Line #39 Main/AllWitchesHaveCats


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11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sbnew.png]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Anime/KikisDeliveryService "You'll think they'd never seen a girl and a cat on a broom before."]]''\
13	[[note]]L - R, top to bottom: ''Literature/RoomOnTheBroom'', ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'',\
14	''Series/TheWorstWitch'', and ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''[[/note]]]]
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16	->''"When he couldn't find any witches to burn, the duke widened the definition to any ugly woman who owned a cat. When he couldn't even find any of those, he made the women of the village hold a beauty contest. First prize was a night with the duke, last prize was a cat."''
17	-->-- ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme''
18
19	In early modern European superstition, it was thought that one way to identify if someone was a [[WitchClassic witch]] was if they owned a cat. This cat was believed to be some form of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] or evil spirit in disguise, acting as the witch's {{Familiar}} and aiding her in her spells. These days witches and cats don't have such bad reputations, but their association with each other persists and the once perhaps dubious stereotype has become TruthInTelevision as those into modern Witchcraft favor cats due to the old claims. If a show has a witch, there is an extremely good chance that the witch has a cat. Sometimes simply owning a cat is used as a hint or foreshadowing that a woman living alone might have a secret magical nature. Conversely, if a witch is losing her powers, a common first clue is that her cat spends less time by her side.
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21	And doesn't that make [[{{Pun}} purrfect]] sense? Everyone knows that CatsAreMagic, not to mention [[CatsAreSuperior the best]], so of ''course'' any witch worth her [[FlyingBroomstick broomstick]] would own one, if not a whole clowder of cats. In fact, it's not uncommon for a witch to have such a [[KindheartedCatLover soft spot for her feline friends]] that she doubles as a CrazyCatLady, owning a dozen or more. Such witches are usually considered quirky and tend to be of the [[GoodWitchVersusBadWitch good variety]], the same if a witch owns cats with coat colors outside the stereotypical black. The cat is the most common {{Familiar}} for a witch by far, though sometimes the association is so strong that it's not that the witch ''owns'' a cat, but she ''is'' a cat or can ''transform into'' a cat at will!
22
23	The association is most concrete between female witches and cats, though occasionally if a work allows male witches, or warlocks and wizards are simply male witches, the association will spill over. In European folklore, black cats have been considered to be familiars of witches since the Middle Ages, so this trope is OlderThanPrint.
24
25	Compare RightHandCat, CatsAreMagic, and {{Familiar}}. See PirateParrot for another animal in a similar position to another popular figure in fictional stories. Sometimes the cat in question is a PantheraAwesome.
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27	----
28	!!Examples:
29
30	[[foldercontrol]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33	* In ''Manga/BlackClover'', Vanessa is a witch from the Forest of Witches. After gaining her "red thread of fate" magic, it manifests itself as her cat familiar Rouge.
34	* ''Manga/CafeKichijojiDe'': Played with. Sukekiyo is technically the store's cat, but it is most attached to Minagawa, the AmbiguouslyHuman chef who frequently dabbles with magic and witchcraft.
35	* The eponymous Sakura of ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'' has instead what appears to be a small yellow lion cub (or teddy bear, depending on whom you ask) with wings, that she calls "Kero-chan". It turns out that "Kero-chan"'s real name is Cerberus, and he's really a full-sized, armored ''lion'' with wings. Similarly, Eriol has what looks like a small, winged black kitten, but is really a panther with blue butterfly wings. Both of these animals are Sun Guardians.
36	* In ''Manga/FlyingWitch'' witch sisters Makoto and Akane own very intelligent cat familiars, Chito and Kenny. Chito is able to cover for her mistress's [[NoSenseOfDirection tendency to get lost]], while Kenny is something of an anthropologist. However, it's not a universal trait: Inukai has a hamster familiar who is very frightened of Chito when they're introduced to each other.
37	* ''Anime/GoLion'': Honerva (and her counterpart Haggar of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'') has a blue cat, Jaga, whom she uses in various evil schemes.
38	* In the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' franchise, cats are one of the most common animals used as {{Familiar}}s by mages in the setting, with wolves being the only other animal we've seen used. Specific examples include [[ParentalSubstitute Rynith]], the [[TagTeamTwins Lieze Twins]], [[spoiler:and [[AdaptationSpeciesChange the movie versions]] of [[EvilDoppelganger the Materials]].]]
39	* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': The Sailor Soldiers, a MagicalGirlWarrior group, have three guardian cats Artemis (white), Luna (black - though sometimes appears dark blue), and their daughter Diana (grey). This is most likely a spill over from the fact that MGW trope descended from the CuteWitch.
40	* ''Manga/SoulEater'':
41	** In the first episode, what Maka and Soul thought was a witch turned out to actually be a cat that had a human form and magic and merely dressed like a witch. The actual witches however have their own AnimalMotifs, none of which have been cats.
42	** A later episode offhandedly reveals there's been a witch with a cat motif in plain sight all along, and we didn't notice the latter point ''because'' it's a domestic cat -- the personality feedback from which being one of the things which scares her into repressing her powers as much as possible. (Apparently she'd be a lot more like Blair if she let herself slide into full witchiness, and she's not really inclined that way.)
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	* Creator/DCComics:
47	** ''ComicBook/KlarionTheWitchBoy'': Klarion and his cat Teekl. Klarion is a "witch boy" and his familiar, Teekl, has the ability to take a [[CatFolk humanoid form]].
48	** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Morgana is a witch from another dimension, and is quite attached to her black cat.
49	* In ''ComicBook/HexWives'', Danali is almost always accompanied by her fat white cat. In #4, one of the Architects refers to her as possessing some kind of 'cat magic'. In the same issue, when Becky starts flying after her magical abilities activate, the Architects miss it, because a large number of cats swarm all of the cameras, blocking their view.
50	* Creator/MarvelComics:
51	** ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Harkness Agatha Harkness]], governess to Franklin Richards, has a black cat called [[http://www.comicvine.com/ebony/4005-4326/ Ebony]] that can transform into a black panther.
52	** ''Comicbook/ScarletWitch'': Agatha is also a magical tutor for Wanda Maximoff.
53	* ''ComicBook/JosieAndThePussyCats'': Alexandra Cabot has witchcraft powers, which may depend upon having her cat Sebastian with her, DependingOnTheWriter. Even with her familiar's help, Alexandra's magic is always fragile or off-target.
54	* In ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', Sabrina owns a black cat named Salem. The [[Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch live-action TV show]] portrayed him as a talking cat, who used to be a criminal warlock, and was turned into a cat as part of his sentence after being caught.
55	* In ''ComicBook/TarotWitchOfTheBlackRose'', Rowen's familiar Pooka is a black goblin-cat.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Fan Works]]
59	* From ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''Fanfic/LincolnsMemories'': In "A Very Loud Halloween", Lana dresses up as a witch, while Lola dresses up as Lana's cat.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'': The witch-like antagonist [[SubvertedTrope actively dislikes cats]], especially the local black stray, because [[CatsAreMagic cats can come and go as they please between our world and hers]], which she see as subverting her power.
64	* ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'': All witches have a cat as a guide and mentor. Kiki's cat, Jiji, is the usual black variety. Only she can talk to him and her inability to understand him is one of the signs that she lost her magick.
65	* Glitch the witch from ''WesternAnimation/TheRealStoryOfHumptyDumpty'' has an anthropomorphic cat servant named Scratch.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
69	* ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'': Miss Price has learned to be a witch through mail-order lessons. She doesn't believe in giving names to animals, but calls her cat Cosmic Creepers "because that's the name he came with". One presumes she got a black cat because witches are expected to have one. That said, she never shows cruelty or resentment to the animal and makes sure he's fed (but not on houseguests that she's turned into rabbits, of course!).
70	* In ''Film/BellBookAndCandle'', HotWitch Gillian Holroyd has Pyewacket, a Siamese cat that she uses as her {{Familiar}}. [[spoiler:When she gives up her powers at the end, Pyewacket runs away.]]
71	* In the film, ''Film/DoubleDoubleToilAndTrouble'', aunt Agatha is an evil witch that owns a cat.
72	* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Film/HocusPocus''. The Sanderson sisters transform one of the heroes, Thackery Binx, into a black cat ForTheEvulz after he fails to save his sister from them. By the time of the main narrative, he's their sworn enemy.
73	* ''Film/TheLoveWitch'': During Elaine's monologue about reincarnation, she claims that she would like to be reincarnated as a cat, having felt depressed when her own cat died.
74	* ''Film/TheUncanny'': In "Quebec province, 1975", Lucy turns out to be a young witch in the making, and her cat Wellington is implicitly her familiar. As her mean cousin Angela will soon learn, attempt to deprive a witch of her cat is a very bad idea.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Literature]]
78	* ''Literature/AnnaDressedInBlood'': Cas' mother has a cat named Tybalt.
79	* In the ''Literature/ArciaChronicles'', Gerika keeps pet lynxes before and after she gains powers, but switches to ordinary cats when she pretends to be a swamp witch while healing Alexander in book five. She can also [[DemonicPossession possess]] her cats and use them as conduits for her power.
80	* Blanche, the main character of ''Literature/TheBlueNosedWitch'', has a black cat named Brockett who's with her for the duration of the book.
81	* Creator/JoanCarris's ''[[Literature/WitchCat Witch-Cat]]'': Cats from the Order of Greymalkins act as witches' teachers, showing them how to use their magic responsibly. In the case of the protagonist Rosetta, her initial job is just trying to show twentieth-century witch Gwen that magic ''exists'' in the first place, but all of her attempts keep getting {{Hand Wave}}d away with practical explanations.
82	* Witch Green-Eyes from ''Literature/BookOfBrownies'' has a black cat as her familiar, which she summons for casting a spell late in the book.
83	* In ''Literature/DarkLordOfDerkholm'', Querida, the most powerful witch on the continent, owns three cats.
84	* ''Literature/ADiscoveryOfWitches'' features a precognitive cat named Tabitha, who is owned by the main character's witchy aunts.
85	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Not all witches have cats, but the association is there.
86	** Among the coven of witches in Lancre, Nanny Ogg owns a battle-scarred tomcat named Greebo, who's basically CatsAreMean personified.
87	** During the events of ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', the witch Magrat is mentioned to not like cats much.
88	** Granny Weatherwax, oldest member of the coven, regards cats as "nasty, cruel little bastards." Later in the series, she's given a white kitten, which she initially disdains but soon grows quite fond of, not that she’d ever admit it. She merely names it "You", as in "get down from there, You" or "stop that, You." You is later inherited by Tiffany Aching in ''Literature/TheShepherdsCrown'' [[spoiler:after Granny's death.]]
89	** In ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' the victim of a witch hunt Tiffany witnessed when she was younger was convicted on the basis of being an old woman who owned a cat. She wasn't actually a witch though.
90	* ''Literature/DorrieTheLittleWitch'': The titular Dorrie has a cat named Gink.
91	* In ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'', Morwen, a famous witch, owns a large number of cats of many different colors as her {{familiar}}s. Other witches think she's strange for numerous reasons, but one of those is that she owns a dozen cats, none of them black.
92	-->''Deep in the Enchanted Forest, in a neat grey house with a wide porch and a red roof, lived the witch Morwen and her nine cats. The cats were named Murgatroyd, Fiddlesticks, Miss Eliza Tudor, Scorn, Jasmine, Trouble, Jasper Darlington Higgins IV, Chaos, and Aunt Ophelia, and not one of them looked like a witch's cat. They were tabby, grey, white, tortoiseshell, ginger, seal brown, and every other cat color in the world than a proper and "witchy" black.''
93	* Creator/EleanorEstes' ''Literature/TheWitchFamily'': This novel has real, right, regular witches -- Old Witch, six-year-old Hannah, and six-month-old Beebee, who dress in black, ride broomsticks, and have cats. Beebee has a tiny kitten who clings upside down to his mistress' broomstick.
94	* In the ''Literature/FairyOak'' series:
95	** The Perwinkles adopt Pampuria, a white cat that used to belong to a family acquaintance after he died. Vanilla, a Witch of the Light, is her main caretaker.
96	** The Poppys, including the witches Shirley and Mallowrose have a cat named Scratch.
97	** The Blossoms, a family with two known magic users, Matricaria and Cicerbita, have Apple Spottail.
98	* ''Literature/FoeksiaDeMiniheks'' (Foeksia the little witch): In one story, Foeksia wants to adopt a stray cat she found, but can't since her father is [[PlotAllergy allergic to cats]] and quickly reminds her that only evil witches own cats.
99	* ''Literature/GobbolinoTheWitchesCat'': This story {{Subvert\|edTrope}}s the normal relationship between cats and witches. The eponymous Gobbolino has [[IJustWantToBeNormal no interest in being a witch's familiar and would prefer the life of a humble house cat]].
100	* ''Literature/GoblinsInTheCastle'': The sorceress Granny Pinchbottom has a black cat, seen briefly in the first book and revealed in ''Goblins on the Prowl'' to be named Midnight, in her cottage.
101	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
102	** A cat is one of the animals which wizarding students can bring as a pet to Hogwarts. In this case, the cats are merely pets, not familiars. According to bonus materials, many of them are part Kneazle, a magical animal that's basically a smarter cat. In book three, Hermione gets one named Crookshanks.
103	** A witch and teacher, Professor [=McGonagall=], can ''turn into'' a cat.
104	** [[spoiler:Hermione is accidentally ''transformed into'' a cat in ''Chamber of Secrets'', thanks to the Polyjuice Potion when she thought she took a sample of Millicent Bulstrode's hair off her robe during their dueling club match so she, Harry and Ron can infiltrate the Slytherin common room to interrogate Malfoy in hopes of finding the culprit responsible for the students being petrified, but grabbed a cat hair instead.]]
105	** [[EvilTeacher Umbridge]] has a CatsAreMean motif whenever she's not being compared to a toad, but doesn't actually own one. Instead, she has a cat Patronus and a collection of rather tacky cutlery with enchanted pictures of cats on them.
106	** In something of an {{Inversion}}, [[CrustyCaretaker Argus Filch]] and [[spoiler:[[CrazyCatLady Mrs. Figg]]]] are both noted for a love of cats, despite being [[MuggleBornOfMages Squibs]].
107	* In ''Literature/TheHollows'' Rachel lives with a cat, though the cat doesn't seem to like her very much.
108	* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'': Vampyres are basically a MageSpecies, as they cast spells and even practice a pseudo-Wiccan religion, and apparently have a great affinity for cats. (Cats even used to be killed in the old days, under the belief that they turned people into vampyres.) Neferet has one named Skylar, who [[spoiler:rejects her when her HeelFaceTurn is revealed]].
109	* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has [[CrypticBackgroundReference an offhand reference]] to "the cats of Queen Berúthiel." The ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'' expands on the story: Berúthiel was a Black Númenorean who married the king of Gondor, probably [[ArrangedMarriage for political reasons]], and used her cats to spy on everyone in the kingdom. Eventually, her husband separated from her and sent her and the cats away by ship. Interestingly, WordOfGod describes her as the sort of person who ''hates'' cats but finds that they follow her around anyway; she [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals tortured some]] but trained a few for her purposes.
110	-->"''She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, [[SpeaksFluentAnimal with whom she conversed]], or [[{{Telepathy}} read their memories]], setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor, so that she knew those things 'that men wish most to keep hidden,' setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them. No man in Gondor dared touch them; all were afraid of them, and cursed when they saw them pass.''"
111	* ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'': In the short story "The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey", Wimsey poses as a wizard in a remote and backwards village. Nine white cats form part of his disguise.
112	* In the fantasy novella ''Literature/MagicInc'' by Creator/RobertHeinlein, the elderly witch Granny Jennings has a cat named Seraphin, who has a tendency to mysteriously show up in the middle of magical rites (even when he has been left shut up in Jennings' house) and [[spoiler: eventually accompanies the protagonists to Hell itself]].
113	* ''Literature/TheMarvellousLandOfSnergs'': Mother Meldrum, an evil witch who lives in a gloomy forest, owns seven black cats.
114	* ''Literature/MegAndMog'': The title characters are a classic witch and her black-and-white-striped cat.
115	* Creator/JohnMasefield's ''Literature/TheMidnightFolk'': Blackmalkin and Greymalkin are witch's familiars, while Nibbins used to be a familiar, but is now a household cat who sides with Kay.
116	* ''Literature/MoongobbleAndMe'': Felicity the Finder, a witch introduced in book 2, has a black cat named Midnight who serves as her {{Familiar}}.
117	* All the Players in ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'' have an animal familiar of some sort. Jill the Mad Witch has a cat.
118	* Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/OperationChaos'': The witch Virginia "Ginny" Matuchek has a big black tomcat named Svartalf as a familiar.
119	* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': Witch Princess Bianca has her cat Jinkies as a {{familiar}}, as said in the first story:
120	--> Her familiar uncurled his body [...] and meowed softly. Jinkies was a cute little black cat with a white star on his chest and a huge appetite hiding behind it.
121	* ''Literature/RetiredWitchesMysteries'': All the members of the coven have cats, who are reincarnated from humans and serve as their familiars. It's a tradition for witches in general to have them, though some don't.
122	** Olivia's cat Harper, a Russian blue with a gray and white coat, was a British sailor from the 1500s.
123	** Molly's cat Isabelle a long-haired gray, was a fourteenth-century witch who was burned at the stake.
124	** Elsie's cat Barnabas, a ginger tabby Manx, was a preacher from the 1700s who was mistakenly hanged for witchcraft.
125	** Dorothy's cat is a tuxedo named Hemlock (originally called Scooter, but he revealed his real name after she gained her magical tool and became able to communicate with him), a Greek scholar who studied with Plato and witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii.
126	** Brian averts it when they first meet him (which Molly thinks in book 3 is a sign of his parents neglecting aspects of his training, but which his grandfather later reveals is because Abdon thinks having one is a sign of weakness), but discusses the possibility in book 2. In book 3, he does get one from Dorothy, who turns out to be a shifter named Kalyna, and the book ends with Dorothy giving him a replacement, a black-and-white cat named Laue.
127	* In the children's story ''Literature/RoomOnTheBroom'' (as well as the ([[WesternAnimation/RoomOnTheBroom cartoon adaptation]]) the ginger-haired witch has a ginger-haired cat. She picks up a few other animal friends over the course of the story.
128	* In ''Literature/RosemarysBaby'', Mrs. Sabatini is the ''only'' coven member mentioned as having a cat. There is a Persian cat breeder in the building but he's not involved with the coven.
129	* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': Most witches mentioned by name own cats.
130	* The Odd Sisters in ''Literature/ATaleOf'' have a cat named Pflanze, introduced in the second book.
131	* ''Literature/TimeCat'': One of the adventures the boy goes on with the time-traveling cat leads to the boy and the cat being accused of witchcraft. The accusers may have had a point, because again, ''it's a time-traveling cat''.
132	* Creator/AnnPetrie's ''Literature/TitubaOfSalemVillage'': Tituba is suspected for a number of reasons, including her skill at spinning and her male calico cat. This kind of cat is called a money cat and is usually regarded as attracting good luck, similar to ManekiNeko. She has to drive him away when the serious hysteria starts.
133	* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, it is noted that female channelers known as Aes Sedai tend to attract cats. They're not familiars or magical in any way (although some promote the myth to increase their air of mystery), it's just one of those odd things that happens. Once male channelers start showing up, the same thing happens with dogs. Also, a channeler tends to drive away the animal of the other gender (men repulse cats, women repulse dogs).
134	* In ''Literature/WiseChild'', Juniper is believed by the townsfolk, including Wise Child at the beginning, to be a witch, and she has two cats named Ruby and Pearl. They seem to serve no real magical purpose, however. [[spoiler:The closest to it that it gets is that Pearl jumps on Wise Child's broom and accompanies her on her ''doran'' test, and it's implied she speaks, but it's not elaborated on.]]
135	* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Amanda, a witch on Emily's original team, has a cat familiar named Princess.
136	* ''Literature/TheWitchesOfWorm'' has Worm, who Jessica believes to be a witch's familiar.
137	* ''Literature/TheWorstWitch'': All witches receive a black cat. Except the loser protagonist, who gets a striped cat that can't balance on a broom (she then settles for carrying it in a bag).
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
141	* ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'': A few witch/warlock characters have cat familiars, which can assume human form (usually attractive and female). One episode indicates that transformed familiars automatically revert to their feline forms at midnight, but this isn't touched upon in other episodes. Also, the opening credits exaggerates the trope: moments after Darrin kisses Samantha, she transforms into a black cat and back into her human form after jumping into Darrin's arms, just before the smoke comes out of the stove, revealing the rest of the cast members.
142	* In the ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' episode "Witchsmeller Persuviant", Mistress Scott, who the villagers burned as a witch, owned a cat. Percy is particularly shocked to realise they also burned the cat. The absurd evidence against Edmund also includes the fact he owns a cat named Bubbles, which the Witchsmeller claims is short for Beelzebubbles.
143	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer,'':
144	** Catherine Madison kept a black cat to guard her spell books.
145	** Willow and Tara get [[FormallyNamedPet Miss Kitty Fantastico]]. Willow first thought that they were invoking this trope, but Tara admits that she just likes cats. Miss Kitty Fantastico only appears a few times before [[AbsentAnimalCompanion apparently succumbing to a crossbow accident]].
146	* In ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'', the main characters are three witch sisters, and they inherited a cat, Kit, along with their powers. Eventually she was only being shown in stock footage, [[AbsentAnimalCompanion then disappeared]]; a later episode has her [[TheBusCameBack come back]] [[HumanityEnsues as a human]], revealing that she was actually a familiar and did it so well that she's now been assigned to train more familiars for other witches. (''What'' she did well is never explained, since she just seemed to be a normal cat.)
147	* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'':
148	** In the episode "En la casa de la bruja" (In the house of the witch), Chavo, Chilindrina and Kiko enter Doña Clotilde's house and see the typical HauntedHouse with her as a crone in a cauldron. In that episode her pet ''Satanás'' (Satan in Spanish) is a white cat. Of course at the end is AllJustADream.
149	** Subverted in all other episodes as Doña Clotilde's pet Satanás is always a dog. Of course, Doña Clotilde herself is not a real witch (unless you count her spiritualist activities).
150	* Mentioned and PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Series/FawltyTowers}}'', where Sybil remarks that her mother thinks it was black magic that was the result of her and Basil's marriage, to which Basil retorts "She'd know, wouldn't she? Her and that cat."
151	* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': Adalind is a [[WickedWitch Hexenbiest]] and has a pet cat, which comes in handy when she wants to curse Juliette, as she's a vet.
152	* ''Series/HorribleHistories'': In the 'Witchfinders Direct' advert, the entire [[KangarooCourt witchcraft trial]] consists of finding a warty old woman and asking her if she has a cat. When she says "Yes", she is immediately declared a witch and [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]].
153	* ''Series/DieLieweHeksie'': This South African puppet-based childrens' TV show has Livinia; a witch with ''two'' cats. There is Mattewis, the kitten/cat whose function is to be a timid little kittie who miouws a lot and is the indispensable companion to a working witch. Then there is Karel Kat, her sophisticated friend, a sort of NonHumanSidekick, who is essentially an anthropomorphic cat who dresses smartly, drives a smart car, and flies a helicopter. Karel and Mattewis are never really seen interacting.
154	* ''{{Series/Probe}}'''s "[[Recap/ProbeBlackCatsDontWalkUnderLaddersDoThey Black Cats Don't Walk Under Ladders (Do They?)]]": Sabrina Stillwater, who claims to be a [[WitchClassic witch]], owns a black cat named Dragon.
155	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': Sabrina has Salem Saberhagen, a warlock punished for trying to take over the world with a sentence of one hundred years as a black cat. Technically, he belongs to Aunt Hilda, one of his followers, who was punished with having to take care of him.
156	** The trope is also exaggerated in the episode "Cat Showdown", when Sabrina enters Salem in a cat show, then transforms herself into a cat to expose a blackmail scheme against one of the judges[[spoiler:, winning the cat show in the process]].
157	* ''Series/SimonAndTheWitch'': The witch has a cat called George, known for eating wooden items such as furniture when the witch forgets to feed him. In the first series, he runs away from home and goes on a spree of destruction of wooden items across the country. Averted with the witch's sister Tombola, who lives somewhere in Africa, thinks cats are old-fashioned and instead has a gorilla called Banana and several snakes.
158	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Some witches have familiars, though at least one of them is a dog rather than a cat and the familiars have a human form.
159	* Subverted: In ''Series/{{Switch2012}}'' Stella puts her boss's cat in the microwave.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
163	* Averted in Myth/AfricanMythology, where witches rode dogs, or [[DependingOnTheWriter in some cases]], ''hyenas''.
164	* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Averted (and depending on how you define it, ''inverted'') with Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft. Her sacred animal was, among other things, black ''dogs''.
165	* Myth/NorseMythology: Freyja is the goddess of seidr, a form of magic considered exclusively feminine, and her cart is drawn by two cats. Since Norse religion was often considered tantamount to witchcraft by medieval Christians, this makes Freyja the indirect TropeMaker. As practicing seidr required (receptive) sex with men in Norse belief, most of its practitioners were women. Some men were too, though not many since to the Norse bottoming was ''very'' unmanly. Thus the association mainly stayed with women.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Radio]]
169	* ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'': As seen with the page quote. Centuries ago, the Duke of Kent tried burning witches, but couldn't find any actual witches, so he [[MovingTheGoalposts changes the definition of witch to "any woman who owns a cat"]]. Then when he couldn't even manage ''that'', starts forcibly giving any woman he finds ugly a cat, at which point...
170	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Halloween Party", Mr. Boynton observes that the two figures most associated with Halloween are witches and black cats. Miss Brooks is offended when Mr. Boynton, Stretch Snodgrass, and Walter Denton all think that she'd be perfect dressed as a witch for the party. Miss Brooks eventually gives in...
171	-->'''Miss Brooks:''' Connie Brooks rides tonight!
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
175	* ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'': Most witches have some type of {{Familiar}}, but only one sisterhood of witches is known for having cats.
176	* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Player Characters who can cast Arcane Spells (like Wizards) can summon familiars, and cats are one of the available choices. (Not the only choice, however, and in some editions, the caster had no control over what animal he got.)
177	* ''TabletopGame/GURPSThaumatologyAlchemicalBaroque'': The trope is played with. Cats in the setting are strictly speaking entirely natural creatures, albeit odd ones who often have a sense for the supernatural, and some of them are notably intelligent and can talk. Some of these hang around witches, leading to talk of "familiars", but in fact, they do this purely for the sake of intelligent conversation with people who aren't fazed by them, though they may do their witch friends odd favors.
178	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Witch is the only class to ''have'' to have a familiar (ignoring a few scattered archetypes), although it doesn't have to be a cat (witches renew their magic spells by communing with their familiar, and other classes either don't get the ability by default or can choose to bind themselves to an item instead).
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Theatre]]
182	* ''Theatre/BellBookAndCandle'': In the original play (and [[Film/BellBookAndCandle the film adaptation]]), Gillian Holroyd's familiar is a cat named Pyewacket,[[note]]The name was taken from an actual list of common names for witches' familiars compiled by witch finder Matthew Hopkins in the 1600s. The cat in the list is Holt, a white kitten, while Pyewacket is just listed as an imp. Some modern witches really do name their cats from the list, almost as a TakeThat.[[/note]] though at least one other witch has a non-feline familiar.
183	* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'': A line in the "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" goes "Can you ride on a broomstick, to places far distant?" referring to cats being associated with witches.
184	* ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'': One of the witches has a cat named Graymalkin. In some versions, one of the witches is called Graymalkin, instead.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Video Games]]
188	* In ''Franchise/{{BlazBlue}}'', Nine the Phantom/Konoe Mercury is a witch (both figuratively and literally) and her husband's Jubei's a cat beastkin. Now do the math.
189	* The [[PaletteSwap twin]] {{wi\|ckedWitch}}tches of ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'' each have a black cat in their room, which is very obvious.
190	* In ''VideoGame/BubbleWitchSaga'', the titular CuteWitch, Stella has two cat familiars named Nero and Violet who have opposite personalities.
191	* The Student Witch enemy in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series will turn into a cat and run away when defeated. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', [[PowerCopying absorbing her soul]] even lets you throw a cat of your own.
192	** The full-grown Witch enemies in the same games often also has a cat that rides on her broomstick. She also turns into a cat, still wearing her hat, with her own cat now riding on her hindquarters as a kitten.
193	* The Witch subclass in ''VideoGame/DungeonFighterOnline'' picks up Shadow Cat Pluto among her elemental familiars, and all members of the base Female Mage class produce an image of Pluto for one core attack. (Among the lore fallen by the wayside in one game revamp or another is that making the familiar pact was a part of the questline to becoming a Witch and that the base Mage spell actually conjures a momentary knockoff of Pluto out of the caster's mana.)
194	* Natsume, the resident fortune-teller and most prominent magician of ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', has two pet cats.
195	* In ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngelII'', Kahlua Marjoram, the Rune Angel Wing's resident mage, has a {{familiar}} named Mimolette, who looks like a floating black cat head.
196	* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] with Anna of ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy''. While she has indeed the appearance and abilities of a witch, her stuffed toy resembles that of a cat.
197	* Exaggerated with Keke from the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series. She is a CatGirl witch enemy who flies around on a broom and gives Kirby the Cleaning ability. Her name is a ShoutOut to Kiki of ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService''.
198	* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', all swamp witch huts will also spawn with one black cat inside (which you can tame and make your own, if you so choose).
199	* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', Wizards and Sorcerers can choose to have a cat as {{Familiar}}. Though in this case, it's more a PantheraAwesome, complementing the master's magical powers with brute force.
200	** From [[{{TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons}} the same franchise]], ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' has a rare male example: the Human Wizard Gale Dekarios and his pet tortoiseshell Tressym (winged cat), Tara. Gale willed Tara into existence as a child because he was lonely, and when he developed an addiction to magical objects, she helped retrieve artifacts for him to absorb-- eventually encouraging him to get out and see the world, which is why he's on the adventure in the first place.
201	* Bomamba in ''VideoGame/NiGHTSJourneyOfDreams'' has a whole swarm of black cats. They're the source of her magic power.
202	* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney'', Espella Cantabella owns a black cat named Eve, adding weight to the claims that she is a witch[[spoiler:, specifically the Great Witch Bezella.]]
203	* In the ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' series, Ms. Accord is the magic teacher of Primp School and wears a heavily modernized [[RobeAndWizardHat robe and hat]]. She owns what she claims to be a cat puppet named Popoi.
204	* The [[InsistentTerminology sorcerologist]] Tessa from ''VideoGame/RedEarth'' owns four cats, two of whom (Al and Ivan) actually aid her in battle from time to time. [[SubvertedTrope The catch is that]] Tessa owns several other pets, such as a bird (Hato), a frog (Kaeru), and a dragon spirit [[AttackAnimal which doubles as]] [[BadassCape her cape]] (Manot).
205	* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'', witches (which can be male) get bonuses from having a familiar nearby. Nearly any small animal can be a familiar, but the only major animals that can be familiars are cats, not dogs or horses.
206	** Witches in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' also have cat {{familiar}}s they can summon.
207	* ''VideoGame/SoulAtStake'': Gran "The Witch" has a black cat appear on her back whenever she [[ForcedTransformation turns a gambler into a cat]].
208	* In ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'', a black cat guides the protagonist and helps her escape. [[spoiler: Though it is revealed in the third ending to be the BigBad in a sense, as it is currently possessed by the demon who gave the witch her powers in the first place.]]
209	* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', players can purchase a [[http://www.wowhead.com/item=70908/feline-familiar Feline Familiar]] during Hallow's End events in October. The Feline Familiar wears its own witch hat, has green glowing eyes, and rides a broomstick whenever the player mounts up.
210	* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': When Ivo starts his WitchHunt, one of his criteria to tell if someone is a witch is ownership of pets, with cats among the examples.
211	[[/folder]]
212
213	[[folder:Webcomics]]
214	* Rose and Roxy Lalonde of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' both love cats and are wizard {{Fangirl}}s.
215	* {{Subverted}} in ''WebComic/WildeLife'': of the three witches we've met so far, two don't seem to have any pets, while Barbara Yaga has two dogs (whom she occasionally transforms into human children).
216	* ''Webcomic/BeachWZRD'' has Melody the beach witch, whom Wizard calls cliche and unoriginal, and accuses of "[probably having] a talking black cat familiar named Azaziel or something". Close enough : Melody's black cat doesn't talk but ''is'' called Ariel.
217	[[/folder]]
218
219	[[folder:Web Original]]
220	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':
221	** Elyzia Grimes is a powerful witch and a member of Whateley Academy's Magical Arts Department. She even looks like a witch, since she's described as looking uncomfortably like what Morticia Addams would look like in real life. Her familiar is a solid black cat named Merlin. Fortunately, she has a sense of humor about the whole thing. (Not all familiars in this world are cats: Foxfire has a fox kit for a familiar.)
222	** Likewise, Gateway's friend Rythax may not be technically her familiar for all that he was the first creature she ever managed to summon, but he's definitely a cat. Of the occasionally-giant-winged-black-panther variety.
223	** On the other hand, Josie Gilman's "familiar", Schrodinger, only ''looks'' like a black cat much of the time -- he is actually a [[EldritchAbomination Shoggoth]] who somehow bonded with Josie.
224	[[/folder]]
225
226	[[folder:Western Animation]]
227	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' dealt with a neighborhood witch taking Lydia's black cat, forcing Lydia and Beetlejuice to crash a witches' Halloween party to retrieve the animal.
228	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': The witch in "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E18HomeSweetHomer Home Sweet Homer]]" has a black cat. Recurring witch villain Magica [=DeSpell=], on the other hand, has a raven as familiar.
229	* Episode "Halloweek!" of ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat'' shows an incredibly HotWitch with a pet Jamaican cat.
230	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy travels back in time to get a picture of the Dimmsdale's founder, all the while evading the local witch hunter Alden Bitterroot. As he looks for a witch that's disrupting Cosmo and Wanda's magic, he discovers that Alden Bitterroot is a witch, as he owns a cat, and he floats off the ground.
231	* Headmistress Crone in ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'' has an undead green cat named Clawford. Crone is never shown using magic but her name and looks imply that she is a witch-monster creature.
232	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
233	** Eda Clawthorne roommate King is a small, black-furred demon that looks ''[[CartoonCreature somewhat]]'' like a cat, but acts more like a dog and is often referred to as such.
234	** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] eventually gets a white cat [[{{Familiar}} palisman]] named Ghost.
235	* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS1E31JetsFirstHalloween Jet's First Halloween]]," Sunspot dresses up as a cat to go with Jet's witch costume.
236	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', the Ghostbusters discovers a cat familiar that has been separated from its witch. Before they can find its owner, Slimer starts to unintentionally make good use of its powers, causing them a ''lot'' of trouble.
237	* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries''. Like [[Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch the live-action series]], the younger Sabrina and her family own a wise-talking black cat who was once a powerful wizard. Here, however, he can be more anthropomorphic and actually has some magic powers himself, though they're far weaker than he had as a human. In the spin-off, ''Sabrina's Secret Life'', Sabrina's AlphaBitch witch rival, Cassandra, owns a white rabbit who may also have once been human. This is inverted in the Filmation series. As in the comics, Salem is an orange marmalade.
238	* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'', the two witches Chlorhydris and Hogatha have birds; a toucan and a vulture respectively. Played straight with the warlock Gargamel and his cat Azrael. Also averted with Gargamel's mother, a witch that actually hates cats.
239	* In one ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' short, Tom answers an ad to be a companion for what turns out to be a witch.
240	[[/folder]]
241
242	[[folder:Real Life]]
243	* Practitioners of Wicca and other forms of Neo-Paganism do seem to favor cats above all other pets. Of course, this trope might be partially responsible -- if you grow up associating witches with cats due to media, then when you become a witch, it might seem only natural to get a cat yourself. Or perhaps the kind of people who are more likely to find Wicca an attractive choice for a religion are also the kind of people who are more likely to find a cat a more attractive choice for a pet.
244	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AllWitchesHaveCats