History Main / CatsAreSuperior

Cats are almost always portrayed as particularly intelligent, cunning, and independent, and in works with [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism any degree of anthropomorphization]] a cat is likely to be TheChessmaster, a DeadpanSnarker (see also CatsAreSnarkers), or one of the other [[TheTrickster Trickster]] archetypes. Sometimes they are all but stated to be a SuperiorSpecies.

%%* The Glass Cat in the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books also had this attitude.

On the other hand, cats' perceived negative qualities -- such as aloofness, arrogance, [[SmugSnake smugness]], and laziness -- might be attributed to their [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful awareness of their exalted position]].

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* A story in ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician has Narda, Mandrake's girlfriend, [[AllJustADream dream]] - [[OrWasItADream or does she?]] - that cats are descendants of aliens that got stuck on Earth and used the primitive humans to survive, having lost their technology. (The same applies to dogs - the dog aliens and cat aliens were at war, and the hostility between cats and dogs are a remnant of this.)

* The black cat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''. Snarky, deadpan, aloof, insulting, arrogant - but willing to help in Coraline's time of need and vital to her confrontation with the Other Mother.

* In Alan Dean Foster's ''Catalyst'', some cats are powerful energy-based aliens that pose as cats and watch over other sentient beings. Of the three we meet, one attaches herself to the human protagonist, the second is actually evil and has a VillainousBreakdown near the end, and the last is run ragged by the absent-minded plant-like aliens who started everything a long time ago. It is the last that makes the main character somewhat suspicious - how do ''aliens'' have house cats?

* In ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'', all cats can talk - they just don't often feel inclined to do so.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Most cats don't have particularly good views on other species. Even many of the kittypets think twolegs are dull; they rarely even identify them individually or gender them. Dogs are either annoying pests or dangerous brutes, badgers are frightening beasts, and prey animals like mice are dumb and cowardly.
* ''Literature/CatPack'': The cats think cats are superior to other animals. They say that they wouldn't even need owners if they could open their own cans.
* ''Literature/ADogsPurpose'': Bailey, the dog protagonist, thinks that cats believe this. He doesn't understand body language and just thinks his owner's cat is a self-important freeloader. After being reincarnated as Ellie and adopted into a home with several cats, her views on cats sway a bit, but she still doesn't like them.
* ''Literature/GuardianCatsAndTheLostBooksOfAlexandria'': Downplayed when Cicero mentions that cats generally have a major flaw about being too prideful.

* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', cats are the only animals which you can't control the adoption of. Cats choose their owners, not vice versa; they can even adopt dwarves while the game is paused. You can't go ''without'' cats because they're the only creatures that can protect your food stocks from vermin. Thus, the "catsplosion," where cat breeding gets out of control because you can't get rid of pets like you can strays. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Kittens, before they adopt make a great food source, however.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': A number of cat Pokémon are like this, including Mewtwo for a bit in the anime.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', Creepers are the bane of any player's existence. But Creepers know better than to mess with cats.

* In the "Nature's Balance" arc from ''Webcomic/NerfNOW'', the cat gets dissed for its Charisma-focused build, and the bigger feline asks if it intends to ''charm'' the humans into submission. It does so, surviving comfortably while bigger cats are mounted on the wall.
* ''Webcomic/TheFuzzyPrincess'': The main character is literally a cat princess. Although Princess Kat is generally pretty nice. Played straight with her mom, Queen Felicia, who is much more haughty.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode,"That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler: cats are revealed to be a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien species who left their dying homeworld, got the Ancient Egyptians to worship them and [[AncientAstronauts help them construct the pyramids]]- all while being {{Manipulative Bastard}}s towards humankind.]]
* In the children's series ''WesternAnimation/DoctorSnuggles'' a recurring character is The Cosmos Cat, a perhaps SufficientlyAdvancedAlien that is a RubberForeheadAlien - its just that it is a cat that has the rubber forehead (antennas and such), not a human. (And at least in the Swedish dub, he speaks as an EruditeStoner.)
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' This is {{deconstructed|Trope}} and PlayedForDrama, since the {{Catfolk}} of TheEmpire of Thundera are a {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} who are [[SuperiorSpecies genuinely excellent]] fighters, have an [[TheOrder order]] of KungFuWizard[=/=]{{Magic Knight}}s and possess powerful {{Ancient Artifact}}s. As a result, they do much CulturalPosturing around [[MasterRace believing]] their own press, that they were and are the great civilizers of their planet, who "brought law and order to a [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals world of warring animals]]." This is a deeply-rooted societal justification for [[AnimalJingoism jingoistic]] FantasticRacism against other [[BeastMan Animals]]. They place minorities like {{Dog|faces}}s in a FantasticGhetto to be victimized by "Alley Cats" (the bottom rung of Cat society, who apparently distract themselves from their own low status by lording it over the even lower-status Dogs). In their war with the {{Lizard|Folk}}s, the Cats [[MadeASlave enslave]] the hungry Lizards they catch raiding crops (due to the Cats' monopolization of arable land) even [[VigilanteExecution lynching]] them if they feel like it. It's only a matter of time until the Cats' sense of security undoes them. [[spoiler: It turns out that this is all due to the Cats being Mumm-Ra's most trusted lackeys back before crash landing on Third Earth when they overthrew Mumm-Ra. The cats were put in charge of the new society; generations later, it went to their heads.]]

* You could make a case for Plagg from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' -- he's not a cat, but a cat-themed, um, "kwami", but he tends to just want to sit around eating [[TrademarkFavoriteFood camembert cheese]] all day, regardless of what Adrien tries to tell him. That is, until an [[MonsterOfTheWeek Akuma]] shows up, upon which Plagg becomes one half of his TransformationTrinket and undergoes a sort-of FusionDance with Adrien into his superhero identity, Chat Noir.

* Mr. Cat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}''. He has [[FantasticRacism shown contempt of other species]] (even naming the trope once), and he is [[SurroundedByIdiots the only actual smart person on the show]]; the other "smart" characters are {{Ditzy Genius}}es.

* The popular stereotype that cats are (much) smarter than dogs, their classical archenemies in fiction, is actually a difficult affair. In 2017, a studio published in ''Frontiers of Neuroanatomy'' showed that cats have "only" 250 million neurons in their brains, much less than the 530 million dogs have, which theoretically would make for less powerful brains for the felines. However, in the same ranking long finned pilot whales beat us humans in number of neurons, which means this doesn't necessarily prove cats are dumber than dogs. Measuring animal intelligence in experimental conditions is particularly difficult with cats because they don't easily pledge to the scientists's commands (in marked contrast to dogs, which are social animals that happily obey whoever they perceive as their masters), and thus getting them to show quantifiably their problem-solving skills is just as arduous as getting them to do any non-free will action in daily life. Cats also display a surprising amount of individual variation and personalities, which makes it even hard to find a veritable measure of their ethological intelligence. All of this said, it has been found that whenever they comply in experimental conditions, cats ''do'' tend to try more strategies and solutions on their own account than dogs, which often resort to just stare back to their human handlers in the hopes of receiving help if facing an apparently unsolvable situation. It can be concluded that, smarter or dumber, cats ultimately seek to act by themselves and for themselves in comparison to other species.

Cats are the [[OurElvesAreBetter elves]] of the animal kingdom. They're better than us -- [[CantArgueWithElves and they know it]].

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' plays the concept for laughs with Emperor Krosp I, ruler of all cats. Krosp is a large, bipedal talking cat with a NiceCoat, the result of an experiment [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315 intended to create somebody able to command ordinary cats to do the bidding of his creator]], and could be considered a perfect success...if, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040317 much to his frustration]], the ''other'' cats [[SubvertedTrope weren't still perfectly normal animals nowhere near his own intellectual level]]! Ironically, it's only when the human protagonist sarcastically kinda-sorta offers her fealty to him and he accepts that he acquires a "subject" that he can actually relate to.

** Interestingly, feral cats are still very common in Modern Egypt, roaming the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities like it's nobody's business. Even more interestingly, while Egyptians don't worship cats anymore (they're mostly Muslim and Christian these days, folks), they tend to treat cats with comparative respect, letting them just live (hey, they eat the garbage that the government's too cheap to provide collection for!). Dogs, for various reasons, do not get the same treatment.

* So does [[FairyCompanion Edgewood Dirk]] of Creator/TerryBrooks' ''Literature/MagicKingdomOfLandover'' novels. Of course in his case, he is actually ''literally'' a fairy, and in that world, fairies might as well as be [[StarfishAliens Starfish Aliens]] as well as aware of far more magic, knowledge, and philosophy than mere humans could, so some of this may be justified. Doesn't stop his SmugSnake, DeadpanSnarker, and HolierThanThou attitude from becoming very annoying sometimes, though. Though Dirk seems to identify himself as a cat first and Faerie second, to the point where any time he tries to explain or justify his attitude, it's always by reminding the person annoyed at him that he is a cat, never that he is a Faerie creature.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast''. Eureka the cat has this attitude while eating dinner with Deety, the Cowardly Lion, and the Hungry Tiger.

'''Eureka''': What a silly way to talk. Dorothy must get my permission. Feed me the lobster first, then the shrimp. You may have the last piece of shrimp for yourself. [snip] Ignore these jungle beasts; they are not cats. Be it known that Felis domestica has been civilized more generations than all you lesser breeds combined. As my serene ancestress, Bubastis, Goddess of the Nile, was wont to say: "Where Cat is, is civilization." Hurry up with that lobster. [snip] Scratch behind my left ear - gently. I shall sing, then I shall sleep. Maintain a respectful silence.

* ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'': Cats in the series tend to be evil (with a few exceptions) and think considerably more of themselves than the vermin they rule over (especially Ungatt Trunn, ANaziByAnyOtherName). Riggu Felis goes even further by reigning over other cats (he considers that he's superior to them by virtue of being a wildcat, while they're merely feral cats. The fascinating implication of there still being humans to tame cats this late in the series goes unexplored).
* Cats in ''Literature/TailchasersSong'' believe themselves to be the superior species and the first species that was created by their cat goddess. Humans are deformed cats cursed to serve and worship cats for all of eternity. At worst they're looked down upon with scorn and at best they exist for cats' amusement. Feral cats do fear humans, however they're still seen as beneath them nevertheless.

** [[Literature/SongOfTheLioness Faithful]] (or [[Literature/BekaCooper Pounce]]) is a very [[CatsAreSnarkers sarcastic]] companion to his humans, who he adopts largely out of boredom. He has a number of strange magical abilities and isn't above showing off.

* Cats became a extinct species [[spoiler: until near the end of the book]] in ''Literature/TheWorldAtTheEndOfTime'' when a fatal plague affected Newmanhome and nobody could make a cat to wear a gauze mask impregnated with an awful-smelling fungicide -the cat that acknowledges no law but its own even if it dies for it.
* Most cats in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' don't have particularly good views on other species. Even many of the kittypets think twolegs are dull; they rarely even identify them individually or gender them. Dogs are either annoying pests or dangerous brutes, badgers are frightening beasts, and prey animals like mice are dumb and cowardly.
* The cats in ''Literature/CatPack'' think cats are superior to other animals. They say that they wouldn't even need owners if they could open their own cans.
* Bailey, the dog protagonist of ''Literature/ADogsPurpose'', thinks that cats believe this. He doesn't understand body language and just thinks his owner's cat is a self-important freeloader. After being reincarnated as Ellie and adopted into a home with several cats, her views on cats sway a bit, but she still doesn't like them.
* Downplayed in ''Literature/GuardianCatsAndTheLostBooksOfAlexandria'' when Cicero mentions that cats generally have a major flaw about being too prideful.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'', this is applied to both Shere Kahn and Bagheera. The former overlaps with CatsAreMean by being portrayed as WickedCultured, whereas the latter subverts CatsAreMean by making Bagheera still a hero, but of the DeadpanSnarker[=/=]GoodIsNotNice variety. Which makes Bagheera more mean than in [[Literature/TheJungleBook the book]] (seems like a Disney theme to make cats mean). In the book Bagheera was the one to spoil Mowgli and be overindulgent with him while Baloo the bear was the overly strict teacher.

** In ''Disney/TheJungleBook'', this is applied to both Shere Kahn and Bagheera. The former overlaps with CatsAreMean by being portrayed as WickedCultured, whereas the latter subverts CatsAreMean by making Bagheera still a hero, but of the DeadpanSnarker[=/=]GoodIsNotNice variety. Which makes Bagheera more mean than in [[Literature/TheJungleBook the book]] (seems like a Disney theme to make cats mean). In the book Bagheera was the one to spoil Mowgli and be overindulgent with him while Baloo the bear was the overly strict teacher.
** ''Disney/TheAristocats'' has the song "Everybody Wants to Be A Cat", where the cats sing an ode to their species' superiority. It actually has nothing to do with cats the animal. The song is a pun since at the time in the Jazz world, referring to someone as a "cat" meant that s/he was a hip and swingin' musician. If you listen to the lyrics, it does nothing to diss other animals, only "squares."

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'': Amazing Maurice. He calls himself amazing for a reason.

[[caption-width-right:278:Kneel before Mittens!!]]

* There's a joke about the difference between cats and dogs:
-->Dogs think: Humans care about us, they feed us, treat us when we are ill, and stroke us when we are sad... [[GodIsGood They are gods for sure]]!
-->Cats think: Humans care about us, they feed us, treat us when we are ill, and stroke us when we are sad... [[AGodAmI We are gods for sure]]!
** Said another way: Dogs treat humans like other dogs. Cats treat humans like other dogs also.
** Another classic joke on the matter: "Dogs have owners; cats have staff."
** Another classic joke on the matter: "Dogs come when called; cats take a number and get back to you."
** Yet another: "Dogs eat. Cats ''dine''."
** Creator/KevinSmith summed it up this way:
-->Dogs are man's best friend. Cats are like man's complacent roommate.

* This shows up in ''TabletopGame/{{Pugmire}}'', or rather, in the companion game ''Monarchies of Mau''. Where the dog CodeOfHonor (the Code of Man) asks the dog to obey a worthy master, the cat code (the Precepts of Mau) asks the cat to always reward loyalty -- or, in other words, to ''be'' a worthy master. Perhaps not surprisingly, the dog state is a fairly centralised kingdom, while the cat state is a loose confederation that only recently came together. It also shows up in their dominant religions: most dogs believe they were favoured servants of Man/the Old Ones. Cats usually believe the Old Ones were ''their'' favoured servants.

* ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'': Cats have exactly one non-villainous non-evil example, and all those think considerably more of themselves than the vermin they rule over (especially Ungatt Trunn, ANaziByAnyOtherName). Riggu Felis goes even further by reigning over other cats (he considers that he's superior to them by virtue of being a wildcat, while they're merely feral cats. The fascinating implication of there still being humans to tame cats this late in the series goes unexplored).

On the other hand, cats' perceived negative qualities -- such as aloofness, [[SmugSnake smugness]], and laziness -- might be attributed to their [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful awareness of their exalted position]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' This is {{deconstructed|Trope}} and PlayedForDrama, since the {{Catfolk}} of TheEmpire of Thundera are a {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} who are [[SuperiorSpecies genuinely excellent]] fighters, have an [[TheOrder order]] of KungFuWizard[=/=]{{Magic Knight}}s and possess powerful {{Ancient Artifact}}s. As a result, they do much CulturalPosturing around [[MasterRace believing]] their own press, that they were and are the great civilizers of their planet, who "brought law and order to a [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals world of warring animals]]." This is a deeply-rooted societal justification for [[AnimalJingoism jingoistic]] FantasticRacism against other [[PettingZooPeople Animals]]. They place minorities like {{Dog|faces}}s in a FantasticGhetto to be victimized by "Alley Cats" (the bottom rung of Cat society, who apparently distract themselves from their own low status by lording it over the even lower-status Dogs). In their war with the {{Lizard|Folk}}s, the Cats [[MadeASlave enslave]] the hungry Lizards they catch raiding crops (due to the Cats' monopolization of arable land) even [[VigilanteExecution lynching]] them if they feel like it. It's only a matter of time until the Cats' sense of security undoes them. [[spoiler: It turns out that this is all due to the Cats being Mumm-Ra's most trusted lackeys back before crash landing on Third Earth when they overthrew Mumm-Ra. The cats were put in charge of the new society; generations later, it went to their heads.]]

This can, but need not, overlap with CatsAreMean. Superior cats can have a wide range of attitudes toward lesser creatures: showing contempt for them, ignoring them, treating them with amused tolerance, or [[ComesGreatResponsibility taking pains to guide and protect them]].

* Bailey, the dog protagonist of ''Literature/ADogsWayHome'', thinks that cats believe this. He doesn't understand body language and just thinks his owner's cat is a self-important freeloader. After being reincarnated as Ellie and adopted into a home with several cats, her views on cats sway a bit, but she still doesn't like them.

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%%* The Cheshire Cat from ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' has this.