The Duchess owns the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Alice encounters the cat at the Duchess’s house, where the kitchen is filled with pepper, flying crockery, and the Duchess’s violently temperamental Cook. The Duchess has a baby as well as the cat, making her the animal’s established owner in the novel.
The Cheshire Cat is not a stray creature or a pet belonging to Alice. He later appears in the Queen of Hearts’ domain, where his disappearing body and lingering grin frustrate the Queen’s attempted execution. He also directs Alice toward the Mad Hatter and the March Hare’s tea party.
A common mix-up comes from adaptations, which often detach the cat from the Duchess and make him a recurring companion or guide for Alice. In Carroll’s text, however, the Duchess is the character explicitly associated with owning him.