Buttercup

Prim's cat, "the world's ugliest cat" to Katniss, who walks home to District 12 after the war.

Buttercup is the cat Prim keeps as her companion; loyal to her alone, he and Katniss have disliked each other for years. Where Prim cherishes him, Katniss rates him "the world's ugliest cat", and early in The Hunger Games she says the only affection between them amounts to her leftover entrails and a little less hissing on his part.

Quick Facts

Owner: Prim
Home: District 12
Species: Cat
First film fur: Black and white

Facts from the source article.

Background

Prim had to beg, "even cried", before Katniss would let her keep him, and Katniss once tried to drown him; on the train to the Capitol she admits she is glad it failed, since Prim can take comfort in him. He went missing when the Capitol's air force bombed District 12 but held out in the ruins until Katniss came back for him and carried him to 13, a place he is said to hate for its underground location and lack of fresh air.

Once Prim is dead and the war over, he walks all the way back to District 12 on foot, where Katniss finds him again; grieving Prim together in Mockingjay, the two make peace at last and he starts guarding Katniss at night. Contrary to his name, the first film gives him black and white fur, and only the later films match the books' description.