Spot Spot was a female cat and Data ' s pet in the 2360s and 2370s . She lived with him while he served aboard the and - E . She had a litter of kittens with one of the other cats on the " Enterprise " - D . Data once wrote a poem about Spot , entitled " Ode to Spot " . ( ) History . As a starship cat , Spot had never encountered rodent s , insect s or been chased by a canine . ( ) Nevertheless , Spot was an active cat and received a lot of attention from Data , often playing with him and jumping on his desk for attention . ( ) Spot also left Data ' s quarters to explore , though she could not trigger the door s . ( ) Spot had tried 221 different formulas of food designed by Data , many of which she did not care for , but she did like his supplement 25 . ( ) Spot was also observed sleeping by Data , and underwent muscle spasm s during . ( ) Spot also appeared in Data ' s dream s . ( ) Data unsuccessfully tried to train Spot , since she often tried to get attention when he was working . He used several methods including conditioned - response exercises , environmental enhancement , and bioconditioning devices , such as sensor nets for behavioral modification or biofeedback motivators . Upon noticing how readily Data would respond to Spot ' s requests for attention and playtime , Geordi La Forge joked that it was actually Spot who was successfully " training " Data . On another occasion , when Worf tried to give Spot commands , Spot did not respond to them . ( ) Spot was a relatively fickle cat with people , and only seemed to get along well with Data and Reginald Barclay , which the latter found surprising . In 2369 , while taking care of Spot , Commander Riker was forced to go to sickbay when she scratched his face . The next year , La Forge borrowed Spot , since he wanted to see what having a pet cat was like . They did not get along well , either . In 2370 , Worf briefly took care of her , though he found himself allergic . He simply fed her . ( ) In 2369 , Spot became pregnant by one of the twelve male cats aboard the " Enterprise " - D at that time . Data paid attention to her health , including bringing her to sickbay for a check - up just before giving birth . ( ) In 2370 , Spot played an integral part in saving the crew of the " Enterprise " - D . While Data and Jean - Luc Picard were on an away mission , a synthetic T - cell became airborne and infected the crew and the animal s . This caused inactive parts of their genetic code to activate and essentially " de - evolve " them , including Spot . She gave birth to her litter while also de - evolving into a reptile . When Data and Picard returned , they found her and saw that her kittens were unaffected . They realized that the natural defense mechanisms in the placenta , which protect infants from the mother ' s diseases while in the womb , might prove useful in creating an antidote . This led Data to develop a cure using amniotic fluid from Nurse Ogawa , who was also pregnant at the time . ( ) In 2371 , Spot survived the destruction of the " Enterprise " - D . Data , via his newly installed emotion chip , cried tears of joy over Spot ' s survival . Spot would continue to live with Data until his death in 2379 . Spot then met B - 4 aboard the " Enterprise " - E . ( ; ; ) Appendices . Background information . Spot first appeared in as a male , long - haired Somali cat . In subsequent appearances , Spot was seen as a more common American short - hair orange tabby , but still as a male . It was only in the seventh - season episode " Force of Nature " that Spot was first referred to as " she " . In , she even gave birth . The jokingly suggests that Spot may be a shapeshifter or the victim of a transporter malfunction . Spot was played by unknown long - haired Somali cats in his first two appearances and trained by Gary Gero and Scott Hart from Birds & Animals Unlimited . Spot ' s appearance was changed into an orange tabby cat beginning with the sixth season when Rob Bloch from Critters of the Cinema took over the animal casting and training . During his time on " The Next Generation " , Spot was then played by Monster , Brandy and Bud and later also by Tyler , trained by Rob Bloch and Karen Thomas - Kolakowski . In the first draft script of , Spot ended up on the holodeck while the holoprogram of the was running , prompting Riker to call to Data , " " Will you get your damn cat off the Holodeck ! " " When it was decided that Spot would appear in " Star Trek Generations " , Critters of the Cinema trainers Bloch , Thomas - Kolakowski and Kelli Cole trained the cats Monster and Brandy and their back - ups Spencer and Zoe . While Monster appeared in the scenes earlier in the film , when a more spunky Spot was required , Brandy was the cat seen at the end of the movie . Critters of the Cinema was not called back for the production of . A scene that was cut from revealed that Worf was left to care for Spot . In the scene , Worf and La Forge were cleaning out Data ' s quarters . Worf heard a noise , and looked up . Immediately after , Spot jumped into his arms . Worf stated that he " was not a cat person . " La Forge then said , " " You are now . " " This scene , along with other deleted scenes , was added as an extra on the Special Edition DVD . While the character of Data loved Spot , Brent Spiner is noted as possibly having an , albeit minor , dislike for the cat . In the commentary of , it was stated that he did not want to go back for Spot , and during an interview in the 2010 Wizard World in Philadelphia , he said , in a joking manner , that he thought the cat was " the stupidest actor I ' ve ever worked with , " saying that [ s ] he " never took a piece of direction , ever . " Except for one time where " They " ( presumably the writers ) wrote in " Spot eats tuna out of a can . And he did it on the first take , otherwise we were there all day with that cat . " Spot is the second of four recurring pets ; the others were Livingston , Chester , and Porthos . Another pet on the " Enterprise " - D was Christina , a Lycosa tarantula owned by Chief Miles O ' Brien . Apocrypha . In the TNG short story " On The Spot " from the anthology " The Sky ' s the Limit " , following the scene depicted in the film deleted scene where Spot jumps into his arms , Worf assumes the role of caretaker for Spot after Data ' s death . Worf , after Spot assists with hunting down an alien infestation on the " Enterprise " , states that he finds her to be a warrior , who simply lulls people into a false confidence of a cat .