Cat mob in Minecraft
A Cat is the pet you tame with raw fish in a village or at a swamp hut. Once tamed, it follows you, sits on command, keeps Creepers and Phantoms away and sometimes leaves a gift by your bed in the morning.
- Health
- 105 hearts
- Behavior
- Passive
- Tamed with
- Found in
- Swamp Hut+1 more
Cat stats
- Health
- 10 5 hearts
- Behavior
- Passive
- Main drop
String- Spawns in
- —
- Size
- 0.6 × 0.7 blocks
- XP when killed
- 1 to 3none as a baby
- Speed
- 0.3
- Detection range
- 16 blocks
- Tempt range
- 10 blocks
// Experience drops only when a player kills it. Speeds are the game’s internal values, not blocks per second.
Where to find Cat
Doesn’t spawn naturally in a biome: it comes from a structure, a spawner, a block or an event.
- Group size
- 1
- Light level
- 9 or more
- Spawns on
Grass Block
Structures
Cat drops
StringGift16.1%
Cat
Variants
11 variants. The game picks one when the mob spawns, based on where it appears.
All black Spawns in swamp huts 
Black 
British Shorthair 
Calico 
Jellie 
Persian 
Ragdoll 
Ginger 
Siamese 
Tabby 
White Traits
Properties set in the game files.
Food and breeding
Items it eats, follows or breeds with.
Raw Codtames it33.3% per tryRaw Salmontames it33.3% per tryWhat you can do with Cat
Items to use on it and what happens.
Dye the collarRed Dye · Blue DyeUse a dye on a tamed cat to change its collar color. Baby Cat
Bred with Raw CodRaw Salmon Tamed adults only All baby mobs → Advancements with Cat
Advancements whose criteria involve this mob, from the game files.
Command
/summon minecraft:cat ~ ~ ~Where to find a stray cat
Cats don't spawn in the open: they come with villages and with the swamp hut, where a black cat lives next to the Witch. In a village, the number of strays depends on the beds, so a large village with many houses is the best place to look. On a full moon, the all-black coat can also turn up in a village.
How to tame a cat
Strays are shy and run away if you rush at them. Hold raw cod or raw salmon, move slowly and let the cat come to you, then feed it. It can take a few fish before hearts appear and it gets a collar. Cooked fish does not work.
- Sit or follow. Use the cat to make it sit. Otherwise it follows you and teleports to you when you get too far, as long as there is safe ground.
- Collar color. Use a dye on a tamed cat to change its collar.
- Breeding. Feed raw fish to two tamed cats: the kitten is born already tamed.
- Healing. The same raw fish heals a hurt cat.
Morning gifts
If a tamed cat is not ordered to sit, it may come and lie on your bed while you sleep. When you wake up, it sometimes drops a gift beside the bed. Most gifts are small hunting leftovers, but a phantom membrane can also show up. That one is worth having: it repairs elytra and brews Slow Falling, and you get it without fighting Phantoms at night.
Why keep a cat at home
Creepers keep their distance from cats and Phantoms fly away from them, so a few cats around your base or your farms make nights quieter. Cats also like to sit on chests, furnaces and beds. A cat sitting on a chest stops it from opening: lead it away with a lead or call it to follow you.
Untamed cats hunt rabbits and baby turtles. Keep strays away from a turtle beach you are protecting. Cats take no fall damage, so a tamed cat can follow you down a cliff.
✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026
Cat — FAQ
How do you tame a cat?
Approach a stray slowly with raw cod or raw salmon and feed it when it comes close. After one or more fish, hearts appear and it gets a collar.
Why can't I open my chest?
A cat is probably sitting on it. A sitting cat blocks the lid, so move it away or make it follow you.
What is the difference between a cat and an ocelot?
Cats come from villages and swamp huts and become pets that follow you. Ocelots live in jungles and can only be made to trust you.
Where does the Cat spawn?
It doesn’t spawn naturally in biomes. You find it in Swamp Hut and Village.
What does a Cat drop?
String.
Allay
Axolotl
Bat
Camel
Camel Husk
Chicken
Cod
Donkey