History Main / HeroicCaninesVillainousFelines

* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'''s movie ''Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats'' as most of the main characters are cats, the villain's sidekick is an evil dog.

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'''s ShowWithinAShow stars a heroic dog, while the villain has RightHandCat or three. Behind the scenes, the cats mock and belittle Bolt for believing the premise.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Llanargollen}}'' has Ceri the dog-tective and Ianto the pirate cat. Ceri is one of two heroes of the show, being the detective who solves all the town's mysteries. Meanwhile, Ianto is [[ThePrankster Barti Felyn]]'s cat, who does have his mischevious moments, like his owner.

Many aversions that feature cats and dogs in the same team or fighting on the same side, especially when the team or side is good, tend to have cats in the lower ranks than the dogs.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', where the only cat character, barn-cat Seargeant Tibbs, is brave and loyal. As is common for these aversions, he's subordinate to his farm's dog, The Colonel.

* Inverted and PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats''. Duchess and her kittens are perfectly nice. O'Malley and Scat Cat's gang are "kinda rough around the edges"[[note]]and Scat Cat and company unsuccessfully try to eat Roquefort the mouse, which is PlayedForLaughs[[/note]], but are ultimately on the side of good. The bloodhounds [[ThoseTwoGuys Napoleon and Lafayette]] exemplify DogsAreDumb and cause trouble for Edgar, but otherwise have little effect on the plot.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' ShowWithinAShow stars a heroic dog, while the villain has RightHandCat or three. Behind the scenes, the cats mock and belittle Bolt for believing the premise.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', Bruno the dog is loyal and on the side of good and Lucifer (the name should speak for itself) the cat is mean and on the side of evil, being Lady Tremaine's RightHandCat. The movie also features NiceMice, most notably Jaq and Gus, who help Cinderella out and whom the cat likes to chase.

* In the Disney film ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', Toby is Basil's pet dog who helps him solve mysteries, and Felicia is Ratigan's pet cat, who is used to execute anyone who gets on his bad side.

* In ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'', most of the dogs are good and come off as roguish at worst, barring the three rabid street-toughs, but the only cats that appear, Si and Am are devious and willfully wreck the stuff in the house, try to eat the pet canary and fish, and annoy Lady.
* Inverted and Zigzagged in ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', which revolves around a sweet little kitten trying to find food and shelter. Most of the dogs are {{Lovable Rogue}}s and, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold while brazen and rough in places]], are allies to Oliver. However, Syke's guard hounds are menacing antagonists.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' has a rare instance with wild animals rather than domestic ones. Robin Hood himself is a [[CunningLikeAFox fox]] and his arch-enemy Prince John is a [[KingOfBeasts lion]]. Ultimately ZigZagged as John's predecessor and fellow lion Richard is a good king, and one of John's lackeys is a [[SavageWolves wolf]].

Almost always {{inverted|Trope}} in stories where wild felines and canines are used; wild dog-like canines such as [[SavageWolves wolves]], [[ThoseWilyCoyotes coyotes]] and jackals are often on the side of evil, while [[PantheraAwesome wild big cats]] like [[KingOfBeasts lions]] and tigers are often on the side of good.

* Mostly played straight in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaInTheWanNyanSpacetimeOdyssey'', an installment of the series set in a world populated by anthropomorphic canines and felines. Nobita and gang's new friend (who's the new main character of the film), Hachi, is a dog, as are Hachi's entire gang of canine urchins. Meanwhile BigBad Nekojara and TheDragon Nyago are both cats. However, Hachi's adoptive mother is revealed to be another cat, Nekojara's Persian cat henchwoman, Sharmee pulls a HeelFaceTurn and DefectorFromDecadence late in the story to help the heroes, while Nekojara's private army of mooks seems to [[EqualOpportunityEvil comprise of an equal number of cats and dogs]].

* ''WebVideo/MrPlinkett'' discusses this when reviewing the movie ''Cop Dog.''

* Inverted in ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties'', there are two races of invading LittleBitBeastly aliens. One wants to [[BenevolentAlienInvasion make friends with humans]], the other have [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill a more sinister agenda]]. Guess which is which. This is probably because in Japan cats are seen as lucky and kind in contrast with Western stereotypes that cats are bad luck and mean.

* In ''VideoGame/Klonoa2LunateasVeil'': Tat, a cat with a DualityMotif, serves the villainous Leorina. Popka, a more doglike animal, serves the heroes.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1646664305003319000
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/KryptoTheSuperDog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/krypto_mechanikat.png]]]]

* Inverted in ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties'' , there are two races of invading LittleBitBeastly aliens. One wants to [[BenevolentAlienInvasion make friends with humans]], the other have [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill a more sinister agenda]]. Guess which is which. This is probably because in Japan cats are seen as lucky and kind in contrast with Western stereotypes that cats are bad luck and mean.
* Also inverted in ''Manga/AkameGaKill''. Leone is one of the main protagonists, and her Imperial Arms gives her cat-like abilities. Meanwhile, Seryu Ubiquitous has an Imperial Arms resembling a small dog-- and she's [[TheSociopath one of the nastiest villains in the series.]]

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/BillyTheCat,'' where, probably because it's told from the cats' perspective, the sympathy is firmly on the feline side. Cats are individuals who may have their flaws, but (apart from the villain Sanktifer, the only evil cat in the comic) on the whole they're good guys; at worst a cat is a LovableRogue or JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Dogs, by contrast, are far more often depicted as evil, stupid brutes -- there are a few notable examples of sympathetic or even heroic dogs in the series, but on the whole in this series cats are heroes and dogs are villains.

* Taken to the extreme in ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven2'', where the dogs (except for Carface) are the good characters, some of them being from Heaven, while the main villain, Red, is a [[BigRedDevil demonic being]] ressembling an anthropomorphic cat. However, the spinoff cartoon shows there are other evil dogs as well and that some of them are demonic minions of Red.
* In the Disney film, ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', Toby is Basil's pet dog who helps him solve mysteries, and Felicia is Ratigan's pet cat, who is used to execute anyone who gets on his bad side.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' and its sequels most of the cats are either villains or are assumed to be until proved otherwise. The dog in ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'' is a good guy, though the dog in ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheMysteryOfTheNightMonster'' is the BigBad.

* Inverted and PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats''. Duchess and her kittens are perfectly nice. O'Malley and Scat Cat's gang are "kinda rough around the edges"[[note]]and Scat Cat and company unsuccessfully try to eat Roquefort the mouse, which is PlayedForLaughs[[/note]], but are ultimately on the side of good. The bloodhounds [[ThoseTwoGuys Napoleon and Lafayette]] exemplify DogsAreDumb and cause trouble for Edgar, but otherwise have little effect on the plot.
* ''WesternAnimation/RugratsGoWild'': Spike, the affectionate dog, goes up against Siri, a vicious clouded leopard who wants to eat the babies after Spike repeatedly torments her.
* Played Straight and Zigzagged in WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone. Tiger and Talbot, the 2 dogs at Sir Ector's castle, are technically neutral, but lean towards the good side as they are friendly and loving to Arthur/Wart. Meanwhile, the evil witch, Madame Mim, takes the form of many creatures in the film, two of them being a cat and a tiger. However, another animal she takes the form of is a fox; and there is also the other antagonist, a hungry wolf who wants to eat Arthur/Wart.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' with the sidekicks; one of the heroes (and also one of the heroic panda Po's sidekicks) is a DefrostingIceQueen Master Tigress, while the GreaterScopeVillain peacock Lord Shen's henchmen are wolves, including TheDragon Wolf Boss himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' has a rare instance with wild animals rather than domestic ones. Robin Hood himself is a [[CunningLikeAFox fox]] and his arch-enemy Prince John is a [[KingOfBeasts lion]]. Ultimately ZigZagged as John's predecessor and fellow lion Richard is a good king, and one of John's lackeys is a [[SavageWolves wolf]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' ShowWithinAShow stars a heroic dog, while the villain has RightHandCat or three. Behind the scenes, the cats mock and belittle Bolt for believing the premise.
* ''Westernanimation/DCLeagueOfSuperPets'' has the one cat character, Whiskers, join the villains, standing against a team with two heroic dogs, Krypto and Ace.

* ''VideoGame/TequilaAndBoomBoom'': Inverted. The game's AntiHero protagonist Tequila is a lynx and BigBad Ernest P. Vyle is a coyote.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'':
** The titular protagonist is a HeroicDog, and one of the villains is a cat named Overcat.
** Inverted in the Klondike Kat segments of ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'', however. There is a mouse and a dog working together to thwart the titular cat, but the cat is the hero protagonist. The mouse, Savoir Faire, is the villain and the dog, Malamutt, is his sidekick.
* ''WesternAnimation/KryptoTheSuperdog'':
** The dogs are heroes and the cats are villains except Streaky, Squeaky, and the Supercat Fanclub members. The three Junkyard Dogs may not be so heroic, but they are not outright villainous.
** Notably, one of the villainous cats in the show, Snooky Wookums, is a kitten.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat''. Felix is the protagonist and Rock Bottom the dog is The Professor's (the villain in the TV cartoons) bumbling sidekick.
* Inverted with Waffles the cat and Chainsaw the dog in ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' as the cat is nicer than the dog.
* WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts:

* Inverted with ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy''. Ren the dog is a {{Jerkass}} and Stimpy is a nice, if dumb, cat.
* DependingOnTheWriter, in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', Spike the Bulldog may act like a hero while Tom can be the antagonist. Also, Jerry the mouse, who can be the protagonist, allies with Spike to defeat Tom.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', the titular character's pet dog, Pal, and Francine's pet cat, Nemo, are like this in episodes focusing on Pal and Kate.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/BadLuckBlackie''. The dog is a villainous BullyBulldog and the cat and kitten are heroic.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Often {{Inverted}} by Creator/ChuckJones.
** In "Fresh Airedale", a duplicitous weasel of a dog is treated like a hero while the heroic cat gets no respect
** In "Go Fly a Kit," a flying kitten, who raised by a mother eagle, saves another kitten from a BullyBulldog
** In "Chow Hound", where an enslaved cat is used by a big hulking dog to get a steady supply of meat (in this one, revenge is brutal and sweet). A mouse who is also enslaved by the dog sides with the cat in the revenge scene.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', Porkchop is owned by the protagonist [[NiceGuy Doug Funnie]] while Stinky is owned by [[TheBully Roger Klotz]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretFilesOfTheSpyDogs'': Dogs around the world are part of a secret organization dedicated to saving the world. Their most recurring antagonist is Catastrophe, a villainous cyborg cat.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'', the rangers (two of whom are mice) face several villainous cats, Fat Cat being one of their biggest foes. There are no reoccurring dog characters but there are one-offs that are friendly, including Dale's idol Flash the Wonder Dog. Subverted with the kittens encountered in the show though, as they are not one bit villainous.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/LambertTheSheepishLion'', where the titular lion tries to protect the sheep flock from being attacked by [[SavageWolves a menacing wolf]].
* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'':
** The title canine was always trying his best to protect Muriel and Eustace from all the villainous foes who were out to do them harm, including Katz, who was the show's most frequently used villain. Shirley (supposedly a chihuahua) was one of Courage's only allies.
** Also explored and eventually subverted in "The Mask", in which Kitty holds contempt for Courage and constantly inflicts severe pain and injuries on him for her bigotry towards dog -- but the problem was Mad Dog stole her best friend away from her, showing that there are some evil dogs out there. Courage still manages to defeat Mad Dog, and bring Kitty and her friend Bunny back together, giving Kitty a lesson in not all dogs are bad.
* ''Literature/WhatAMess'': The titular character imagines himself as "El Perro" ("The Dog") dealing with a persistent, if totally inept, army of feline soldiers in a Zorro setting.
* Quite noticeable in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''. Among the first friends that Jack makes in the future are a team of dog archaeologists, and in the fifth season he is represented by a white wolf. Meanwhile, the Imikandi are a race of CatFolk hired by Aku to kill Jack, and in the fifth season the Daughters of Aku are represented by tigers. Even the otherwise friendly titular Creature from "Jack and the Creature" plays into this trope: it takes on a more feline appearance, with fangs and pointed ears, when it gets angry.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'' with a group of heroic feline superheroes facing villainous characters of different species, but the BigBad Mumm-Ra has a pet bulldog and one of the most prominent mooks are the Jackalmen.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Foofur}}'' dogs are mostly good (except for Pepe) and cats are mostly evil (except for Fencer).

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog''. The main cast consists of three heroic felines (Fog, Rigodon and Romy), a rodent (Tico) of [[CartoonCreature indeterminate species]] who's Rigodon's closest friend and three canine antagonists (Dix, Bully and Transfer). However, Transfer is the only one of the last three who's truly villainous; his attempts to stop Fog and his companions sometimes go as far as trying to kill them, and he doesn't seem to care if anyone not in Fog's party gets caught in one of his traps. Dix is simply an overzealous detective who's [[InspectorJavert determined to arrest Fog for bank-robbery]] and refuses to consider the possibility that Fog might be innocent until he finally arrests Fog, only to learn that the real thief is already in custody, at which point he is filled with remorse. Bully is a simple-minded and good-natured character who likes his home comforts and would rather not be chasing a suspected bank-robber around the world.

* In Creator/ArtSpiegelman's ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', the Allied American troops are done as dogs as dogs drive away cats and the Allies (like Americans, Australians, and British) fought the Axis (like Nazis and Imperial Japanese), the Nazis are done as cats as cats prey on mice and Nazis are antisemitic and killed 6 million Jews, and the Jews are done as mice as mice are prey to cats and Jews are traditionally vulnerable to oppression.

* Completely inverted example in ''ComicBook/BillyTheCat,'' where, probably because it's told from the cats' perspective, the sympathy is firmly on the feline side. Cats are individuals who may have their flaws, but (apart from the villain Sanktifer, the only evil cat in the comic) on the whole they're good guys; at worst a cat is a LovableRogue or JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Dogs, by contrast, are far more often depicted as evil, stupid brutes -- there are a few notable examples of sympathetic or even heroic dogs in the series, but on the whole in this series cats are heroes and dogs are villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Peanuts}}'': Snoopy the dog is one of the two main protagonists, while the UnseenCharacter, World War II is a pretty mean cat, always taking a swipe at Snoopy and his doghouse.

* ZigZagged in Literature/TheJungleBook by Rudyard Kipling. The main human character, Mowgli, is raised by Main/NobleWolves, and his life is constantly threatened by the evil tiger, Shere Khan. However, at the same time, one of Mowgli's friends and protectors is Bagheera, the warm, caring panther; while Shere Khan's henchman is the creepy jackal, Tabaqui. Also, there are the savage pack of dholes (known in the book as 'the red dogs'), who appear later on.

* Dogs and cats are recruitable party members in ''VideoGame/DeathRoadToCanada''. Dogs won't attack humans unless they're feral or their morale gets too low. However, if their loyalty is low they can still screw over the party. Cats, on the other hand, always have low loyalty, and can maul a party member ''to death'' if they reach the DespairEventHorizon.