In honor of the fourteenth anniversary of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Pets of the Old Republic’s 25th installments is none other than the Freckled Loth Cat Kitten! Loth cats are one of the more beloved pets from recent Star Wars media and have made the jump from their early appearances in animation to both live action incarnations and pets in SWTOR.
There are currently four Loth Cats in SWTOR, but this Freckled Kitten is the only one that players can discover through gameplay. The pet is a very rare reward from three Republic only Dynamic Encounters on Hoth, and I won’t sugarcoat it, if you want one for yourself, you may need to run those encounters many times before you get lucky. If you’d rather spend some Cartel Coins, the Black Loth Cat Kitten is available through the Cartel Market or for credits on the GTN. The orange tabby Loth Cat Kitten and the White Loth Cat Kitten were rewards from past Galactic Seasons and for now are unavailable to players.
SWTOR‘s Loth Cat Kittens: a distracted Freckled, the Halloween Black, and the White and orange pets rewarded from previous Galactic Seasons.
Last April Fool’s Day, I wrote about the difficulty in finding proper dogs in Star Wars, but when it comes to cats, they are everywhere, both on screen and in every corner of the lore. Indeed, even in SWTOR, pet cats are so common that not only is the Loth Kitten the third cat in this Pets series, but there are three more feline pets awaiting their turn in the spotlight. The most recent of these is the Yaracat, three of which players can rescue from the brand new Dantooine Biome Encounters area.
That’s just the tip of the tail when it comes to cats in Star Wars. Nexu have appeared in many stories since their big screen debut in Attack of the Clones. SWTOR players encounter Ice Cats in both the frozen wilderness of Hoth and during the Dynamic Encounters that reward the Freckled Loth Cat Kitten. Old school fans might even remember when Luke Skywalker was menaced by a Saber-Cat in an early issue of Marvel Comics’ first Star Wars series.
Artwork of a Trianii from The Essential Guide to Alien Species by R. K. Post.
Let’s not forget about intelligent cat-like aliens who started appearing in stories before the 1970s had even ended. The Trianni were introduced in Brian Daley’s 1979 novel Han Solo at Stars’ End. In SWTOR we can play as Cathar, a race introduced in Old Republic stories in comic books and video games.
“We missed you hissed the Loth Cats.”
Loth Cats have their origins in the Tooka cats introduced during the first season of The Clone Wars cartoon. Loth Cats as we know them debuted in Star Wars: Rebels and were fixtures of the show throughout its run. The Loth Cats were so beloved that toys were soon available for fans to purchase. And, of course, Loth Cats have now appeared in live action in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and The Acolyte.
I’m sure it will not shock you to hear that Loth Cats are yet another fanciful creature in Star Wars made up of bits of other animals. Loth Cats have spindly lower legs, feet and toes which have become more and more chicken-like in their appearances over the years. Loth Cats are typically depicted with large, pointed, conical ears. These ears flop and turn around like traditional cat ears, so they are definitely not horns. I’m tempeded to assume that Loth ears are similar to the Montral horns seen on Togruta in Star Wars lore. Montrals are organs that enhance a Togruta’s sense of their surroundings. I think it’s possible that a Loth Cat’s ears could serve a similar function, but there is nothing in the text to support this theory, aside from the fact that they seem to have a special affinity for Force sensitive characters.
The Cheshire Cat as illustrated by John Tenniel for the 1865 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Across art, literature and pop culture, there are countless cats to consider, but the one that seems to me to have most influenced the Loth Cat is the Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat appeared in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and remains well known today thanks to Disney’s Alice in Wonderland adaptations in 1951 and 2010. Although the term “Cheshire Cat” predates Carroll’s book, his incarnation of the cat as a character is famous for its broad, smiling face with wide, unnerving grin. The Cheshire Cat was a curious, magical and often confusing companion to Alice in her adventures, and it’s not a stretch to see that the same is true of Loth Cats as well.
Loth Cats are flat-faced cats, called Brachycephalic, here on Earth. Persian cats are perhaps the most famous flat-faced cat, and some cats are now specifically bred with this trait. However, because of this, Brachycephalic cats and dogs very commonly have serious breathing and respiratory issues. Loth Cats are adorable fictional cats, but I don’t think we should be selecting for harmful traits in the actual pets in our lives.
Murley the Loth Cat has had a long day.
Loth Cats in SWTOR split the difference between their animated and live-action depictions, which allows them to fit in nicely with SWTOR’s aesthetic. Unlike the Loth Cats seen in Disney’s productions, SWTOR‘s Loth Cats, however, do have more cat-like, open ears. The Freckled Loth Cat Kitten seems to have been inspired by Murley, Sabine Wren’s Loth Cat from Ahsoka. Sabine first appeared in Star Wars: Rebels, my favorite Star Wars show and I’ve been hoping for a Loth Cat pet since the earliest days of this blog. I am very happy indeed to finally have this kitty as a friend on my journey across the galaxy.
Happy Holidays!
This will likely be my last post of the year, but I want to thank everyone who has followed and supported this Pets of the Old Republic project. It was something a little different and perhaps more silly than normal, but I very much appreciate the kind words of support I have received from friends and visitors this year. I felt I needed to change things up a bit, and I’ve had great fun discovering unexpected creatures and corners of Star Wars lore. I want to especially thank Swtorista whose pet collection was always the first stop in my research, and the fine folks at Jedipedia which allowed quick access to SWTOR’s codex entries and helped me track down critters in the game world. Illeva, Kal from Today in TOR and Vulkk also authored invaluable resources and guides that helped me with nearly every entry in this series.
Iago the Cat liked me just fine, but sometimes he’d give me a look that seemed to indicate that if our size ratios were reversed, our relationship would’ve been very different.
As I was preparing this post, Keith Kanneg shared his end of the year producer’s letter which includes a road map for 2026. I’ll have more to say in my January prediction post, but if you haven’t looked at it yet, definitely take the time and see what is coming in year ahead. I’m glad the team has the confidence to lean into its fifteenth anniversary and start building excitement for SWTOR‘s next expansion, hopefully around this time next year!
Here’s to a fun and fuzzy, 2026!
