Billy the Cat is the title of a Franco-Belgian comic by the Belgian Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg, as well as an animated cartoon adaptation, amongst others.

Both comic and cartoon deal with the everyday and secret lives of urban animals, although they take very different approaches to it, and while the characters are largely the same in both versions, the stories and situations are very different.

[1] Billy starts out as a normal human schoolboy who delights in mean-spirited pranks and often bullies animals.

The comic follows Billy as he struggles to deal with life as a cat, making many new friends (and a few enemies) among the many animals he meets – most importantly Mr. Hubert, a kind-hearted but blustery white alley cat who lives in a Cadillac in the junkyard, and who takes it upon himself to look after the new kitten – though very few of them (with the possible exception of Pirmin the circus bear) ever sincerely believe his claims that he used to be a human boy.

[2] The character Billy first appeared in the magazine Spirou in 1982, with the story written by Stephen Desberg and illustrations by Stéphane Colman.