cat

Petit mammifère carnivore domestique au pelage doux, souvent gardé comme animal de compagnie.

A small domesticated mammal kept as a pet. In everyday English this is the animal, not a jazz musician (hep-cat) and not the verb to cat around. Learners often meet it first in I have a cat, then in set phrases like let the cat out of the bag — learn those later as idioms, not as extra meanings of the pet.