Cat

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:CatThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:CatWikipedia also has an article on: wikipedia:Cat

This article is about pet cats. For other uses, see Cat (disambiguation).

Cat
Release date	28 July 2003 (Update)
Members	No
Race	Cat
Source	Gertrude
Interface	No
Skill req.	No
Quest req.	Gertrude's Cat
Food	Fish (cooked or raw) or milk as a kitten, none as an adult
Colours	8
Examine	Inventory: This kitten seems to like you. (Kitten) This cat definitely likes you. (Cat) This cat is so well fed it can hardly move. (Overgrown) Follower: A friendly little pet. (Kitten) A fully grown feline. (Cat) A friendly, not-so-little pet. (Overgrown)
Advanced data
NPC ID	768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 773, 9272, 9273, 9274, 9275, 9276, 9277
Item ID	1561, 1562, 1563, 1564, 1565, 1566
Links	MRID1561 MRID1562 MRID1563 MRID1564 MRID1565 MRID1566 MRND768 MRND769 MRND770 MRND771 MRND772 MRND773 MRND9272 MRND9273 MRND9274 MRND9275 MRND9276 MRND9277
Infobox • Talk page

Cats are object pets that can follow the player. In order to obtain a pet cat, a player must complete Gertrude's Cat to get a kitten from Gertrude. Their first kitten is free. Each kitten after that costs 100 coins, although players cannot own more than one kitten at a time. If players have an activated ring of charos, obtained during the Garden of Tranquillity quest, then they are able to charm Gertrude into allowing them to choose what colour kitten they receive while purchasing a kitten. Otherwise, players get a kitten of a random colour.

If a kitten or cat catches 100 rats, Gertrude awards the player with a cat training medal, which is a medium task in the Varrock Tasks set.

A clockwork cat is a separate item, which can be made on a Crafting table 4 in the workshop of a player-owned house or can be bought from other players.

Make sure that you don't get skulled while a cat is following you as it would lead it to run away.

Growth and care

A player stroking a cat

Cats have several growth stages. Players can use the summoning interface to find information about their pet cat while it is following them, such as its hunger and its growth. The growth time is cumulative, not sequential, so picking up your pet does not reset the timer leading into the next stage.

• Kitten
  • A pet kitten needs food. If its hunger reaches 100%, it runs away in search of food. Any raw fish, cooked fish, or a bucket of milk can be used to feed a kitten. Additionally, players can feed their kitten at a pet feeder in a player-owned house. When a kitten gets hungry, players receive a series of messages in their chat box alerting them.
  • Unlike other pets, kittens also need attention. Players must periodically "interact" with a kitten, otherwise it gets lonely and runs away. Players must select the Interact-with option in order to provide attention to the kitten. Players should ensure the hide familiar options box is not selected as using the right-click "interact" on the summoning medallion does NOT count. Stroking a cat requires no items. However, if players wish to play with their kitten, they must use a ball of wool on it, which does not consume the ball of wool, or equip a toy mouse and select the "Play" option. A kitten can also catch rats via the Chase-vermin option, but has a success rate of 15%. When a kitten is about to run away due to loneliness, players receive a message in their chat box alerting them.
  • Players may own only one kitten at a time. Kittens cannot be stored in a menagerie of a player-owned house.
  • Players can also dismiss their kitten from the Interact-with menu using the Shoo-away option.

• Cat
  • After two and a half hours of following a player, a kitten grows into an adult cat, which no longer needs food or attention. Players are still able to interact with adult cats. The cat's success rate at catching rats increases to 50%.
  • Players can sell their cat to civilians in West Ardougne in exchange for 100 death runes. This amount increases to 200 death runes if the player has completed the easy task set from the Ardougne Tasks. Players do not need to be wearing their Ardougne cloak in order to get the bonus runes, but wearing a full set of Mourner outfit results in complaint, rather than sale.
  • Players may own more than one cat at a time by storing them in a menagerie in a player-owned house and getting a new kitten from Gertrude.

• Overgrown cat
  • A cat eventually becomes an overgrown cat which cannot catch rats any more, but can still be sold in West Ardougne.
  • Players can turn their overgrown cat into a wily cat in Port Sarim, if they have completed the Rat Catchers quest.
  • Once a cat becomes overgrown, players may obtain a new kitten from Gertrude without storing the overgrown cat in a menagerie.
  • There is no limit to the number of overgrown cats which players may own at a time. Overgrown cats of the same colour stack in the bank.

• Wily cat (requires Rat Catchers quest)
  • Wily cats do not need attention, but if they don't get it, they become unfriendly when players attempt to interact with them.
  • Wily cats have the highest success rate of catching rats, at approximately 93%. They can also catch Kalphite Larvae and butterflies, although no experience is awarded for it.
  • Wily cats which have not caught any rats for a random amount of time become lazy cats, independent of how much players interact with them.
  • Players may own only one wily or lazy cat outside of the menagerie at a time. Players may store additional wily or lazy cats in a menagerie in a player-owned house.

• Lazy cat
  • Lazy cats catch rats with the same success rate as a normal adult cat.
  • Lazy cats can be re-trained back into wily cats by interacting with them (stroking, using a ball of wool or toy mouse, or chasing rats). Re-training your lazy cat by chasing rats generally takes about 80 successful catches, so using a toy mouse or ball of wool will be faster.
  • Players may own only one wily or lazy cat outside of the menagerie at a time. Players may store additional wily or lazy cats in a menagerie in a player-owned house.

Quests

A cat of any kind, including a kitten, is required for a number of quests, including Icthlarin's Little Helper and its sequels, Smoking Kills, A Tail of Two Cats, Do No Evil, and Crocodile Tears. Rat Catchers requires a kitten or a normal adult cat only. Overgrown cats do not work for Rat Catchers, since they cannot catch rats.

A pet kitten or cat is also required for the Freeing Evil Dave sub-quest of Recipe for Disaster, one of the rewards of which is the ability to turn a kitten or cat into a hellcat. Hellcats (and their variants) can also be used for quests which require cats.

Another special cat variant, the purple cat, is unlocked via the Purple Cat miniquest, which is available after completing Swept Away. Purple cats (and their variants) can also be used for quests which require cats.

Varieties

Colour	Kitten		Adult		Overgrown
	Chathead	NPC	Chathead	NPC	Chathead	NPC
Black
Black and white
White
White and blue
Brown and white
Brown

Locations

Al Kharid

Meiyerditch

Dialogue

This article on a pet has an associated dialogue page. Click here for a transcript of possible conversations and other messaging related to this pet.

Cat speaks in:

• Icthlarin's Little Helper
• River of Blood
• Smoking Kills

Achievements

• A Cat is For Life... ( 5) – Talk to a civilian in West Ardougne about selling a cat.
• Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ( 10) – Get a cat training medal from Gertrude.

Gallery

• 

  A selection of kittens to choose from, shown when wearing a Ring of Charos (a)

Graphical updates

Inventory

• 

  Pet cat (black) after 29 March 2004 (update)

• 

  Pet cat (black) after 7 May 2008 (update)

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included—see here for how to help out!

• patch 20 September 2021 (Update):
  • Changed the sound that plays when the pet Cat is summoned.

• patch 5 October 2020 (Update):
  • Pet kittens will now make a different sound when summoned.

• patch 12 August 2019 (Update):
  • Talking to a kitten will no longer reference the Ardougne rat pits.

• patch 10 September 2018 (Update):
  • The dismiss button on cats will now show the correct icon.

• hotfix 9 October 2017 (Update):
  • Members can now pick up cats.
  • Lapsed free players can now call and/or dismiss their followers after dropping a cat or a kitten.

• ninja 9 October 2017 (Update):
  • Kittens (from Gertrude's Cat) are now free to play. They can grow into cats, become overgrown, and can even become a purple cat upon completion of Swept Away.
  • Free players can now complete the Varrock achievements to choose the colour of their kitten.
  • Free players can also obtain a cat training medal from Gertrude by killing 100 rats.

• patch 5 January 2015 (Update):
  • Players no longer get extra dialogue every time they tell their cat to chase vermin when able to speak to it during the Ratcatchers quest.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • Gertrude's "select a kitten" interface now works correctly.

• patch 14 January 2013 (Update):
  • F2P players who lost membership while a pet cat was following them, should no longer have issues getting Ozan to follow them during Stolen Hearts.

• patch 7 February 2012 (Update):
  • A typo on training an overgrown cat into a wily cat has been fixed.

• patch 24 November 2010 (Update):
  • Various typos fixed for kitten.

• patch 7 September 2010 (Update):
  • Strikewyrms would not perform their special attack if they thought you had a pet cat.

• patch 9 November 2009 (Update):
  • Improved the logic dealing with cats changing to their fully grown state.
  • Improved the code involving the rat pits and certain cat checks.

• patch 8 July 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue with the Summoning tab when leaving a POH and having a pet cat out.

• patch 12 May 2009 (Update):
  • Improved the animations for cats catching rats. The cats should no longer glide, but pounce ferociously.
  • Improved the examines on overgrown cats.

• patch 6 May 2009 (Update):
  • Updated a cat model to be textured.

• update 28 July 2003 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

A cat being killed

• When talking to one's cat, the player may say "What's new kitty?", which may be a reference to the 1965 film What's New Pussycat?.
• When trying to use an alchemy spell on a kitten or a cat, a player will get the message "You can't do that to a defenceless kitten!" or "You can't do that to a defenceless cat!", respectively.
• If you ask an adult cat "How old are you now?" it will reply, "I'm not too old, and not too young, in fact I think I'm just right," which is a reference to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• During the mindspike glitch, it was proven that cats have 120 life points, and will attack back if they are attacked by players.