Berúthiel, The Queen with the magical cats

The most famous cats in the histories of Tolkien's Middle-earth were the cats of Queen Berúthiel, nine black and one white, belonging to the Queen of King Tarannon of Gondor. 
The dark and mournful Queen to Tarannon Falastur, the twelfth King of Gondor. She owned ten marvellous and magical cats, that she set to spy on the doings of the people of Gondor. Her scheming was her undoing, though, since her husband set her adrift on the Great Sea, with only her cats for company. She sailed into the far south and was never heard of again, but she and her mysterious cats lived on in legend for millennia. 
(Note that these details come from an unpublished manuscript quoted by Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, and so their canonicity is not certain.) 

Thanks to: tolkienonline.com

Paintings of famous cats and others:

It took some time to gather these paintings. While creating this page my thoughts went to the artists who I really wish to thank for donating their art to cats, presenting us with these lovely images and sharing their feelings with us. Thanks indeed to the cats, too: they are able to wake up our inner feelings! Maybe you will find your own cat among them...

Con il tempo ho raccolto queste opere. Nel creare questa pagina il mio pensiero è andato agli autori che tanto ringrazio per avere donato la loro arte ai gatti ed averci regalato queste belle immagini, e per avere diviso con noi i loro sentimenti che traspaiono dalle tele. Ringrazio altresì i gatti che - vere muse ispiratrici - stuzzicano i nostri sentimenti nel profondo. Chissà che non riconosciate anche il vostro micio tra quelli che seguono...