Basic Trope: Cats are typically presented as evil or mean, especially compared to dogs.
- Straight: Sneaky, manipulative but flawed Alex the Cat constantly causes trouble to the simple-minded Bob the Dog for no apparent reason.
- Exaggerated:
- Alex the Cat always pick fights with rats, dogs and other cats, to the point even kittens are victims of this.
- Alex the cat is possessed by the Devil.
- The author portrays cats as Always Chaotic Evil.
- The cats start a program whereby mice are systematically tortured and enslaved.
- Alternatively: the author combines this with Godwin's Law and portrays cats as Nazis.
- Alex the Cat is a profoundly wicked alley cat who torments and kills dozens of smaller animals (and even his previous owner) out of sheer sadism.
- Downplayed:
- Alex is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, if not outright mean-spirited.
- Cats Are Snarkers
- While cats may be mean they tend towards more Good Is Not Nice or Sugar-and-Ice Personality.
- Justified:
- Alex is just misunderstood: he does like Bob, but gets unpleasant when his private sphere is invaded, which Bob does all the time.
- Alex was raised as an Only Pet, causing him to be very territorial as he is not used to sharing.
- Alex is afraid of dogs. So he tries to be mean and show him whose boss in order to intimidate him.
- Alex has suffered from bad training or mental illness, thus he's socially impaired even with other cats.
- Alex has been abused or neglected by his owner.
- Inverted:
- Cats are universally presented as caring and understanding animals, while dogs are generally annoying, territorial, short-tempered, domineering, overbearing, and noisy.
- Even better: Cats being portrayed as victims towards meanies or Alex the Cat is the naive, simpleminded character that is prone to being the cat's-paw to Bob since Bob is now the sneaky, manipulative dog.
- Subverted: All cats Charlie the Pet Owner has previously owned have been nasty to him, but Doris the Cat turns out to be a peaceful and loving creature.
- Double Subverted: ...until he also gets himself a dog, he was failing to notice that THIS was what pissed all his previous cats off.
- Parodied: Alex constantly tries to tick off Bob, but he is so naive and simple-minded that he thinks Alex just wants to be friends.
- Zig Zagged: Cats seem to have Tsundere as a species trait.
- Averted: Cats are not depicted as any nastier and meaner than any other animals at all. They are instead considered to be kindly, good-natured, kindhearted, and very friendly creatures, or even as kindly as much as dogs would be as well.
- Enforced:
- The producer is a dog owner, so he forced the writers to give all heroic roles to dogs, whereas cats were given all the evil roles.
- The protagonists are mice, so the creator makes the villain a cat "because it's what people expect."
- Lampshaded: "Who cares that I am being nasty to everyone 90% of the time if I can cure headaches by purring?"
- Invoked: Alex is generally a nice kitty, but he deliberately acts up because Charlie doesn't pay attention to him.
- Exploited: The hero uses his pet cat to scare the ailurophobic note mooks that have held him captive.
- Defied:
- "Stop insulting me already - please. Cats are not universally evil, why do you even think that?!"
- A cat with a Hair-Trigger Temper tries to gain control over its anger issues and become a better person.
- Discussed: "I dislike cats, they're all mean." "What will you say next - that All Germans Are Nazis?"
- Conversed: "That's one of those shows written by people who never owned a cat."
- Implied: Alex the Cat is unseen.
- Deconstructed:
- Because of the basic assumption that Cats Are Mean, nobody wants them as pets and the poor things die in scores during winter. And in the summer, all supplies in town are destroyed by vermin. Nice job breaking it, racists.
- Alternatively: cats are mean to everyone precisely because of constant persecution. Everyone is mean to them, they are merely defending themselves. If only there was someone in the world who'd like to be their friend...
- Reconstructed:
- Alex the Cat is presented as a Magnificent Bastard, who makes up for his nastiness with sheer awesome.
- Evil isn't mean, and mean isn't evil. So each and every cat is either Affably Evil or
Chaotic Good, depending on whether he or she really is evil or just a jerk. - Alex the Cat is The Hero who is an Jerk with a Heart of Gold and is also very friendly towards other people, animals and cats compared to the obnoxious viilage-idiot of alley-cats he knows who is an oafish cat named Butch who is an Insufferable Imbecile.
- Played For Laughs: Alex the Cat is the Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist.
- Played For Drama: Alex the Cat is sad, because nobody likes him.
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