Eleanor Abernathy[58] (voiced by Tress MacNeille), better known as the Crazy Cat Lady, is a woman with the appearance and behavior of a stereotypical mentally ill person. She first appears in "Girly Edition". Abernathy is always surrounded by a large number of cats, and in every appearance she screams gibberish and/or throws cats at passersby.[59] She gives Lisa one of her cats, Snowball V, who looks exactly like her original Snowball II.[60]

Abernathy was once a bright vibrant, young woman whose dreams came to a tragic end. When she was eight, Abernathy wanted to be a doctor and a lawyer because she believed a woman can be whatever she wants to be if she just sets her mind to it. At 16, she began studying for law school, and by 24 she earned a law degree from Yale Law School and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Sadly, when she turned 32, Abernathy suffered from psychological exhaustion, became an alcoholic, and sought solace in her pet cat. Eight years later, the once-promising young doctor/lawyer has now become a raving, cat-hoarding lunatic.[61] Abernathy briefly reverts to her sanity and high intelligence thanks to some pills that she shows the Simpsons, but after Marge points out that the pills are actually Reese's Pieces candy, Abernathy abruptly resumes her deranged behavior.[62] When participating in a mayoral election, she lucidly discusses topics such as health care, economy and public education in between her screams and gibberish.[58]

In the episode "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe," Abernathy reveals that she once owned a cat with Moe Szyslak after he says that there "Is a much creepier guy right next to me." from a public library computer. She yells "You know I'm a woman!" and also that their cat had kittens; she then proclaims that "These are yours!" and insanely throws three cats at him. She is also seen in "The Blue and the Gray" flirting (and swapping animals) with another mentally ill person carrying dogs, who has been affectionately nicknamed 'Crazy Dog Man'. In the episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream," Abernathy is shown to be a hoarder. After Marge helps her clean up her house, she begins speaking normally and wearing proper clothing. Later, in an attempt to fix Marge's new hoarding problem, Abernathy reverts to her crazy self, reclaiming all of the hoarded junk and calling her cats back to her.[63]