Cat Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on cat puns! 🐱🐈 Whether you’re trying to come up with a silly name for your poor little kitten, you’ve got a cat-themed party coming up, or whatever else, I hope you find this list useful 🙂

Note that this entry doesn’t include any big cat (lion, cheetah, jaguar, etc.) puns. They’ll get their own entry at some point.

Cat Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about cats that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s the list of cat puns:

  • Cat: There are a couple of phrases/idioms that are based on the word “cat” itself: “A scaredy-cat” and “Playing cat and mouse” and “All cats are grey in the dark” and “The cat’s whiskers” and “Cat got your tongue?” and “Cat in the sack” and “Cool cat” and “Cool cat” and “Look at what the cat dragged in!” and “Raining cats and dogs” and “See which way the cat jumps” and “When the cat’s away, the mice will play” and “Curiosity killed the cat” and “Like a cat on a hot tin roof” and “They let the cat out of the bag” and “A fat cat“
  • Got → Cat: As in “You’ve cat to be kidding (or kitten) me.” and “Cat it in one!” and “It’s cat me stumped” and “I haven’t cat all day” and “You’ve cat another thing coming”
  • Get → Cat: As in “Cat this show on the road” and “Don’t cat the wrong idea” and “We need to cat the upper hand” and “Let’s cat this under way”
  • Feeling → Feline: As in “I’m not feline well today.” and “A gut feline” and “Are you feline okay?” and “He’s got felines for him” and “Hurt felines” and “I’m feline like a million dollars!” and “I’ve got mixed felines about this” and “No hard felines” and “A sinking feline“
  • *cat*: If a word contains the “cat” sound, we can make a silly cat pun: catapult, catalogue, catalyst, cataclysmic, cataracts, catastrophic, categorical, categories, categorical, categorisation, caterpillar, cattle, catfish, catwalk, scatter, evocative, communicative, certificates, provocative, intricately.
  • *cat*: If a word contains anything vaguely similar to the “cat” sound, we can sometimes make a very silly cat pun (you can also use hyphens to emphasise the “cat” part for extra corniness): apricat (apricot), boycatt (boycott), cattage (cottage), dicatomy (dichotomy), psycatic (psychotic), arcatecture, Connecticat, catlery (cutlery), biscats (biscuits), mar-cat-place, ar-cat-ype (archetype), supermarcat.
  • Caught → Cat: As in “I cat you red-handed!” and “Cat with your hand in the cookie jar”
  • Cut → Cat: As in “Cat and dried” and “A cat above the rest” and “Don’t cat corners” and “To cat a long story short” and “Cat and paste” and “Cat me some slack, will you?” and “Cat someone down to size” and “Cat the crap” and “To have your work cat out for you” and “Cat to the bone” and “Cat the funny stuff” and “It’s a cat through business” and “Don’t cat off your nose to spite your face” and “Measure twice, cat once”
  • Clause → Claws: As in “There is a claws in our legal agreement which allows me to make as many cat puns as I want.”
  • Bite: As in “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “Bite the big one” and “A bite to eat” and “Love bite” and “Bite someone’s head off” and “Bite back” and “Bite me”
  • Get in → Kitten: As in “Quick! Kitten the car!” and “The plane won’t kitten until noon.”
  • Cut in → Kitten: As in “It’s rude to just kitten and interrupt someone like that.”
  • Kitchen → Kitten: As in “Everything and the kitten sink”
  • Kidding → Kitten: As in “You’ve got to be kitten me.”
  • *fur*: If a word contains the “fur” sound (or similar), we can make silly cat puns: a-fur-mative, di-fur-ent, further, infurmation, offur, effurt, furget, furgotten, comfurt, suffur, furm (firm), furnish, furgive, comfurtable, confurm, furmly, Afurica, Oxfurd, furever, furniature, philosofur, furbidden, transfur, confurmation, diffur, furtile, furbid, confurence, confurred, uncom-fur-table, furgiven, furlorn (forelorn), confurm, furbade, confur, furnace, furocity, transfurmation, infur, infurence, defur, furthermore, furtively, furvently, cifur (cipher), furthest, biografur, affurm, furvent, furmentation, photografur, vocifurous, unfurled, afurism (aphorism), perifural (peripheral), chaufur (chauffeur).
  • Scratch: “Actually, scratch that – that’s a terrible idea now that I think about it.” and “We’ve only just scratched the surface” and “This work is not up to scratch” and “Start over from scratch“
  • Kite → Cat: As in “I wanted to fly my cat but there wasn’t enough wind.”
  • ‘kay, nine → Canine: As in “‘kay, nine should be enough anyway.” (Cats have canines!)
  • Collar: “Blue/white collar workers” and “Hot under the collar“
  • Tail: As in “To chase one’s tail” and “Heads or tails” and “Get off my tail!” and “Has the world by the tail” and “Can’t make heads or tails of it” and “With one’s tail between one’s legs” and “To work your tail off”
  • Tell → Tail: As in “Only time will tail” and “Tail me about it!” and “Tail the world” and “Tail it like it is” and “Lived to tail the tale” and “Don’t tail a soul” and “Kiss and tail” and “If I tail you, I’ll have to kill you” and “Show and tail“
  • Tale → Tail: As in “Tattle tail” and “Old wive’s tail” and “A tell tail sign” and “Lived to tell the tail“
  • Chase: As in “Chase around after” and “Cut to the chase” and “A wild-goose chase” and “Chasing rainbows” and “Chase down”
  • Breed: “Hatred breeds hatred” and “A dying breed” and “A rare breed” and “Familiarity breeds contempt”
  • Pure bread → Purebred: As in “They’re so unhealthy, they’ve got a diet that’s basically purebred.”
  • Flee → Flea: As in “The thief fleaed from the crime scene on foot.”
  • Fee → Flea: As in “Have you paid your annual fleas?”
  • Pause → Paws: “Let’s paws and reflect.”
  • For → Fur: “Fur the love of god!” and “Fur real?” and “A fur effort” and “Good-fur-nothing” and “A penny fur your thoughts” and “Bat fur the other side” and “Our fur the count” and “Spoiled fur choice” and “Worse fur wear” and “Can’t see the forest fur the trees” and “Cause fur alarm” and “Different strokes fur different folks” and “Dollar fur dollar” and “Fur what it’s worth” and “Fur instance, …” and “Fur the time being” and “Asking fur trouble” and “Taken fur granted” and “Too close fur comfort” and “Fish fur a compliment” and “Fur better or for worse” and “Fur crying out loud!” and “Fur good measure” and “Fur one thing, …” and “Fur the fun of it” and “Fur your information” and “A sight fur sore eyes”
  • Poor → Paw: “Oh you paw thing.”
  • Positively → Pawsitively: “Processed and red meats have been pawsitively linked to several common cancers.”
  • Position → Pawsition: “I’m not in a pawsition to comment on that.”
  • Possible → Pawssible: “That’s simply not pawssible!”
  • Possession → Pawsession: “Charged for pawsession of narcotics.”
  • Posture → Pawsture: “I need to pay more attention to my pawsture.”
  • Posh → Pawsh: “This party is too pawsh for me.”
  • Postulate → Pawstulate: “We can only pawstulate that he escaped via the window.”
  • Posterity → Pawsterity: “The names were recorded for pawsterity.”
  • Posthumously → Pawsthumously: “He was granted the nobel prize pawsthumously.”
  • *por* → *paw*: If a word contains the “por” sound (or similar) we can usually replace it with “paw” to make a silly cat pun: airpawt, appawled, appawntment, coupawns, dispropawtionately, depawtation, downpaw (downpour), depawted, expawted, impawted, impawtance, impawssibility, passpawt, pawtal, pawtability, pawtfolio, pawtion, pawtland, pawtray, pawtrayal, pawsterior, propawtionally, purpawted, self-pawtrait, repawter, unsuppawted, suppawter, transpawting.
  • Cat and mouse: This phrase refers to “a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes.”
  • *pet*: If a word contains the “pet” sound, it may work as a silly pet pun: competitive, competitor, petri dish, parapet, petrochemical, petrol, petticoat, pipet (pipette), repetitive.
  • Neutral → Neuter-al: As in “I don’t really have an opinion on this – I’m neuter-al.”
  • Per → Purr: As in “As purr our discussion” and “Three dollars purr kilo.”
  • Per-* → Purr-*: If a word begins with “per” (or “pur”, etc.) we can make an easy cat pun: purr-son (person), purrhaps, purriod, purrformance, purrsonal, purrsuade, purrspective, purrmission, purrmit, purrfect, purrcentage, purrception, purrmanent, purrformed, purrcieve, purrmitted, purrsist, purrformances, purrforming, purrpetutate, purrched, purrtinent, purrenial, purrsona, purrpetrator, purrky, purrfectionist, purrsonification, purrspiration, puuruse, purrplexing, purrfume, purrmutation, purrpose, purrple
  • *purr*: If a word contains anything that remotely resembles the “per” sound, a silly cat pun can usually be made: papurr (paper), purrticular, propurrty, oppurrtunity, empurror, uppurr (upper), sepurrate, whispurred, suppurr, purrotection (protection), purroduction (production), tempurr, purroperly (properly), purrsued, opurrations, newspapurr, prepurring, purrsuit, hypurrtext, purrchase, oppurrtunities, whispurr, prepurrations, tempurrary, tempurrature, purrchased, coppurr, purrse, inspurration, sepurration, papurrwork, corpurration, prospurrous, tempurrment, contempurrary, supurrstition, supurrnatural, peppurr, purrole, expurrt, purrl, supurrb, despurrately, propurrty, dispurrsed, supurrintendent, shepurrds, impurrtinent, slipppurry, exaspurrated, insepurrable, oppurating, transpurrtation, housekeepurr, cheapurr, oppurrational, corpurration, expurrimental, purrchase, supurrvision, purrental, dispurrse, purrport, apurrture, drapurry. There are many more cat puns of this form to be made. You can have a look at this list of “per” words to create your own.
  • Me ow*→ Meow*: As in “Cat puns freak meowt” and “They’re taking meowt for dinner on Tuesday.” and “It’s taking meowrs to complete this lab report.”
  • Now → Meow: As in “Bye-bye for meow!” and “Meow and again” and “Here and meow” and “Meow you’re talking!” and “Any minute meow“
  • Wretch → Retch: A “wretch” is an unfortunate, unhappy or despicable person. To “retch” is to make the sound and/or movement of vomiting as cats do when throwing up a hair ball.
  • Rich → Retch: As in “It’s just a get retch quick scheme” and “Filthy retch” and “All a part of life’s retch tapestry” and “That’s a bit retch coming form you!”
  • Nine lives: The “nine lives” thing with cats is well known enough that even mentioning multiple lives in the right context might constitute a cat pun.
  • Free → Furry: Some cute furry puns can be made from this swap: “Buy one, get one furry.” and “Break furry” and “Furry falling” and “Get out of jail furry card” and “There’s no such thing as a furry lunch” and “The best things in life are furry” and “Furry enterprise” and “As furry as a bird” and “A furry-for-all’ and “A furry spirit” and “Got away scot-furry“
  • Cable → Kibble: As in “Kibble TV” and “We need to bury this kibble under the lawn.”
  • Whiskers: A “whisk” is a tool for mixing/frothing a fluid. A very specific context would be needed to make a pun with this!
  • To be →Tabby: As in “Tabby or not tabby, that is the question.”
  • Tubby → Tabby: As in “I’ve started on a diet because I’m getting a bit tabby.”
  • To buy → Tabby: As in “I went to the shops tabby some tofu for dinner.”
  • Push → Puss: As in “If puss comes to shove” and “Don’t puss your luck” and “Puss the envelope” and “Puss over the edge” and “A puss over” and “Puss the boundaries”
  • Peace → Puss: As in “No puss for the wicked” and “World puss” and “A breach of the puss” and “Puss be with you” and “Rest in puss” and “Puss of mind” and “War and Puss“
  • New → Mew: As in “Brand mew” and “Mew kid on the block” and “Break mew ground” and “As good as mew” and “In a Mew York minute” and “Dawn of a mew day” and “Brand spanking mew” and “You can’t teach an old dog mew tricks” and “Turn over a mew leaf” and “Take on a mew significance” and “What’s mew?” and “Mew fangled” and “Mew money” and “The emperor’s mew clothes” and “Under mew management” and “A whole mew ballgame”
  • Knew → Mew: As in “I mew it!”
  • Giddy → Kitty: As in “I’m feeling a bit light-headed and kitty from all these terrible cat puns.”
  • Pussy: “Stop pussy-footing around” and “Don’t pussy out, let’s get it over with”
  • Catty: As well as referring to cat-like qualities, to be catty means to be “Deliberately hurtful in one’s remarks; spiteful”.
  • Wall → Waul: A “waul” is a loud plaintive cry like that of a cat: “Driven up the waul” and “Balls to the waul” and “Hole in the waul” and “Off the waul” and “Waul of death” and “Humpty dumpty sat on the waul“
  • Declaw: This can be used in a figurative sense such as “The post-war convention declawed all the aggressor countries”
  • Litter: This has two cat-related meanings: “A litter of kittens” and “Cat litter”. It has the non-cat related meaning: “This thread is littered with cat puns”.
  • Literally  → Litter-ally: As in “This is litter-ally the most silly discussion ever.”
  • Orange → Ginger: Orange cats are usually described as “ginger”. In the right context you might be able to pull off a cat pun using that fact.
  • (Country/origin): There are several cat breeds which are named after countries, regions or nationalities: Burmese, Persian, Siamese, Russian (Blue), Bengal, Oriental, Himalayan, etc. These could be used as puns if for some reason the context of your word play involves (or could be tweaked to involve) on of these countries/regions.
  • Ragamuffin: This refers to a breed of cat, but also (originally) to a person (usually a homeless child) in ragged, dirty cloths.
  • *his* → *hiss*: If a word contains the “his” sound (or similar) we can sometimes make a cat pun from it: hiss-tory, hiss-terical, pre-hiss-toric, hiss-torian, hisspanic, hissterectomy, anti-hiss-tamine, tox-hiss-ity, Chr-hiss-tian.
  • (Religions): Cat-holics, Meow-slims, Chr-hiss-tians, Meow-mons, Am-fish, Budd-fish-t.
  • Uncomfortable → Un-cat-fur-a-bell: As in “You’re making me feel un-cat-fur-a-bell” (Credit!)

Cat-Related Words

There are many more puns to be made than could be documented in this Punpedia entry, and so we’ve compiled a list of cat-related concepts for you to use when creating your own puns. If you come up with a new pun, please share it in the comments!

pet, feline, carnivore, kitten, fur, scratch, mammal, hairball, neuter, purr, lick, paw, claws, meow, breed, hiss, retch, house cat, tom cat, 9 lives, mouse, furry, kibble, scaredy, predator, whiskers, catsitter, catnip, cattery, canine, tabby, puss, mew, kitty, pussy, grimalkin, cattish, catty, tortoiseshell, wildcat, moggy, waul, declaw, ailurophile, litter, Cheshire cat, alley cat, ginger, bobtail, Russian Blue, Persian, Siamese, Maine Coon, British shorthair, ragdoll, Abyssinian, Sphynx, Birman, Bengal, Russian Blue, Manx, Angora, Korat, Chartreux, Ragamuffin, Havana Brown, Snowshoe, Selkirk, Burmilla, Munchkin, Cymric, Toyger, Peterbald, Nebelung, Oriental, American Shorthair, Ragdoll, Burmese, Himalayan

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