Feline great: Bidens getting cat for White House

'She is waiting in the wings,' first lady Jill Biden said of a White House cat

US President Joe Biden stops to pick a dandelion for first lady Jill Biden near the White House in Washington. Reuters

Stand by for a major power shift in the White House: the dog-loving Bidens are getting a cat.

"Yes that is true ... she is waiting in the wings," first lady Jill Biden told NBC's Today show, in an interview broadcast on Friday.

The long-rumoured arrival of a first feline, which Press Secretary Jen Psaki once warned would "break the internet," means a new challenge for the Bidens' rambunctious German Shepherd Major.

He has already experienced teething problems in settling into America's most famous address.

The young former rescue dog, a faithful companion to the far older German shepherd Champ, was sent away for training in April after several biting incidents.

President Joe Biden said Champ's unpresidential behaviour was down to the way he gets surprised by Secret Service agents and others appearing around every corner in the busy White House complex.

Now the over-eager Major will have to use his new coping skills with a cat too.

"That was part of his training. They took him into a shelter with cats and he did fine," Ms Biden said.