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The Reads
David and Jane Read
Jane on the left, David on the right.
- David is voiced by: Bruce Dinsmore (TV series), Tony Fardella (Living Books), Steve Kratz (Swedish dub)
Jane is voiced by: Sonja Ball
The parents of Arthur, D.W. and Kate. David works as a caterer and Jane is an accountant who works from home.
- Abusive Parents: Downplayed. They are usually good, if somewhat flawed, parents to all three of their children, but they have a few moments of Jerkass Ball where they can come across as this. For example:
- In "Arthur's Big Hit", they tell Arthur that Binky punching him on a dare by the other Tough Customers was deserved karma for his own hitting of D.W., even though their response to that incident was telling Arthur that violence is never justified.
- In "Revenge of the Chip", Jane sends D.W.'s embarrassing story about eating a supposedly poisoned green potato chip and thinking she was going to die to the press, even though she promised D.W. she wouldn't share it. Though to her credit, she does realize she was wrong to do this and apologizes to D.W..
- Adults are Useless: Mainly when it comes to their lack of discipline and constant coddling towards their Bratty Half-Pint daughter DW.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: They have their moments of this, like whenever Jane buys clothes for Arthur or when David insists on telling bad jokes at Parents' Night in "Kids Are From Earth, Parents Are From Pluto."
- Cloudcuckoolander: David is a downplayed example; In "Arthur Cleans Up" he is shown to easily get excited over things that he ropes Arthur into, leaving Arthur feeling awkward or bemused.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Played with; David is generally a very good cook and runs a successful catering business, but in his spare time he really likes to experiment with his cooking, with less than desired results. Arthur and D.W. are often grossed out by his more experimental dishes, and there's even a song dedicated to his culinary abominations in the Musical Episode.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Operation D.W.!" sees David taking the lead in providing parental emotional support, a task usually left to Jane.
- Good Parents: Most of the time, though they've made mistakes and they're not without their faults, they're usually very attentive to their kids, who can almost always rely on them for help whenever they face a problem.
- Happily Married: In contrast to Buster's parents, who are divorced.
- House Husband: Downplayed with David, since he and Jane both work from home. However, while David has his catering business, most of the money comes from Jane, who's an accountant. David also does most of the cooking for the household, and Arthur and D.W.'s Imagine Spot about living without him in "Mom and Dad Have A Great Big Fight" depicts Jane as completely unable to cook for them.
- Jerkass Ball: While they are typically some of the best parents in children's cartoons, they do have occasional moments where they can step out of line.
- In "Arthur's Big Hit", they view Arthur getting hit by Binky as a case of karmic payback for his own punching of D.W. earlier, despite responding to his hitting of D.W. by telling him that violence is never justified.
- In "Revenge of the Chip", Jane blabs to the press about D.W.'s embarrassing story about eating a supposedly poisonous potato chip and thinking she was going to die from it, despite promising her she wouldn't share the story with anyone. Though to her credit, she does realize this was wrong of her and apologizes to D.W..
- Keet: David can get very loud when he's excited or passionate about something.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: David, usually because nobody else gets them, much to Arthur's chagrin.
- Lethal Chef: Subverted. While Arthur initially thought this, it turns out David is actually an amazing cook. It's when he's experimenting with his cooking that the meals turn out a bit questionable. Either way, David is certainly not as bad a chef as Grandma Thora.
- Loose Lips: In "Revenge of the Chip", Jane shares D.W.'s embarrassing story of thinking she was going to die from eating a poisoned potato chip with the press, despite having promised her she wouldn't share the story with anyone. To be fair to Jane, she does realize that was wrong of her and apologizes to D.W.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: Jane straddles both sides of this trope; she shares household responsibilities with David while earning a sizable portion of her family's income, working from their home computer as an accountant. It's possible that Jane earns more money than David does.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: They are typically extremely ineffective disciplinarians towards D.W., but whenever they finally do punish her, you know D.W. has pushed their patience past its limit.
- Parental Favoritism: They have this towards D.W. in spades.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Jane wears a pink shirt, while David wears a blue one.
- Secret-Keeper: Two episodes of the series involve Jane having to keep a secret D.W. has.
- Subverted in ""The Chips are Down" / Revenge of the Chip", where Jane breaks her promise to not share D.W.'s story of thinking she was going to die from eating a green potato chip by calling the press and telling them about it, though to her credit she does realize she was wrong to do this and apologizes to D.W..
- Played straight in "The Secret About Secrets", where D.W. confides in her that James make her promise to keep the fact that he split his pants in class a secret and how she's having trouble keeping that promise. This time, there is no indication that Jane went blabbing to anyone.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: One episode sees Jane going downtown to do office work for a couple of weeks, and she looks great in a blouse, suit pants, and a new hairstyle.
- Supreme Chef: David runs a catering business and he can make amazing meals... as long as he isn't experimenting. He can sometimes pull off a good experiment, but it’s a better bet if he’s not trying. Whenever he does make a good dish, it typically becomes the centerpiece of a whole episode.
- Women Are Wiser: In the event that one of the couple has a lapse in focus or an emotional breakdown, Jane is more likely than David to take the lead.Ed Crosswire: Members of the Soccer Parents Association, I have some good news and some bad news. Trevor has decided to quit coaching soccer.
David: Yes! Hey, maybe we could even win a game this year!
Jane: *Whispering* David, I think that's the bad news.
Thora Read
- Voiced by: Joanna Noyes, Michael Caloz (as a child)
The Read siblings' paternal grandmother.
- Cool Old Lady: She is very in tune with the times and gets along well with everyone in Arthur's gang.
- Friend to All Living Things: Adopts an abandoned dog named Killer who has been in and out of the pound through many owners; Thora refuses to give up on her and Killer starts a new lease on life.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Sarah MacGrady.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Rarely have we seen her in her younger days, but when we do we see she was quite attractive and popular in her youth.
- Lethal Chef: Notoriously so; her grandchildren do everything in their power to avoid actually eating her meals. Even David and other adults prefer that the cooking isn't left up to her.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If she actually tells you that she's disappointed in you, you know you've messed up.
- Resentful Outnumbered Sibling: She was the only daughter in her family, having three older brothers. The flashbacks to her childhood in "Clarissa is Cracked" showed that at times, Thora was frustrated with not having her own toys and having to settle for playing with hand-me-downs from her brothers.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Her siblings never appear in the present day, only putting in an appearance in the flashback in “Clarissa is Cracked”, making it unknown if they are even still alive.
- She doesn’t appear in the Distant Finale of the show, but it’s entirely possible she has passed away by that point.
- Women Are Wiser: Usually the voice of reason whenever Arthur, D.W., or their friends have a problem they feel they can't solve on their own.
The Frenskys
Oliver Frensky
- Voiced by: Mark Camacho
The father of Francine and Catherine. Has a job as a sanitation worker.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Francine imagines this in "My Dad, the Garbage Man," and she feels the need to apologize for Oliver's excessive enthusiasm in "Arthur Cleans Up."
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's as nice as they come, but will waste no time in disciplining his daughters if he finds them doing something foolish or malicious.
- First-Name Ultimatum: When Oliver decides to test out a newly-recovered baseball-pitching machine inside the apartment, it hits the bathroom door, irritating his wife.
- Fun Personified: He's always cracking jokes, coaching sports, or having fun with his daughters.
- Furry Baldness: He has a ring of human hair around the sides and back of his head, but none on top.
- Good Parents: He's very loving and caring toward his daughters, but he won't hesitate to scold them if he needs to.
- Ink-Suit Actor: He resembles a primate version of his voice actor, Mark Camacho.
- Nice Guy: Easily one of the nicest characters on the show.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: However, for all that niceness, he still has his limits, and whenever he becomes stern or cross you know that Francine has messed up badly.
- One of the Kids: He certainly has his moments, like wanting to be the first person to ride the bike that he renovated for Francine.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is this towards his daughters and as a coach for the Lakewood baseball team.
- Working-Class People Are Morons: Averted. Though he is a blue collar worker, Oliver is a pretty smart and nice guy, though his daughters (mainly Catherine) think he should get a more "respectable" job.
- Francine was embarrassed about his job at first but she soon accepts it, seeing her dad was able to give a good presentation about his job during her classes career day while making a playground out of recycled trash for them to enjoy likely helped.
The Baxters
Bitzi Baxter
- Voiced by: Ellen David
Buster's mom, who divorced from Buster's father when Buster was little. She serves as the editor of the Elwood City Times.
- Alliterative Name: Her first and last name begin with B.
- The Alleged Car: Her car, the "Baxtermobile", is a defining example of this in later seasons. Despite her position as the editor of the Elwood City Times, she has yet to seek out a newer one.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Used to be one in earlier seasons, due to her protective nature. A good example of this is in "D.W. All Wet" where she actually had a messenger send Buster his bathing cap while he was at the beach with Arthur.
- Amicable Exes: With her ex-husband, Beau Baxter. Why they divorced has never been explained, though it's implied that it was because his job as a pilot meant he wasn't able to spend enough time with his family.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Generally fun-loving and fair, but will not hesitate to discipline Buster if she catches him doing something foolish or dangerous.
- Characterization Marches On: Initially portrayed as overly protective of Buster, but has since become more laid back and fun-loving.
- My Beloved Smother: She dotes on Buster a lot and was once overly obsessed with his personal well-being.
- Neat Freak: A downplayed example, but Buster's sloppiness and poor manners usually justify it.
- Nervous Wreck: Her defining character trait in the earlier seasons, where she often frets over everything Buster does for fear of him getting sick or hurt. In later seasons though, she seems to have gotten over the worst of it.
- Secret Handshake: Shares one with Buster.
- Women Are Wiser: Is shown to be very down to earth and sensible, especially after her worrywart tendencies are significantly downplayed; plus, she will never hesitate to help Buster when there's a problem, and usually succeeds in helping him find the answers he needs.
The Crosswires
Edward Edsel "Ed" Crosswire
- Voiced by: A.J. Henderson
Muffy's father. His business, Crosswire Motors, has enabled him to furnish a comfortable life for himself and his family.
- A Day in the Limelight: Despite (and perhaps due to) hinging on the kind of lesson that never seems to stick for Muffy, with Ed elbowing his way in on Muffy's class project, "Muffy Takes the Wheel" arguably has more to do with his character development than hers.
- Good Parents: While he spoils his daughter rotten, he clearly loves her deeply and is very worried about her happiness. He also will call out Muffy when she exhibits selfish behaviors.
- Hidden Depths: He actually made a surprisingly good soccer coach, making the Elwood team go from constantly losing to tying in one game.
- Honest Corporate Executive: He's always trying to find new ways to sell his products, but he never makes false promises.
- Honest John's Dealership: Subverted. While assertive when it comes to selling cars, he's not into false advertising.
- Meaningful Name:
- An "Edsel" was a type of car made by Ford known as a commercial failure, but one of the meanings of the name itself is "rich."
- "Crosswire." As in hotwiring a car. It can also mean "crossed wires", in the sense of Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense. It fits for his whole family.
- Nice to the Waiter: To his butler Bailey, whom he considers as part of the family.
- Non-Idle Rich: He's a used-car salesman and clearly takes his job seriously, despite the pampered princess life he gives his daughter.
- Nouveau Riche: However, he's a more positive portrayal of this trope than the usual examples, as we don't really see him flaunt his wealth and if the way he conducts his business is any indication, he seems to be rather good at managing his money.
- Papa Wolf: In "Caught in the Crosswires", when Jimmy Johnny Johnson bluntly tells Muffy that nobody would want to see her true self and that she is boring, Ed demands that Jimmy and his film crew leave immediately.
- Repetitive Name: His first name is Edward and his middle name is Edsel.
- Self-Made Man: How he got his wealth. It started with him starting his own car dealership.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Once tried to convince both the parents and the library that scary books were bad for children when Muffy supposedly suffered nightmares from reading one of the Scare Your Pants Off books, going so far as to campaign for the library to pull the series from circulation. After actually sitting down to hear one of them read and realizing Muffy actually enjoyed them as well, he has a change of heart.
Lakewood Elementary Staff
Nigel Ratburn
The third grade teacher of the Arthur gang, and the primary adult character featured in the show. He is a rat.
- Breaking Bad News Gently: "Everyone sit down, please. Mrs. MacGrady is sick. She has cancer."
- Camp Gay: He is single (at least early on), thin and neat. With the exception of some earlier episodes, he speaks in a somewhat "sing-songy" way compared to other adult male characters. His hobby is performing puppet shows, and he owns and maintains quite a collection of marionettes. However, he was merely Ambiguously Gay for quite a long time until the Season 22 episode "Mr. Ratburn And The Special Someone", which features Mr. Ratburn's marriage to a man.
- Cool Teacher: Double subverted. His students don't like to admit it, but he's a nice guy who, while strict and a little too obsessed with handing out lots of homework, is very concerned about his students' well being. In Season 19's "The Last Day", Arthur and Buster finally come to realize how much he's taught them, and the class performs a song in his honor.
- A Day in the Limelight: He's had a few, such as "The Return of the King"; "The Rat Who Came to Dinner"; "Get Smart"; "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone".
- The Dreaded: Early on in the series, he had a reputation as an in-universe Memetic Psychopath who ate nails for breakfast (without milk), was a vampire who ate children, and various other rumors. Fortunately for Arthur's class, they learned that wasn't the case, though he is a stickler for homework.
- Everyone Went to School Together: S1's "Arthur's Almost Boring Day" showcases Grandma Thora's old home movies, revealing that David Read, Mr. Ratburn, and Mr. Haney all attended the same high school at the same time. S15's "The Butler Did... What?" also reveals Bailey and Mr. Ratburn were in the same high school class.
- Evil Counterpart: The one time we get to meet his own teacher, he's shown to be a far more sadistic, cold and cruel version of Ratburn. Mr. Ratburn likely designed his teaching style off of being as work-intensive as his while being far less harsh to his students.
- Face Palm: When Muffy attributes the creation of the Dewey Decimal System to Thomas Edison.
- Formerly Fat: Once admitted to Arthur that he struggled with his weight as a kid.
- Freudian Excuse: The one occasion we encounter his mentor Mr. Pryce-Jones, who taught him everything he knows, it's clear that Mr. Ratburn had to constantly work hard throughout his life to please him. His love of giving out homework most likely stems from this.
- Genius Sweet Tooth: He's highly knowledgeable about a great number of subjects, and S3's "Dad's Dessert Dilemma" reveals that he loves cake.Mr. Ratburn: I thought you might want to see the spring reading list-OH! Are you having cake?!?
- Would carry over in S4's "The Rat who Came to Dinner".
D.W: There was no cake, Arthur. Mr. Rathead was very disappointed. - Hero with Bad Publicity: According to his students, he is a Sadist Teacher with no sense of humor, and in Imagine Spots he usually plays the villain. The worst thing you can say about the man is that he is a demanding teacher, but he ultimately means well.
- Hidden Depths: Mr. Ratburn is often seen by Arthur and his friends as a cruel teacher who has no life outside of making kids miserable. At the same time, he likes Spooky Poo, and he volunteers as a puppeteer for children's puppet shows. Oh, and of course, he goes giddy over cake.
- Hopeless with Tech: As brilliant as he is with other subjects, he's not the most tech-savvy of individuals and Alan needed to teach him how to use the Internet.
- Interspecies Romance: He's a rat, and in "Mr. Ratburn's Special Someone", it's revealed that he's marrying an aardvark.
- I Was Told There Would Be Cake: S3's "Dad's Dessert Dilemma".
- Keet: Similar to Buster, he loves eating sweets and he's a little too enthusiastic about teaching his students about subjects.
- Large Ham: He certainly has his moments of this, with his campy personality. Otherwise, he's fairly level-headed and laid-back.
- Mathematician's Answer: In " Lend Me Your Ear," Alan asks Mr. Ratburn if he wants his ice cream in a cone or a cup, to which he answers "Yes!" Alan humors him, putting Mr. Ratburn's ice cream in cups and using cones as toppers.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: He doesn't have much of a social life and was initially feared by his students for giving out piles of homework, but he's actually a very nice and friendly guy.
- Nice Guy: While he tends to give out more homework than is really necessary and won't take any nonsense from his students, it's because he really cares about their education and wants to push his students to be the best that they can be. He also genuinely cares about his students; if any of the kids fail to complete an assignment on time, he'll always give them a second chance, and he can give some good advice when his students are troubled. Overall, he's a really good guy.
- Oh, Crap!: In "Cents-less", he and his class go without spending money for a weekend. Unfortunately, he forgets to buy food before announcing the assignment. He puts on a puppet show to barter for some food.
- Only Sane Employee: While he's strict, he's the only teacher at Lakewood Elementary School besides Mr. Marco who actually teaches his students properly. The only other competent employees are the lunch lady and the janitor.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite the kids complaining about Ratburn being a Sadist Teacher, he's always looking out for their best interests and he'll usually call out one of the kids if they're being mean to others, like with Francine in "The Good Sport" or Arthur in "So Funny I Forgot To Laugh". If any of the kids fail to complete an assignment, Mr. Ratburn is always willing to give them a second chance, though it often might be a tougher assignment than the original.
- Running Gag: Despite his many talents, he is repeatedly shown to be hopeless with technology, though over the series he does become fascinated with computers.
- His love of cake also qualifies.
- Species Surname: Played straight. Guess what animal he actually is? His sister Rodentia takes the Meaningful Name up to eleven.
- Speech Impediment: We find out in "Maria Speaks" that like Maria, he suffered from a stutter in his youth.
- Sadist Teacher: Subverted; he has this reputation, but he's actually anything but. Even the large amount of homework he assigns is out of genuine care for his students' education, rather than a desire to torment them.
- Stern Teacher: The kids initially believed he was a Sadist Teacher due to overblown rumors, and even now they sometimes view him as one, but he's really more in line with this trope. While he tends to be strict and a bit too obsessed with handing out piles of homework, he's really not a bad person, as he cares about his students getting a good education and he's actually succeeding in teaching them things.
- Sweet Tooth: He absolutely loves cake, as shown in a few episodes.
- Sudden Name Change: He used to be named "Emil" as seen in one flashback; this was soon after retconned to "Nigel", although it is possible that he may have legally changed his name at some point.
- Trademark Favorite Food: As noted above, anything to do with cake.
- He even marries a baker.
Herbert/Francis Haney
- Voiced by: Walter Massey
Mild-mannered, well-to-do, absent-minded bear principal of Lakewood Elementary School. Often involved in episodes taking place at the school, though he is also involved in community work.
- Beary Funny: His haplessness and goofy behavior gives him this.
- Beary Friendly: Very polite.
- Butt-Monkey: The early seasons often had some form of bad luck or misfortune happening to him, usually in the form of things falling on him, from raw hamburgers, to baseballs, to a bucket of popcorn, to Binky Barnes. S1's "Arthur's Almost Boring Day" reveals that he had bad luck befall him even during his school days.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He's a pretty spacey guy.
- Death Glare: He briefly gives Mr. Ratburn's class this when he hears them cheering ecstatically over their teacher getting sick, in a Dude, Not Funny! moment.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Attended the same school as Mr. Read and Mr. Ratburn. Even back then, as shown in the old videos in S1's "Arthur's Almost Boring Day", he had bad luck.
- Inconsistent Coloring: Animated with more of a greenish color starting in season sixteen.
- "L" Is for "Dyslexia": Shortly after George finds out that he has Dyslexia, Mr. Haney is also revealed to have it. This gives them something to bond over.
- Put on a Bus: Leaves to build a school in Tanzania in "The Hallway Minotaur."
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Generally manages the school quite well and gets along well with all of the students and staff, and when the situation demands it, will take the necessary action needed to keep things running smoothly.
- Running Gag: As noted above, he was very accustomed to having things dropped on him or having all manners of bad luck cramp his day, usually followed by the kids uttering "Sorry, Sir". As of later seasons, he seems to have caught a break.
- Sudden Name Change: Was originally named Herbert, but his name was eventually retconned to Francis.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He entrusted Mrs. Read's tax returns to Arthur without telling him anything about what the contents of the envelope were, and Arthur frets so much over what's in it that he very nearly throws them out instead of delivering them to his mother as promised.
- The Voiceless: Became this after the 2014 death of his voice actor.
Sarah/Leah MacGrady
- Voiced by: Bronwen Mantel
The cafeteria lady at Lakewood Elementary.
- A Day in the Limelight: "The Great MacGrady", where she is diagnosed with cancer and forced to take a leave of absence while she undergoes treatment. All the children do what they can to support her until she's well enough to return to work.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Mrs. MacGrady loses her hair because of the chemotherapy she's been receiving (though she still has her brown "fur"), so she wears a pink bandanna with white spots to cover it up. Her hair grows back in later episodes.
- Cool Old Lady: She's very street-smart and is well-liked by everybody at school.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Thora Read.
- Important Haircut: Shaves her head when she is diagnosed with cancer, but it grows back.
- Nice Girl: She's a very good natured person who is always willing to help those who need it.
- Secret Test of Character: Performs one of these on the kids in "Draw!" when they draw a bunch of unflattering comics about Francine after she insults Fern. She tricks the kids into thinking they'll get back at Francine by dumping slime on her, but moves Francine to express how hurt she is by their teasing which moves the rest of the gang not to go through with their prank. Everybody quickly reconciles thanks to this.
- Sudden Name Change: In Season 13, she's called "Leah".
- Supreme Chef: Played with; there are several episodes where the students are served questionable meals, but Mrs. MacGrady is generally shown to be an excellent cook.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In "Arthur Accused" she absentmindedly bakes quarters earned for a school charity into a batch of brownie mix, which lands Arthur in hot water as he was to make sure she got them. Buster eventually uncovers this mistake, and so she's much more careful as a result.
- Women Are Wiser: She has plenty of old school philosophies that have helped the children to overcome the questions and problems they face.
Other
Julie Moore
- Voiced by: Unknown actress
- Given Name Reveal: Her last name was revealed for the first time in the podcast adaptation of "The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club", which was uploaded a whole twenty-six years after the original episode aired.
- One-Shot Character: She only appeared in the episode "The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club" and its book and podcast adaptations.
Pets and others
Pal
- Voiced by: Simon Peacock, Michael Yarmush (during an Imagine Spot in "Sick as a Dog"), Arthur Holden ("And Now Let's Talk To Some Kids"), Yvette Kaplan (Arthur's Missing Pal)
Arthur's dog and the best friend of Kate in the episodes focusing on them.
- Animal Talk: He can talk to other non-humanoid animals, imaginary friends, and Kate.
- Black Bead Eyes: Beady dot eyes.
- Cartoon Dog Breed: His breed is explicitly unknown, though he's medium-sized and yellow.
- Conspicuously Light Patch: Thanks to this, we know which of Perky's puppies he is.
- It Can Think: Even before the episodes that featured dogs and babies speaking, Pal was shown to be very smart for a dog, especially in “Arthur’s Lost Dog” when he went through hell and high water to get a balloon for Kate.
- Killed Offscreen: Or rather, died offscreen. He is among the many characters who didn’t appear in the final episode’s ending 20 years into the future, but given the amount of time, he has certainly passed away by this point.
- Oral Fixation: As a puppy he would bite on a lot of things, such as his leash. This almost got him banned to garage in an earlier episode
- Precious Puppies: He isn't an actual puppy, but still adorable nonetheless.
- Sick Episode: "Sick As A Dog" revolves around him being ill after sampling one piece of human (or rather, humanoid) food too many.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He loves his bacon.
- Troublemaking New Pet: When he was a puppy he was rambunctious and wouldn't always listen to Arthur.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ironically for a dog, he's afraid of cats.
Nadine Flumberghast
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Doesn't normally wear shoes, but her "older self" does in "D.W.'s Time Trouble."
- The Conscience: She often serves as this to D.W, usually by suggesting more sensible alternatives to D.W.'s Zany Schemes.
- Funny Animal: Within a series that has a large amount of Furry Confusion, she's on a lower "rung" of the anthropomorphic ladder than the other "human" characters.
- Imaginary Friend: She's often only seen interacting with D.W. in most of the series. However, see Not-So-Imaginary Friend below.
- Karma Houdini: Even at the end of "All Will Be Revealed!" she gets away with taking D.W.'s snowball from the freezer after 25 seasons.
- Meaningful Name: "Nadine" is pretty close to "Nadie", Spanish for "No one", an appropriate name for an imaginary person.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: She's able to communicate with Kate and Pal.
- Reality Warper: If "Mom and Dad Have a Great Big Fight" is of any indication.
Nemo
- Voiced by: Greg Kramer (series), Tony Daniels (An Arthur Thanksgiving)
Francine's cat. He's the enemy of Kate and Pal.
- Animal Talk: He can speak to other non-humanoid animals and Kate.
- Cats Are Mean: He's a cat who's a condescending snob.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He had a much different design in his debut episode. To elaborate, he had a thinner body and a less rounded head.
- Pet's Homage Name: Francine named him after a major character in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
- Plot Allergy: Nemo is allergic to milk. This is actually accurate for a cat— real cats are lactose intolerant.
- Ironic Fear: He's terrified of Ladonna's pet rat, General Higgins.
- The Voiceless: In his appearances after the death of his voice actor, Greg Kramer.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Pal are enemies who can’t stand each other, though they can work together sometimes.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Contrary to Arthur's objections, he was shown to get along with Pal upon his debut in "Francine and the Feline". For unexplained reasons, they became bitter enemies afterward.
Amigo
- The Big Guy: Serves this role in the Kate and Pal centered episodes.
- Bully Bulldog: Averted. He's a Bulldog but is kind to humans and other pets.
- Meaningful Name: 'amigo' is Spanish for 'friend', showing how he's a counterpart to Pal, which is a synonym for 'friend'.
Killer
- Voiced by: Melissa Pirrera
Grandma Thora's pet Jack Russel terrier.
- Animal Talk: She can speak to other animals, imaginary friends, and Kate.
- Black Bead Eyes: She and Pal are the only 2 pets on the show to have these.
- Canon Immigrant: She first appeared in the book Arthur's Christmas before making her animated debut in Season Nine's "It Came From Beyond".
- Meaningful Name: 'Killer' is the perfect name for a mean dog.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She started out as a mean dog who would attack others. After getting a second chance by Thora, she mellows out and does act kinder towards others.
