Top 5 Cartoon Cats

Cats have been featured in cartoons and comic strips since dawn of the cartoon age. None have captured our hearts and imaginations as much as these top five cartoon cats.

5. Heathcliff

Created in 1973 by George Gately, Heathcliff quickly became established as a mischievous cat with a penchant for annoying the humans in his life and pursuing female cats. Heathcliff is currently written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher. The strip is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers and can be read on-line at http://www.creators.com/comics/heathcliff.html?comicname=hth.

4. The Pink Panther

Introduced in 1963 during the opening and closing credits of The Pink Panther movie, the Pink Panther soon became very popular. This ultra-cool panther became the star of his own animated short films and continued to appear in the opening and closing sequences of most films in The Pink Panther series. Eventually, three prime-time Pink Panther television specials were produced. Pink Panther cartoons can currently be seen on the Cartoon Network's Boomerang.

3. Sylvester

Sylvester is a cat with a mission. Fortunately for us, he never succeeds in his mission. Created in 1945 by Friz Freleng, Sylvester is part of the Warner Brother's Looney Tunes line-up. Sylvester tries, in vain, to eat Tweety Bird in many of his cartoons. He wasn't always paired with Tweety. He was a versatile character that occasionally shared the spotlight with many other Looney Tunes characters. Sylvester and the whole Looney Tunes gang can be seen on the Cartoon Network. Read more about Sylvester at http://toolooney.goldenagecartoons.com/sylvester.htm.

2. Tom

Tom, of Tom & Jerry fame, is the cat in this classic cat and mouse cartoon. Generations of children and adults have laughed at Tom's bumbling efforts to catch Jerry. Yet, despite Jerry's deviousness, Tom and Jerry seem to be friends at times. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940, Tom and Jerry have resurfaced throughout the decades. A new generation of children can laugh at Tom & Jerry's antics on the CW's Saturday morning cartoon line-up.

1. Garfield

The number one cartoon cat of all time, Garfield, created by Jim Davis, came on the scene in June, 1978. He quickly grabbed the spotlight and hasn't left it since. A mainstay in comic strips, Garfield has also been the star of his own books and Saturday morning cartoon series. Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic in the world, according to Guinness World Records. In 2004, Garfield made it to the big screen and starred in his own full-length motion picture. This film was so popular that a sequel soon followed. Learn more about Garfield at www.garfield.com.

These irrepressible cartoon cats have been a part of our lives for so long, they almost feel like family. They keep us laughing and we keep cheering for them, time and again. Who is your favorite cartoon cat?