Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 34: Cats!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents - Tallstriders - Worms - Dogs - Ravagers - Shale Spiders - Sporebats - Spirit Beasts - Birds of Prey - Scorpids - Chimaeras - Bats - Crabs - Foxes - Devilsaurs - Rhinos - Hyenas - Beetles - Spiders - Nether Rays - Raptors

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our 34th family is the popular cat family!


Image from WoW TCG.

There are too many cats!

I actually had written most of this post and my computer decided to freeze on me. Like an idiot I never saved so I had to write this ALL OVER AGAIN! Just... URGH!

Cat facts

~Tameable since Vanilla WoW.

~Cats have six models and 36 skin colors to tame.

~Cats have 13 rare members: Araga, Broken Tooth, Dishu, Duskstalker (unique skinned), Hawkbane, Humar the Pridelord, Pogeyan (unique skinned), Rak'Shiri, Sambas (unique skinned), Shadowclaw (unique skinned), Sian-Rotam, Skarr (unique skinned), and The Rake.

~Besides the five unique skinned rares above other unique skinned named members of the cat family are Duskfang, Shango, and Winna's Kitten.

~The gold skin is the only normal tiger skin that is not available on any tameable cat model, yet is in game as Darkmoon Cub. Many other gem skins for cats have not been seen in game yet. All unavailable skin/model combinations for cats can been seen here at Wain's untameable skin page.

~Back in Wrath, cats where tamed by 21.6% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at number 1 on the list as the most popular pet family. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, tigerskinwhite was the most tamed skin at 13.2% with lionskinblack following closely behind at 13.1%. Lionessskingold was the least tamed skin at 0.1%. (Source)

~Cats had both bite and claw in Vanilla and BC. They also had Rake, which worked similarly to the druid ability of the same name.

~An array of saber cat mounts are available in game, although most are alliance only. Cat mounts that horde can get as well are Spectral Tiger and Swift Spectral Tiger (both TCG loot cards), and Swift Zulian Panther (ZG drop). Swift Zulian Tiger is a retired cat mount from old ZG.

~While there are numerous cat minipets, most are of the house cat variety and have different skins than tameable cats. Sabre cubs do match tameable cats. These are Nightsaber Cub (TCG loot), Panther Cub, Winterspring Cub and Darkmoon Cub whose skin is not tameable at this time.

~The lynx model cats are the same model as the old night elf druid cat form, although the old black skin for druids has never become tameable.

~Araga had a ringed tail in Vanilla.

~Ghost Saber is the only ghostly cat that isn't a spirit beast.

~Skarr is currently the only gem cat tameable. He was one of the 4.2 challenge tames, where hunters need to silence his Fieroclast Barrage attack.

~Rak'Shiri in early Cataclysm was changed to have ridingtigerskinwhitenosaddle which made him a unique skinned rare spawn for hunters who did not have the night elf starter pet that was just released at the same time. This caused such an outrage in the hunter community that he was changed back to his aqua skin two patches later and the white sabre skin was made into a common mob.

~King Bangalash had a fast pursuit speed in Vanilla and could chase down epic mounts. On the other hand, both the Durotar Tiger and Snow Leopard pursuit speed was so slow it matched a player walking.

~Many, many, many cats had fast attack speed in Vanilla. Here is the big list of all of them.
1.6 - Crag Stalker, Shadow Panther
1.5 - Bhag'thera, Dishu, Elder Shadowmaw Panther, Feral Nightsaber, Frostsaber, Frostsaber Cub (now known as Young Frostsaber), Frostsaber Huntress, Frostsaber Pride Watcher, Frostsaber Stalker, Juvenile Snow Leopard, Rak'shiri, Savannah Highmane, Shadowmaw Panther, Shy-Rotam
1.4 - Elder Nightsaber, King Bangalash, Mountain Lion, Nightsaber Stalker
1.3 - Durotar Tiger, Elder Stranglethorn Tiger, Humar the Pridelord, Kurzen War Panther, Kurzen War Tiger, Moonstalker, Moonstalker Matriarch, Moonstalker Runt, Moonstalker Sire, Panther, Ridge Stalker, Ridge Stalker Patriarch, Savannah Patriarch, Sin'Dall, Stranglethorn Tiger, Stranglethorn Tigress, Twilight Runner, Young Panther, Young Stranglethorn Tiger
1.2 - Feral Mountain Lion (now known as Foothill Stalker), Needles Cougar, Starving Mountain Lion, Swamp Jaguar, The Rake
1.0 - Broken Tooth

~Broken Tooth's 1.0 attack speed made him one of the most infamous cats back in Vanilla. This was the fastest attack speed a tamed pet could have which was great for caster push-back in PvP and for procing the old Spirit Bond (gained health every time the pet hit). Bloodseeker Bat from old ZG was the only other pet that shared this attack speed.

[Wassa]

To be honest, I used to hate this family and in some ways I still do. I started in Vanilla when EVERYONE had a cat. King Bangalash was the most over used cat and I still carry my hatred for him to this very day.

The only cat I liked back in Vanilla was Araga, for both her rarity and her ringed tail. I remember camping for her for days on my old tauren hunter and never saw her. It wasn't until Wrath when I was leveling up an alt that I ran into her, but she had long lost her stripes by then.

It wasn't until the end of Wrath that I tamed a cat on Wassa. I went for the red lynx. It's striking color and same model as my druid's old cat form drew me to her. I named her after my (back then, now faction changed) night elf druid, Ackee.


Ackee is how I see troll druids. I wish they got this model and color but with tiger stripes added. These red lynxes aren't blood elf pets to me. They are as troll as a cat can be. Ackee is a nervous cat, wary of strangers, and always twitching her ears in crowds as she stays close to Wassa's side. However, she is a fierce fighter when need be. When alone together, Ackee will make soft chuffing noises to Wassa to show she is content.


On MoP beta I have run into the new amur tigers and found myself loving them. The cat yawns annoy me so much that I have to silence them, but the amur tiger have different yawn sounds. They chuff! For those of you that don't know what a tiger chuff is, it's a breathy snort that tigers do to greet each other and captive tigers will do to keepers they like. When I heard that chuff it was instant love. I named him Kolmaya, after one of the tigers I used to work with and the same name I gave to my hyena, who I just recently released this patch. Hyena Kolmaya will morph into amur tiger Kolmaya when MoP goes live, and I'll have a hard time deciding which cat to keep between him and Ackee.

-------

Ptaysanwee had a much easier time bonding with a cat. Having an arctic themed stable I knew I had to have a snow leopard. I was originally going to tame the stripless pure white saber in Winterspring since that skin is beautiful, but being such a high level and with other factors I ended up not playing Ptay for over a year. It wasn't until Cataclysm's release that Duskstalker was changed to a white spotted frostsabre that made me play Ptay again.

This guy was a challenge for a level 10 horde hunter! Ghost walking was finally fixed so I had to do the walk the hard way. After a long hike, meeting up with Strider Clutchmother in the wild and hugging her for a few minutes, three deaths, and freaking out because a high level night elf hunter was also wandering around Duskstalker's spawn area I found him and tamed him.

I named him Makkapitew, an Algonquin name that means "he has large teeth" which he shows off proudly. Even when he was little he had such big teeth!


Now he's grown so much.


Personality wise he's a teenager cat that likes to get into trouble, especially around other hunter's female cats. He's a show off then! He's seems aggressive and will roar and show off his teeth to anyone he doesn't like, but he's bluffing most of the time. He's really sweet to his adopted mother Ptay.

[Kalliope]

Yay kitties!

Atalanta, my ghost saber, was never supposed to be a ghost saber. She was destined to be a snow leopard. But once she was first tamed as a ghost saber, that was it. I tried changing her once, but ultimately, she wasn't happy. Not that she could tell me that directly. She's a private sort of cat, even with me, though we do have an understanding, since we go back almost as far as Ursa and I do. Atalanta is extremely malleable, so it's taken a long time for me to really hear her voice. Heck, it may have taken her as long as well.

Leo, my Sambas, is a pain in the butt, but he's a lucky pain in the butt, so it's okay. Sigh, I have to laugh at that post where I tamed him. "He's not staying." Sure, that was what I thought, but he had other ideas. I have never, ever tamed a pet with such reluctance before or since. Leo is the sole reason I have two cats on my main. I hate doubling up pet families and had avoided it on Kalliope until him. Sigh and double sigh.

Jambalaya, Kallimon's only cat, is a scraggly little Savannah Highmane. Yes, like that other cat. I never expected to bond with him like I did, but I did. He's a pushy little thing and gets extremely jealous of other cats in Kallimon's stable (which is why there aren't any), except for Saffron, his mate....who is now Gondria in appearance, though Dishu at heart. He resents my having Leo, even though he's on a completely different server. Jamba is the king of Kallimon's stable only in the sense that there are no other cats to challenge him. Everyone else basically lets him think he's in charge.

With such strong personalities on my male cats, it's no wonder that Atalanta is difficult to know....but she was like that before the boys came into my life, so it's really just how she is. This thread has inspired me to take her for a walk to touch base with her again.

[Vephriel]

I think I was in a similar mindset to you Wassa regarding cats. They just...never did anything for me. They were always one of the most popular families, and everyone had them. Even though I like cats in real life, I didn't feel attached to the idea of taming one in game. I went a long time without any sort of bond or inclination to get one.

Then in Wrath...Azzy happened.



I'll never get over the way he sauntered into my heart and made himself at home. Not only was he a cat, he was also a model that didn't appeal to me in the least. His personality and charm stayed with me though, and his character is one that I've come to appreciate and love.

There was always that voice in the back of my head, however, that couldn't deny how wrong he was in my stables. He didn't fit visually, he didn't match me, and I always felt a little frustrated that this cat had taken over one of my stable slots without permission and now I was stuck with him.

That was until the naming of minipets became a thing, and a little cheetah companion was inevitable. I realized that Azzy had become more than just a pet to me, he was a character all on his own, and for that reason I decided he could change forms and become a suave little cub that will suit him perfectly. That way I can still keep him, he can just let me use that stable slot for another pet.



And with that, I came to find my first complete bond with a cat - this time one that felt more natural, more fitting. Khan will be one of my tames come MoP, and with the time I've spent with him in beta I feel pretty certain he will be the cat that Veph will finally click with. This time I love the model and the personality behind it, if that makes sense, which is a much more organic bond.

[Lupis]

Ah, cats. Such an odd family for me. When I first started playing, a cat was the first pet to woo me. I saw an aqua saber the first day I ever played and just melted, and I was one of the hundreds of hunters to find and tame King Bangladash. I didn't tame him for the fast attack speed, though- he was tamed because, at 10 years old, I thought he had the same model/skin as the aqua saber I'd seen on my first day of WoW. He didn't, and I came to realize that later, but Sorrow (incorrectly spelled Sarrow for several YEARS) was already there to stay. He was Vallrok's pet. He didn't need any other pet.

So of course I abandoned him mid-Wrath and didn't look back until Cata.

I don't know why I did that. I guess bigger, better pets called. Either way, that's how I found my way to my Skoll, Faron, and then my hydra. It was a good thing. And in Cata, I did get him back- in the form of a white tiger saber cat. He could never be an aqua saber, even though as I tamed him again, I could see Rak'shiri wander by. He wasn't that cat. He was different. That's why he stayed. He continues to be a valued part of Vallrok's stables, one of the only three pets that has managed to stay with him. In MoP he'll grow again, and he'll turn into a lovely white rare tiger. He deserves it. I may not use him as much as I used to, but Sorrow is never going to be leaving Vallrok's active stables again.

--

And my other cat. Rassaa was not at all thrilled with the idea of getting a cat. I made Rassaa at the point in my life where I HATED cats in WoW. They ticked me off. I'd just leveled through the Belf starter zone on an alt and it had only reinforced my hatred. Six hundred blood elf hunters, all with brown lynxes named "Ripper" and "Death" and "Nightmare". Cat hell. I hated the red lynxes just as much or more than the brown ones, too- the ugly mustard mane, the weird reddish white face. Rassaa's hyena was all she needed.

So, logically, at 47, I ran through the Plaguelands, ran through Ghostlands, and tamed a red lynx. (Are you seeing a pattern in how I work? x.x)

Tinder will always be Rassaa's main pet. Nothing can replace him. I briefly abandoned him in Wrath (apparently the expansion of bad decisions) but I tamed him again a little while before Cata, and now I feel wrong whenever any other pet is by her side. Rassaa and Tinder are one thing. They do not separate.

--

Lastly, I'll be taming a brown tiger for Daph once MoP hits. But that's for another time. xD

[TygerDarkstorm]

Ah cats, this ought to be a popular family.

I've got a couple of cats that I really love on Rose and Tsara.

Tsara's got Rak'Shiri, and next to Loque, she leveled specifically just for him. Cassava originally started off as Shadowclaw's skin to have him while Tsara was leveling. She never clicked with that skin, however, and he spent a lot of time sitting in the stable until Tsara was high enough level to seek out Rak'Shiri and tame him. Turns out this skin was just what she needed to reconnect with her pet cat.


And he looks lovely paired next to Atreus.


I'm sad now that cats give a mastery buff so poor Cassava offers nothing to Tsara until she reaches level 80.

My other cat belongs to Rose and her name is Spirit.


Spirit is a very kind, old soul and represented a sort of turning point in Rose's RP career. She went from being this harsh, uncaring sort of person with pets that felt and looked the same. But then when I was RPing her, she started making a change in her attitude, and it started affecting some of the choices she made when taming pets. I decided that I wanted to tame a cat on Rose and at first I tried one of those blue and white ones with the red eyes, but it just didn't seem right. Not until I saw one of these beautiful all white cats running around in Winterspring. So I released the blue one back to the wild and tamed this gorgeous gal. Instant click and I believe it was Seren who gave her the name Spirit.

I love taking Spirit out just to watch her run. She's so beautiful and graceful. <3

[starkittens]

.....
....
.....
Too many cats. XD
I've bonded with only three, and they're all on one toon. Two of them are Spirit beasts, and one I'll have to camp in Mop. XD
Here's WildBlaze: aka, Savage. I've bonded with him, he's quirky, weird, and strangely, he loves mountains. like my hunter XD



Taming (thanks to Quiv for finding him for me!)


Yes. He has a flower on his foot


I've turned part cat. XD


Posing in the mountains.


Was getting a picture of the yak, and noticed the Yak had two extra white paws Strange anybody?

I don't have as many pics of him as I do my Crane, Firesong, but I do have some good pics!

[Corpsebryde]

Omg finally! My favorite pet family.

It all started in 2005 when I started playing the game. I was watching my then BF play and asked him about the game. He was a night elf hunter at the time. Being a console gamer it was all very confusing but I took one of the keys to try the free trial and spent the next few hours downloading the game. I asked him to help me because I wanted to play a race that had cats in the starting area; naturally I chose a male dwarf, lol. As soon as I hit level 10 and finished my tame pet quests I ran to the snow leopards. My closest pet bond in game resulted from that tame.



Avalanche has been Korvan's best friend through thick and thin. They've battled side by side throughout Azeroth and beyond. Avy is the one pet who never has and never will leave Korvan's side. I have yet to bond with a pet as strongly as I have with my simple snow leopard.

Corpsebryde's kitty of choice is Grimm.



Although Bryde is having a difficult time forming a bond with any cat, Grimm seems to be the closest she's going to get. I may try a brown tiger in Mists.

My newest hunter, Misswitch, has completely fallen in love with Clover.



Clover fits perfectly in her purple/pink themed stable (her pets are all named after herbs). Witch's bond with Clover is quickly catching up to Korvan's love for Avalanche.

[GormanGhaste]

When I reached 60 back in BC, I tamed one of the original plain white cats in Winterspring and named her Clarice. I loved how ghostly she looked in stealth. She was with me all the way through Outland, and will always be the perfect cat to me.

[Sesamee]

My favorite pet, my "one", is Dulcinea. I came across her while leveling in Winterspring and I was stunned at how gorgeous she was. I tamed her and that was that. The bond was instant and it has only gotten stronger.


Nangara is my new orange tiger. She exists only on Beta for now but the bond is every bit as strong as I anticipated after glimpsing her at Blizzcon last year. I know exactly which tiger she is in the Jade Forest and she was still there after the zone was redone. The first thing I'm going to do when servers go up is to tame my tiger.


Latif is strong, dependable, and ruthless. He is one of the few pets I feel comfortable moving from my stables to my alt's stables. No matter where he is he is always with me. When I tamed Skarr at first the bond didn't last but when taming him on my alt it stuck! Stuck so good that I've had him in my main stables for months now!


Liam is one of my alt's favorite pets. I tamed him on her at around lvl 10 so got to watch him "grow up" with her. He grew from this tiny little baby sabercat into the big imposing presence he is now.

[Aquillian]

Oh gosh, Cats... here we go.

I'm a cat lover IRL. Well, all animals really, but I just adore cats. Even when I began back in BC everyone had them but I loved them anyway - I can't help it.

I have to mention Attonitus here. I can't even really mention any pet I own without Attonitus, not fairly, because he's the one who started it all - even before Chrysaetos.

Atty is not always a member of my stables. He's "pulled over" from a hunter I made once upon a time - technically my first hunter, even though she never got past 30 or so. She was a Draenei named Eccoine, and I had absolutely no clue how to play her. At all. This was when you had 3 stable slots and had to tame pets to teach them skills, which I didn't even know until that had already been changed, if that gives you any idea how utterly clueless I was. Good ol' Eccoine did a fair share of melee'ing, as a Beast Mastery hunter... oy, it pains to to remember it. But one thing about her I did get right - how to camp rarespawns. The first time I saw a hunter with Humar I was utterly smitten. A black lion? What more could one want? So of course I asked where to get it and I was sent to, of all places, Petopia! I still type in petopia.brashendeavors.net to get here, haha. I checked the site over, checked maps and got myself out to the Barrens, prepared. I remember climbing into that big tree and sitting there for hours. People came and went - always asking if I was also wanting Humar. I'd say yes and we'd agree on who would get him if he spawned, based on who had waited longer. Sorta weird to think about now actually.

I don't remember how long I waited, but eventually, he spawned. And I was there alone. I tamed him, and it was done. I had my pet. I named him Attonitus, which supposedly is the name of an African mythological god of Thunder. I loved the way it sounded, and it seemed fitting for a cat from the WoW Savannah who had fur the color of a stormcloud. Shortly after that, though, I stopped playing my hunter. I really don't remember why at this point. You can still see him in her stables though: Notice her other two are still at different levels! I haven't ever done anything with them since I stopped playing her, and I doubt I will, since it's fun to remember how different things were then.

I adore Attonitus the black lion but it's hard for me to keep him as an active pet. He doesn't feel like Aquillian's pet - he belongs to Eccoine. So even though I can't pass Humar without stopping to tame him, he never sticks around for long. Sigh. To be honest, as much as I adore cats, I've had a hard time finding the "right" one ever since. I tame new ones constantly, they're so beautiful and have plenty of personality - they just don't stick. I hope to eventually return to this post with a happier story and screenshots of my kitty.

EDIT: Oh my goodness I managed to actually find my *original* screenshots folder! I thought it got destroyed when my old hard drive died! Wow... seriously... the memories...

Me camping! With my ex, heh.
Me & Atty - partied with friends who no longer play.

This one was my favorite. Wow. Now I want to go retame Atty and keep him forever.

[starkittens]

I've noticed,
WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE BONDING WITH WHITE CATS?!
Seriously. Even I've gotten pulled into that. (my Savage XD)
Yay, A black kitty!
I need to find the pics of my black kitty on my Troll hunter

[Lupis]

I've noticed,
WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE BONDING WITH WHITE CATS?!
Seriously. Even I've gotten pulled into that. (my Savage XD)
Yay, A black kitty!
I need to find the pics of my black kitty on my Troll hunter

I definitely noticed that as well! xD My excuse for Sorrow is that I was part of the King B craze. Sort of, anyway. But they're definitely some of the most popular of all the cats!

[Aquillian]

Hehe the white ones are so elegant and lovely! My IRL kitty Magpie is black and white actually, so I tend to be partial to both :) I have a snow leopard with her nakesake right now, but she may turn into Savage in Mists.

[Miacoda]

Woo! I've been waiting for cats. XD
I started out being rather "meh" about the family. Back in vanilla and BC I always preferred having a wolf instead. And ever since then I just had never really been able to bond with a cat.
But then.... then came Paul.
Paul is one of my... very well known pets. He's probably just under Krush when it comes to people on my server knowing who he is.
I never planned on keeping Paul when I tamed him. The only reason I did tame him was because an ex-friend of mine (who was my friend at the time)... oh gosh what was it. We were talking about names and I guess I suggested a name for something and he responded with "That's terrible. That's like naming a cat Paul." So of course I then HAD to go get a cat and name it Paul just to mess with my friend. At first Iw ent out and got a hunched orange tiger, but it didn't really fit... so then I decided that Pogeyan would be the perfect cat to name Paul. I mean, come on, a Pogey named Paul. It was perfect. Pogeyan wasn't up at first, but after a little bit of messing around and coming back, there he was! I tamed him, and it was seriously perfect. He fit his name so well, I couldn't believe it. I ended up keeping him, and his personality shined whenever I took him to my weekly Black Temple runs. Turns out he LOVES to tank. He can tank better than any pet I have when it comes to holding aggro, and he's even ferocity (though now he's tenacity). He loves to be the center of attention. He loves tanking because it's pretty much like "I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT ME WHEN I KILL YOU." He HATES when tanks or anyone else pulls aggro off of him. He's a grumpus cat, but he thinks he's the most bamf out there. Sometimes I think he needs a girl cat with more sass than he has so he'll settle down, but I think that'd be hard for him to do. He's such a fun cat, though. Sometimes Mia will cuddle him in front of everyone, and he acts like he hates it but is tolerating it, but deep down he loves Mia and loves the attention she gives him.
A lot of my friends see him as the biggest troll in the universe. XD It is said during BT runs that Paul gives Warglaive luck, but he LOVES to mess with a certain few and make glaives drop when they're not around. Thus, those certain people hate him. XD But he doesn't give a damn, it amuses him to no end.
One time he acted very kindly to one of my friends that he likes to mess with (thank you PetEmote), and I was like "Okay I think your glaive is going to drop." (he needed the offhand) and a mainhand dropped. That's when he was officially dubbed troll-cat.





In Mists of Pandaria, Mia will be getting a second cat. His name is Ruslan, and he's a lot calmer than Paul. He's got a good sense of humor, and just really appreciates life. He's a sweet boy and is friendly to anyone that doesn't give him bad vibes. And he's good at sensing vibes.






Syleanora has a LOT of cats, but not all of them have strong bonds or personalities, so here are her favorites.

Tanavar is Syleanora's main pet. He's her constant companion and best friend. Tanavar is playful and a bit kitten-like, but he's also protective of Syleanora. He'd never let anything bad happen to her.









Duskfang is another good friend to Syleanora, but he's more bulky and strong, and great in battle. He's strong-willed and proud, but he's s total sucker for belly rubs! He also loves little panther cub Meelo. ^.^





Then there's Nightsong. Her name, of course, is inspired by this music. When I first tamed Nightsong on the PTR, I somehow tamed her with the buff that the cats get when they are exposed to moonlight, and I just fell in love. the buff emitted a soft... almost wind-chime like sound, and I wanted to trick tame her to have the buff on live, but trick taming was nerfed before I could do so.... it's one of my biggest WoW regrets.
But I still love her either way. I love watching her run while listening to her namesake. It just fits her so well. She's just so beautiful, and the music is beautiful.
I like her with red eyes, but I sometimes like to pretend that her eyes glow a light blue or silver.
Either way, I still think she's beautiful. Her personality is beautiful, as well. She's calm and caring, very attentive, and she seems to become more alive when the moons are out. Syleanora sometimes suspects she might have some connection to Elune, but nothing is confirmed. She certainly wouldn't be surprised if she did have a connection with the Moon Goddess, though. There's been no sign of that possibility giving her power, but she is a very wise cat.










And then my Blood Elf has one cat, Sundance. He's free spirited, super kitten-like, and playful. He's one of her top pets.

[Kyria]

"Wouldn't Hoarfrost be a cool name for a male Frostsaber Huntress?"

Seems strange that my very closest bond with any pet was forged on a whim like that, but there you have it.

----



----

Have you ever had so much to say that you have a hard time getting any of it out? That's how I feel whenever the subject of my cat comes up, and this time is no different from any other. I could talk about how I can call him out when I'm having a bad day and feel comforted simply by having him at my side. I could talk about his fantastic sense of timing, how he's solemn when I need it and silly when I'm ready for a laugh. I could talk about how he rules the whole of my stables without effort, no conflict at all, he simply does, and how he tends to know what I should do well before even I do. Even through all of that, I still don't think I could communicate what this cat means to me. He's just... perfect in every way.

I didn't intend to tame Hoarfrost, I never would have chosen him on my own--in fact, I traveled in that direction specifically to tame Rak'shiri, who, along with the red lynx, is tied for my favorite skin--but he's beautiful, strong, noble, and mine. Sure, the white saber cats are widely loved, so I see the skin with some frequency; sure, cats aren't the most unique of primary pets. It doesn't matter. If it came down to it and I could either reduce my stable to a single slot or reroll, it would be Hoarfrost running at my side... and that's that.

Xaphan, my red warpie, would give him a run for his money, though.

[Orrik]

When I joined WoW for the first time, the very first pet I tamed was a moonstalker in Darkshore. And since then, cats have been my favorite pets right after wolves. I've had many many cats, but one never really stuck with me. Currently I have three on my main hunter and one I want to tame in MoP.

Anakín



When I saw Sambas before Cata came out, I didn't really think much of him. I thought that he looked wonky with his huge mane. But I always enjoy a challenge and started camping him after Orrik hit 85. I would camp off and on for a few hours, take a break, and start camping again. After three days, I decided to give up. I went to Org to put up some auctions and my NPC_scan went off for someone's Sambas in the AH. Seeing their Sambas reminded me of why I wanted the pet, so I flew back to Twilight Highlands. I didn't reset my NPC_scan, so I was flying around with track beasts on and as I was flying over the point with all the wolves and deer around it, I saw the name Sambas. I quickly looked down at the ground and there he was walking around a big boulder. I shot him once, trapped and tamed, every second hoping no one would come kill him mid tame. And then he binged and he was finally mine. I was watching Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones at that time so I decided to name him Anakín.

Hei



During the times I am bored with the game, I would hop onto Netflix and look for animes to watch and one day I started to watch an anime called Darker Than Black. I was instantly hooked on the show. After watching the entire series, I went out to tame a white wolf and named her Yin after one of the main characters. Then I thought that I would need Hei, the main character in the show, to go with her. I was wrestling with the decision of which pet would match the name best; Humar or Sian-rotam. After much deliberation, I chose Sian-rotam. Even though Hei's nickname was the Black Reaper, he also had a light side. And like his namesake, Hei is a killing machine, but it's not what he wants to be defined as.

Mako



One Saturday morning while I was flipping through the channels, I went past Nickelodeon and saw what appeared to be the Avatar: The Last Airbender opening where it had the book one: water and such. I was thinking "oh cool, they're playing Avatar again" and continued watching it. I didn't recognize the beginning of the episode, but I thought that it was probably because I haven't watched the show in a long time. But as I continued watching it, I realized that this was different all together. By the time young Korra came onto the screen, my face was like . As the show progressed, we are introduced to Bolin and Mako. After seeing the ferocity Mako has when he fights, I had to find a pet to name after him. When I saw Shadowclaw in the gallery, I knew instantly that he was the one. Mako is my favorite cat that I take with me to instances. Plus he matches my transmog.

Korra



Same name origin as Mako. She's named after the next Avatar after Aang. When I saw the brown siberian tiger model, I actually gasped in real life and whispered "cat version of Riku..." out loud. Ever since then, I have been waiting for MoP to come out just so that I could tame her.

[Miacoda]

*giggles excitedly at Mako and Korra kitties* *imagines cat-Korra being like "I'M ANOTHER CAT FOR YOUR STABLE, YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!"*

Anakin is a great name for Sambas! I mean, come on, look at the hair!

[Falcon]

Eeee! Kitties!

I'm not gonna lie, but this is the pet family thread I've been waiting and waiting for. All of my hunters will have at least one cat in their stables, since I can never say no to them; however...

You may not believe me, but back in Vanilla, I hated cats even though I'm a cat lover off-net. I hated them because they were everywhere and my boyfriend tried to pressure me into using them, even though I didn't feel that a cat would suit my very first huntress, an orc, and I'd preferred using wind serpents and wolves with her. The one cat I despised above all the others was King Bangalash, not only because he was everywhere I turned, but because I was... frustrated... with him. I wanted a white tiger, but I didn't want him. Then, along came The Burning Crusade and along with that expansion came Hawkbane.





Now, I've talked about Hawkbane on many occasions here on the forums, so I won't go into it again, but when I think about how people here on the forums supported my campaign to get this tiger back years after his untimely disappearance, I always smile and tear up a little. Even though Hawkbane and King Bangalash share the same skin, they're individuals, and my hatred for Hawkbane's lower-leveled brother has waned to where I'm now neutral towards him, but it doesn't mean I'll ever like him.

Toph's gotten six more cats, and all four of her spirit beasts are cats, which makes her pride a grand total of eleven kitties, but I'll post about the rest of her cats later on, so this one doesn't become too spammy with pictures and I'll post about her spirit beasts in the proper family thread.

My main huntress over on Nesingwary, Dejanira, has four cats, three named after the Elias sisters from the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy:

Belvera


Even though I went through a very stressful Ulduar run to get her, Belvera is my favorite pet from Dejanira's stables, second only to Battra. The hunched panther skin has and always will be my absolute favorite of the hunched cat models, with Pogeyan and Skarr both coming in at a close second. Unlike her mischievous namesake, Belvera is quite affectionate, often cuddling up against her mistress with soft purrs, but in battle, her personality does a 180, and she becomes quite fierce. She tolerates her younger sisters, but she prefers to keep away from them, though she never goes too far since she still feels a sense of attachment to them, even though she'll never outwardly admit it.

Moll


I have Pogeyan tamed on quite a number of my hunters, but she stands out the most in Dejanira's stables for me as Moll, the middle sibling. Like her namesake, she is wise and patient, and not really a fighter, unlike Belvera and Lora. Even though she's the middle sibling, she acts as a mother towards her sisters, and she and Lora huddle together in the stables while Belvera stays close by.

Lora


When I was searching for an appropriately colored cat to be Lora, I went to Winterspring with the full intent to tame Rak'shiri; however, she wasn't up, so I tamed Shy-Rotam instead. Lora is the youngest sibling, and like her namesake, is the most emotional and is easily excitable. She and Moll are never apart from each other, and Lora tends to be shy around strangers, either burying her face against Dejanira's leg or hiding behind her or Moll. Despite this shyness, she's a capable fighter, though not to the extent of Belvera.

Kuihu


Kuihu is Dejanira's newest cat, and her name is Chinese for 'burning tiger'. Come MoP, she'll be transforming into the Maltese tigress (the non-rare white tigers coming the closest) she's always meant to be and thus, coming closer to resembling her namesake, a kaiju OC of my creation who goes by the same name.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Belvera's personality would do a 180 not a 360.