| “ | For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten. | „ | |
| ~ H. P. Lovecraft , "The Cats of Ulthar" |
Cats are often featured in the Cthulhu Mythos and play a prominent role in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, who in real life was greatly fond of cats.
The plot of the Dreamlands story "The Cats of Ulthar" is an explanation of why in the village of Ulthar it is against the law to kill a cat.
Another Dreamlands tale, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, reveals that there are sapient cats living in the Earth's Dreamlands which the protagonist, Randolph Carter, has befriended. The story includes a sequence where Carter is abducted by the Men of Leng and brought to the Moon, but is rescued by the cats, who are able to transport themselves back and forth between the Earth to the Moon by leaping. The cats of the Dreamlands are a noble race, friendly towards humans, and inimical towards the Zoogs and the alien Cats from Saturn.
Delapore, the protagonist and narrator of "The Rats in the Walls", has several cats; the name of his favorite, N-----man, is a famous example of the casual racism in Lovecraft's stories. Similarly, in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, the Ward family cat has a name that seems to be a shortened version of the name of Delapore's cat.
Lovecraft's poem "The Cats" emphasizes the disquieting aspect of cats:
| “ | Legions of cats from the alleys nocturnal, Howling and lean in the glare of the moon, Screaming the future with mouthings infernal, Yelling the burden of Pluto’s red rune.[1] |
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Lovecraft also wrote poems to cats, including one to the cat of his friend and correspondent Frank Belknap Long.[2]