Cat

A cat is a passive mob found in villages and swamp huts. They can be tamed and used to repel creepers and phantoms.

Spawning[]

Cats can spawn every 1200 ticks (1 minute). A random player is selected (including spectators) and a random location is chosen 8-32 blocks away from the player horizontally in both directions and at the same height. A cat can spawn if that block is less than 2 chunks from a village with fewer than 5 cats, or inside a swamp hut.

Villages[]

Untamed cats spawn in villages as long as there are at least five claimed beds within 48 blocks and at most four cats within a 97×17×97 box centered around the spawn position. Cats that spawn with the creation of a village do not despawn, however, any additional cats that spawn within a village may despawn. A village cat spawns with a random appearance, although black cats may spawn only during a full moon; which works on both Java and Bedrock.^[verify] The spawning of cats in villages is a separate process from the natural spawning of passive mobs and thus is not affected by the Creature mob cap.

In Bedrock Edition, a village periodically spawns stray cats to fill a quota of 1 cat per 4 owned beds, up to a maximum of 5 cats for 20 or more owned beds. Only owned beds (those currently claimed by a villager) are counted for this purpose. All cats within the village boundaries are counted, including kittens, cats that wander in from outside and even tamed cats owned by a player. If the number of cats found is short of the quota, the village tries to spawn one cat or kitten within a volume of 16 × 6 × 16 blocks centered on the village center. (This is the same volume used when a village spawns an iron golem.)

Swamp Hut[]

One untamed black cat generates alongside a witch inside swamp huts upon world generation. This cat never despawns. Additional cats can spawn within the hut similarly to witches; for this to happen, there must be grass blocks present inside the bounding box of the swamp hut. In Java Edition, any other cats to spawn within the swamp hut (from spawn eggs and commands without cat type set) always spawn as black. A new cat does not spawn in a hut if there is already a cat within a 16×8×16 block volume.‌^{[Java Edition only][verify]}

Bedrock Edition[]

25% of cats spawn as kittens. During a full moon, 50% of cats that spawn are black.

Drops[]

Adult cats drop:

• 0–2 string. This drop is not affected by Looting.^[1]
• 1–3 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Upon successful breeding, 1–7 is dropped.

Like other baby animals, killing a kitten yields no item or experience.

Appearance[]

Despite sharing the same model, cats are smaller than ocelots. There are currently 11 skins that cats can have. One of the cat skins was designed after Jellie, the late cat of YouTuber GoodTimesWithScar, and was chosen by the community in a Twitter vote.^[3] The current skins are:

• Black (black with orange eyes)
• British Shorthair (silver with yellow eyes)
• Calico (orange, white and dark brown with yellow and blue eyes)
• Jellie (gray and white with gray-green eyes)
• Persian (creamy with blue eyes and flat faces)
• Ragdoll (white and soft amber with blue eyes)
• Red (orange and white with green eyes)
• Siamese (white and pale brown with blue eyes)
• Tabby (brown and white with yellow eyes)
• Tuxedo (black and white with green eyes)
• White (white with light blue and yellow eyes)

In the default resource pack, a texture file for a tamed gray tabby exists.‌^{[BE only][2]} It is however completely unused and cannot be spawned in-game.

Like tamed wolves, tamed cats also have a collar on their necks. The color of the cat's collar is red when tamed and can be changed by using dyes.

Behavior[]

Cats are immune to fall damage, but they still avoid falling off cliffs high enough to normally cause fall damage.

Cats can see players even if they have the Invisibility status effect. With the exception of a faster movement rate, kittens have the same behavior as adults. They hiss at phantoms that are currently pursuing a player.‌^{[JE only]} Creepers and phantoms avoid cats, even while pursuing a player, keeping a distance of 6 and 16 blocks away respectively from any cats. However, a creeper that has begun its detonation does not flee unless the player leaves its blast radius.

Stray cat[]

A stray cat is an untamed cat. Naturally spawned cats always spawn as stray cats. Unlike untamed wolves, stray cats may despawn naturally. They pursue and attack rabbits and baby turtles up to a distance of 15 blocks. Even though they spawn in villages, they don't necessarily remain there; instead, they explore.

They sprint away from any player within 7 blocks (unless the player is sneaking‌^{[BE only]} or difficulty is set to peaceful‌^{[JE only]}), and avoid players within 16 blocks. However, they slowly approach a player holding raw cod or salmon within 10 blocks, allowing the player to feed and tame it (see § Taming below). If the player turns too quickly or stops holding the fish within 6 blocks, the cat flees and does not attempt to approach the player for a few seconds.

Stray cats can be leashed.

Tamed cat[]

Unless commanded to sit (see Taming below), tamed cats do not remain still for long and explore around the player.

A cat not already sitting attempts to get on top of chests, the foot part of beds, or active furnaces at the cat's current Y-level within a 4-block-radius square horizontally, and once on top often assumes a sitting position without a command from the player. A cat also occasionally attempts to sit on these blocks if the blocks are at ground level. A chest with a cat sitting on top of it becomes unusable unless the cat is commanded to stand. Cats that sit on their own can be ordered to stand, or they may get up if the player holds a raw fish nearby. The cat can also be brought down by removing the block or pushing it off. A cat can also be forcibly moved by attacking it. A cat does not sit on a block that is obstructed by another block above it.

Like other mobs, cats enter nearby boats, trapping themselves.

If a player is harmed by a hostile mob or a harming potion, but not by environmental damage, a cat sitting in proximity to the player stands, moves a few blocks from its sitting location and then resumes sitting.

Gifts[]

When the player sleeps, tamed cats move toward their owner and sleep near them. When the player wakes, their tamed cats also wake. There is a 70% chance for a tamed cat to give the player a gift after they wake up, but only if the player sleeps at night (if the player sleeps during a thunderstorm during the daytime, or if the tamed cat has been ordered to sit, the player receives no gift). The gift is a dropped item from the cat_morning_gift.json loot table:

Gift	Weight	Chance	1 in ...
Rabbit's foot	10 (5⁄31)	16.13%	6.2
Rabbit hide
String
Rotten flesh
Feather
Raw chicken
Phantom membrane	2 (1⁄31)	3.22%	31

After a cat gives a gift, both the cat and the gift are located in the general area of the bed the player slept on, including on the other side of walls or floors.

If a player has multiple standing tamed cats in the area, only the tamed cat that sleeps on the player may provide a gift. If all standing tamed cats in the area are prevented from reaching the player (i.e. trapped in minecarts or boats), then in Java Edition each cat has a 70% chance of providing a gift while in Bedrock Edition only one cat may give a gift.

Teleportation[]

Tamed cats teleport to the player if they are more than 12 blocks from the player, except where listed below. It is possible for a tamed cat to teleport to an inaccessible location (e.g. under ice) and be injured or suffocate of various causes as a result.

A cat does not teleport:

• If the cat has been ordered to sit.
  • Exception: The cat is likely to teleport if it is injured while sitting (it does not sit after it teleports). A dramatic example is if a cat sitting outside is struck by lightning, in which case the cat materializes on fire. This kills the cat.
  • Exception: If a kitten is told to sit, and grows up while the chunk it is sitting in is still loaded, it teleports to the player and materializes still sitting.
• If the cat is attempting to sit on a chest, bed, or furnace. ‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
• If the cat is attempting to lay or is laying on a bed.
• If the cat is in a minecart or boat.
• If the cat has been attached to a fence post with a lead.
• If the cat is in an unloaded chunk.
• If none of the blocks on the edge of a 5×5×1 region centered on the player are transparent blocks with an opaque block below and another transparent block above.
• If the player is in another dimension.
• If the player is in water: The cat teleports to the player when the player leaves the water.
• If the cat is in water: teleportation is unreliable. It may or may not occur.

Cat teleportation is completely silent.^[4]

Taming[]

Stray cats can be tamed using raw cod or raw salmon (see #Behavior for how to approach a cat). Once tamed, cats follow the player who tamed them. They do not despawn, no longer fear the player and purr or meow frequently. Like wolves, and with the same limits, they can teleport to a player who moves 12 blocks away.

The player can order a cat to sit/stand by pressing use on it. If the player is holding a raw cod or salmon when commanding a cat to sit or stand, the fish is given to the cat instead, causing it to enter love mode. Once in love mode, the player can command a cat to sit or stand while holding a fish. Cats also sit on certain things of their own accord (see #Tamed cat).

Breeding[]

When tamed cats are fed a raw cod or salmon, they enter love mode. Breeding creates a kitten, and the parents cannot breed again for 5 minutes. The kitten has the coloring of and belongs to the owner of one of the parents.

Two sitting cats are unable to breed, but a mobile cat can breed with a sitting cat, in which case the mobile cat's owner also owns the kitten. The 20 minute growth of kittens can be reduced using raw cod or salmon. Each fish reduces the growth time remaining by 10%.

Healing[]

Feeding an injured tamed cat an uncooked cod or salmon restores its health by 2. Unlike tamed wolves, a tamed cat's tail is not an indicator of its health.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:
Cats use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Cat meows	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while tamed	entity.cat.ambient	subtitles.entity.cat.ambient	varies [sound 1]	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	Cat meows	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while tamed [sound 2]	entity.cat.purreow	subtitles.entity.cat.ambient	0.5	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	Cat meows	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while stray	entity.cat.stray_ambient	subtitles.entity.cat.ambient	0.35	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	Cat begs	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while a stray cat is approaching a player holding fish	entity.cat.beg_for_food	subtitles.entity.cat.beg_for_food	0.7	1.0	16
	Cat purrs	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while in love mode	entity.cat.purr	subtitles.entity.cat.purr	0.7	0.8-1.2	16
	Cat purrs	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while tamed, sitting on a bed, and within 2.5 blocks of its owner	entity.cat.purr	subtitles.entity.cat.purr	0.14-0.7	1.0	16
	Cat hisses	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while a phantom is pursuing a player	entity.cat.hiss	subtitles.entity.cat.hiss	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	Cat eats	Friendly Creatures	When a cat is fed with fish	entity.cat.eat	subtitles.entity.cat.eat	1.0	1.0	16
	Cat dies	Friendly Creatures	When a cat dies	entity.cat.death	subtitles.entity.cat.death	0.75	0.72-1.08	16
	Cat hurts	Friendly Creatures	When a cat is damaged	entity.cat.hurt	subtitles.entity.cat.hurt	0.65	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly when tamed	mob.cat.meow	varies [sound 1]	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly when stray	mob.cat.straymeow	0.35	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while a stray cat is approaching a player holding fish‌[upcoming: BE 1.20.40]	mob.cat.beg	0.7	1.0
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while in love mode	mob.cat.purr	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly when tamed [more information needed]	mob.cat.purreow	0.4	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	Unused sound event	mob.cat.hiss	0.4	1.0
	Friendly Creatures	When a cat is fed with fish	mob.cat.eat	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a cat dies	mob.cat.hit	0.45	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a cat is damaged	mob.cat.hit	0.5	0.9

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Cat	cat	entity.minecraft.cat

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Cat	cat	75	entity.cat.name

Entity data[]

Cats have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Advancement criteria[]

Criteria recorded for A Complete Catalogue advancement

Tamed Cat	Criteria
Black	textures/entity/cat/all_black.png
British Shorthair	textures/entity/cat/british_shorthair.png
Calico	textures/entity/cat/calico.png
Jellie	textures/entity/cat/jellie.png
Persian	textures/entity/cat/persian.png
Ragdoll	textures/entity/cat/ragdoll.png
Red	textures/entity/cat/red.png
Siamese	textures/entity/cat/siamese.png
Tabby	textures/entity/cat/tabby.png
Tuxedo	textures/entity/cat/black.png
White	textures/entity/cat/white.png

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Where Have You Been?	Receive a gift from a tamed cat in the morning.	The gift must be picked up from the ground.	20G	Bronze
		Plethora of Cats	Befriend twenty stray cats.	Befriend and tame twenty stray cats found in villages. They do not all need to be tamed in a single world.	20G	Silver

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Husbandry	Breed a pair of any of these 25 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Trader Llama Turtle Wolf A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/breed_an_animal
	Best Friends Forever	Tame an animal	Husbandry	Tame one of these 8 tameable mobs: Cat Donkey Horse Llama Mule Parrot Trader Llama Wolf	husbandry/tame_an_animal
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed a pair of each of these 24 mobs: Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/bred_all_animals
	A Complete Catalogue	Tame all Cat variants!	Best Friends Forever	Tame each of these 11 cat variants: Tabby Tuxedo Red Siamese British Shorthair Calico Persian Ragdoll White Jellie Black	husbandry/complete_catalogue

History[]

Java Edition
1.2.1		12w04a			Added cats, which can be tamed from ocelots.
		12w05a			Taming ocelots into cats is now easier.
					Cats can now be commanded to sit by pressing the use item control.[5]
					Cats have now become immune to fall damage.
					Cats now frighten creepers.
		12w05b			Tamed cats now sit when right clicked with empty hand.
		12w06a			Cats now have sounds.
					Cats now try to jump on a bed if one is present.
1.2.4		release			Jeb has now made cats "more realistic... probably more annoying".[6] They now sit on beds and also active furnaces and chests.
1.5		pre			Kittens now sometimes despawn upon becoming adults. This can be prevented by feeding them a fish once they are an adult.
1.8		14w02a			Baby cat growth can now be accelerated using raw cod.
		14w10a			Cats named using a name tag now display death messages to the owner.
1.9		15w38a			All cats – even unnamed cats – now display death messages to their owner.
1.10		16w20a			A cat spawn egg has been added, which spawn ocelots with cat textures.
		pre2			The cat spawn egg has been removed.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID of cats and ocelots has been changed from Ozelot to ocelot.
September 29, 2018					Stray cats are announced at MINECON Earth 2018.
1.14		18w43a			The textures of cats have been changed.
		18w44a			Added stray cats.
					Cats have been split from ocelots into their own mob.
					Cats are now tamed from stray cats rather than ocelots.
					Cats now drop 0-2 string upon death.
					Cats now scare off phantoms, sleep with players and give them gifts when waking up.
					Seven more cat textures have been added.
					Reimplemented the spawn egg.
		November 19, 2018			A vote for the ninth cat has now concluded and the texture has been revealed.
		18w47b			The tuxedo cat's texture has been changed to fix a bug where they had black legs.[7] However, the top of their legs are now also painted white.[8]
		18w50a			Cats can now spawn in villages.
					Added a skin of the winner of the community cat contest, Jellie.
		19w14a			Cats can naturally spawn in villages, in addition to during world generation.
1.15		19w41a			Persian cats now have a black nose due to MC-163227.
		19w42a			Persian cats no longer have a black nose.
1.16		Pre-release 2			"Jellie" cats now spawn naturally in villages.
1.17		20w45a			Cats now have three legs.[9]
		20w46a			Cats no longer have three legs.
		21w11a			The texture of the siamese cat now have been changed.
1.19		22w14a			The CatType field in entity data is replaced by variant with resource locations.
1.20		23w14a			The tuxedo cat's texture has been changed. The top texture of legs is now black again in order to fix MC-237556.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1		build 1			Added cats.
		build 2			Added a tame button for ocelots, so they can now be tamed into cats.
Bedrock Edition
1.8.0		beta 1.8.0.8			Added stray cats.
					Cats have been split from ocelots into their own mob.
					Cats are now tamed from stray cats rather than ocelots.
					The textures of cats have been updated.
					Seven more cat textures have been added.
					In the default resource pack, a texture file for a tamed gray tabby cat exists. However, it is completely unused and cannot be spawned in-game.
					Cats now scare off phantoms.
					Cats now sleep with players and give them gifts when waking up.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Added the Jellie skin.
					Cats are now healed when fed raw cod and raw salmon.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.3			Cats can now spawn in player created registered villages.
					Population of cats is 1 for every 4 valid beds, which is capped at 10 cats per village.
1.20.40		beta 1.20.40.20			Stray cats now make sounds when approaching a player holding fish.
Legacy Console Edition
TU12	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added cats, which can be tamed from ocelots.
TU13					Added a sound for hitting ocelots and cats.
TU14		1.04			Baby ocelots and cats can now be spawned by using // on an adult form of that mob using a spawn egg.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Baby cat growth can now be accelerated using raw cod. Other fish may or may not be effective.
		1.83			Added cats as a separate mob from ocelots
					Added new skins for cats.
					Cats now spawn in villages and can be tamed with fish.
					Cats scare off phantoms, sleep with players and give them gifts.
		1.90			Added the Jellie skin.
					Cats are now healed when fed raw cod and raw salmon.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Cat" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• The tuxedo cat is based on Jeb's pet cat, Newton,^[10] who died in 2014.^[11]
• The Jellie cat is based on GoodTimesWithScar's cat, Jellie, who passed away in January 2024.^[12]
• In MINECON Earth 2018, Jeb announced that the community could vote for a 9th cat skin to be added with the rest of the other 8 cat skins. As a result, YouTuber GoodTimesWithScar’s cat Jellie won the contest and was added in Village and Pillage, making the second mob variation that was suggested by the community, the first being "Toast", a rabbit skin added as a tribute to a user's deceased pet rabbit.
• Both calico and white cats appear to have heterochromia, which is an uncommon feature in cats making both their eyes different colours.
• The calico cat skin's fur pattern resembles that of Winslow, from Minecraft: Story Mode, with the only differences being the eye color and the mirrored fur pattern. The episode in which the cat appears was released two years before calico cats were added to the game.
• In real life, cats have been known for their ability to flip upright during a fall, particularly larger ones; though they still might be injured by landing. This fact is reflected in Minecraft because they are not damaged by falls.
• The current Siamese cat texture is unused in Bedrock Edition.
• In real life, calico cats are almost always female and the few male calicos that do occur are generally sterile. However, since animals in Minecraft are genderless, it's not odd to breed two calico cats with each other.
• Persian cats in-game is the only cat variant that do not have snouts, based on their real-life variant.

Gallery[]

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Screenshots[]

• 

  Screenshot demonstrating the size difference between a cat and a kitten.

• 

  An image tweeted by Dinnerbone of his attempt at making a cat laying down animation.

• 

  The three original variants of cats.

• 

  Minecraft tuxedo cat next to Jeb's tuxedo cat.

• 

  The new cat skins announced at MINECON Earth 2018.

• 

  The new cats seen in Bedrock Edition beta 1.8.0.8.

• 

  A list of cats, excluding Jellie and Tuxedo.

• 

  Cats spawn in villages.

• 

  Black cats can also spawn in witch huts.

• 

  Tamed wolf and cat.

• 

  Lying Jellie Cat.

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  A black cat lying on a bed.

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  Three cats trying to sit on one chest while ignoring others close by.

In other media[]

• 

  The vote in which Jellie was chosen over other cat options.

• 

  Cats in promotional artwork for Bedrock Edition 1.8.

• 

  A cat in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.

• 

  LEGO Minecraft cat

• 

  A customizable bottle featuring a cat.

Renders[]

References[]

External links[]

• Mob Menagerie: Cat — Minecraft.net on August 19, 2023
• Your cat could be in Minecraft — Minecraft.net on October 13, 2018