Bucky Katt of Get Fuzzy

Bucky Katt is the odd looking, somewhat short and pudgy, single-fanged Siamese cat in the Get Fuzzy comic strip. Created by Darby Conley, Bucky, his owner, Rob Wilco, and Rob's dog, Satchel Pooch live together in Boston.

He exhibits a number of characteristics of the stereotype of a cat in general, and perhaps the Siamese specifically... cunning, constantly scheming, selfish, and often trying to cause trouble for his housemate, Satchel Pooch.

Bucky is always trying to get the better of Satchel (and anyone else who's around). Bucky is also sometimes prone to getting a bit violent, and is both verbally and physically abusive to Satchel. It often backfires.

Satchel, on the other hand, is a stereotypical dog... very naive and trusting, and not always the quickest to catch on. Rob, their owner, often appears not sure how to handle either one of his talking pets.

At one point, not realizing it's Bucky, Satchel calls in the ghost detectives to check the house. He says he heard an evil voice in the dark say "get out." And, he says he sees eyes glowing in the dark a lot, and he hears sounds like someone scratching and sifting. Bucky makes it worse, of course, by saying that there's a troll living in Satchel's closet.

Bucky's personality is abrasive, to say the least, and can probably be summed up in the strip where he declares that he hates people. Rob's dad calls him a sociophobe and explains "You're afraid of people." Bucky replies "Correction: I hate people. I'm a socioloathe."

The choice of Bucky Katt as a Siamese came from Darby Conley's own experience with a cat of that breed. In this article in Pop Cult Mag about Darby Conley and Get Fuzzy (archive), Darby explains that he knew a Siamese cat that hated him for no reason. Despite being hated by the cat, he still loved the cat and wanted to "pet it all the time."

Let's face it, no matter how mean or obnoxious Bucky is, he's adorable. He's actually, dare I say it, likable.

This, in spite of the fact that he has only one fang, always has his ears pinned back like he's ready to strike, and well, isn't the most attractive looking cat I've ever seen.

I still have to like him. And that is one of the main reasons this comic strip is so interesting. Get Fuzzy was a break-out hit when it appeared in 1999, and Conley credits the popularity of the strip itself to Bucky.

I don't think that his creator made him more conniving or destructive just because he's a Siamese, but it would make sense if he did. Siamese cats are known for being clever, sneaky, extremely independent (even for cats), and game players.

This stereotype of the Siamese cat was extremely evident in the portrayal of the "evil" Siamese cats named Si and Am, in Lady and the Tramp. These two cartoon cats were always up to no good, as they demolished the house and blamed it on the dog. By comparison, Bucky sometimes makes Si and Am seem nice.

Bucky likes to destroy things and has been referred to as a vandal (At one point, he was breaking things around the house and calling it "art"). At other times, he took to writing graffiti on the walls, and he is generally mean spirited.

Yet, at times, he says things that are actually quite mild...

"All cats can sense who is uncomfortable with them. Then we sit in their laps."
-Bucky Katt on a cat's sixth sense

I've been trying to figure out what cats are thinking for years. I think Darby Conley might have just figured it out and is sharing it with us daily through Bucky Katt.

Related Topics

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Famous cartoon cats

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