.
cover of Rebel Desires (Blake's 7)
cover of Loose Notes #2, a filk zine
cover of Forever Knight Cat Stories (Forever Knight)
back cover of Speak No Evil (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues zine) (KFTLC)
front cover of Perestroika (MUNCLE)
inside Galactic Discourse #1, John Holliday
front cover of U.N.C.L.E. Affairs (MUNCLE)
front cover of We Have Each Other (MUNCLE)
cover of Wham, Bam, Thank You, Sam! #3 (Quantum Leap)
cover of Blended Spirits #1 (Sentinel)
cover of The Burnaby Chronicles (Sentinel)
cover of Concrete Jungle (Sentinel zine) (Sentinel)
cover of Primal Instincts (Sentinel)
cover of Timeless #2 (Starsky and Hutch)
cover of Consort #2 (Star Trek TOS)
cover of Enterprise Log Entries #75 (Star Trek TOS)
back cover of First Time #6 (Star Trek TOS)
cover of First Time #35 (Star Trek TOS)
back cover of Matter/Antimatter #7 (Star Trek TOS)
cover of Of Dreams and Schemes 14 (multifandom)
cover of the zine, Kaleidoscope #4
cover of Interstat #148, Nan Lewis
Morning Stretch by Phoenix-Cry (X-Men)
