Today Is International Cat Day! Who Is Your Favorite Celebrity Cat?

Why this isn't celebrated on a Caturday, I'll never know, but today is International Cat Day, a day to bow down before our vicious furry gremlins, pray that they don't eat us should we die in our sleep, and give them extra treats. If your response to this is, "But I already do that every single day," then you're doing it right, but do better. You can always do better. 

There are many fun facts about cats. And many cat celebrities. Post-Egyptian, the first modern cat megastar arrived in 1919 with the animated short, "Feline Follies," which introduced mere mortals to Felix The Cat just after WWI. 

Then there's Carol Channing. 

"Wait, what?" you say, "Was Carol a cat?" Could have been! But actually, she famously played a cat in "Archy and Mehitabel," a musical adaptation of the famed 1916 daily newspaper column by Don Marquis, which was published in The New York Sun. 

The columns were later collected and published in several popular books - from the early 1920s through the 1930s - all of which chronicled the plight of "Archy," a meek cockroach who'd been a free-verse poet in his former life, and his best friend, "Mehitabel," a scrappy, sassy alley cat who'd been Cleopatra in a former life and who sang, danced and stole the spotlight effortlessly. So, yes, perfect casting for Channing. 

One of my favorite celebrity cats is Sylvester, the perpetually put-upon puddytat who almost daily had to contend with that rank, smart-ass, supposedly "innocent," bird who sold him out at every turn. I hated that damn bird as much as I hated The Road Runner. Team MF Coyote and Sylvester!  

Cats, as we know, can be very judgmental (but they're usually right so we just have to get used to it) (if you haven't already), and I imagine pampered celebrity cats are even more so. So let's have at it. Who is your favorite celebrity cat? And, yes, even though Kunty Karl was a notorious kunt, you may choose Choupette, who, like the cat above, has opinions about everyone and everything. 

Photo Credit: Penguin/Random House