10 of the Most Famous Cat Memes as of 2020
Let’s face it, cats can get up to some crazy antics in real life. So it’s no surprise that they’ve also entertained the world as some of the funniest and most memorable memes online. Here, we run through the list of the internet’s top 10 cat memes of all time.
Think you’re a meme meow-stro? Will you instantly recognise these 10 famous cat memes? Let’s find out.
#10: Cat with Prosthetic Hands
Image: https://twitter.com/apricotbelly
This meme features cats with tiny fake human hands in various positions. Starting in 2017, twitter user @apricotbelly posted the series of photos above, and the post received more than 249,000 likes and 154,000 retweets in less than three years.
Besides looking adorable, it also sparked off other images in 2020 that had cats (first a black then a white one) looking very thoughtful. These new photos blew up on Reddit with 72,000 points collectively, and 24,000 likes on Twitter in a matter of days.
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cats-with-prosthetic-hands
#9 Overly attached cat
Image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/384846730631413982/
Showing up on the internet in 2014 (or even earlier) this meme depicts a wide-eyed cat that has been photoshopped to smile, giving it an extra-eager look.
Image: https://imgflip.com/tag/overly+attached+cat
The meme is basically used in instances of somewhat creepily eager behaviour, which is hilarious considering how adorably innocent the kitty looks.
#8 Scared cat
Image: https://imgflip.com/tag/scared+cat?sort=latest&after=1c82g0
According to Google trends, this meme first became prominent in 2010, however has grown increasingly over the years, hitting a peak in November 2019. It features, well, a scared looking cat, with the text spelling out an appropriately frightening situation.
Image: https://imgflip.com/i/3wgt8b
It’s a fairly simple, yet effective and funny meme. Due to its easy usage for a myriad of situations, it has managed to stay popular for a decade now—even being used to respond to this year’s coronavirus pandemic. 😷
#7 Coughing cat
Image: https://twitter.com/40ozAliah
Speaking of the ongoing pandemic, here’s a cat that really needs to wear a mask. In Dec 2018, Twitter user @40ozAliah posted a photo of a cat with a photoshopped cat, pointing out that it looks like how children cough. It might have been the uncanny resemblance, or just how strange the image looked, but the tweet went viral, garnering close to 600,000 likes to date.
Image: https://filmdaily.co/news/coughing-cat-memes/
Not only did people validate the likeness in various forms of tweets, coughing cat became so popular that companies are even making t-shirts, mugs, and phone cases with the meme’s image. Talk about viral!
#6 Anxiety cat
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anxiety-cat
While the photo of the cat itself first appeared in a demotivational poster in 2007, it became popularised with the yellow and purple background on Tumblr in 2011, with search interest peaking around October that year.
The meme usually starts with a situation, then continues to an anxious reaction. Why it’s so popular is that though many of the reactions or feelings are exaggerated, they’re also pretty relatable—and the end result is hilarity.
#5 Crying cat
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crying-cat/photos
The meme first appeared in 2014 from an anonymous meme generator but reached its peak in late 2019. The original features a white cat, photoshopped to look teary-eyed and absolutely inconsolable. It then became a trend that featured other cats with the same expression in various situations to allude to different circumstances.
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crying-cat/photos
Why it’s funny is that it exaggerates the sadness of everyday experiences that people can easily relate to, and well, who can turn away from a distraught kitty?
#4 Heavy breathing cat
Image: https://imgflip.com/meme/Heavy-Breathing-Cat
Appearing first in late 2013 and reaching peak popularity in March 2014, this meme was often used as a response to mouth-watering food posted on the internet. It features a staring fat cat with the simple ‘heavy breathing’ caption.
Image: https://imgflip.com/meme/Heavy-Breathing-Cat
Since then, the meme has also been used to respond to a wide variety of situations that require, well, heavy breathing. One thing’s for sure, we won’t get tired of seeing this little round one’s face no matter the circumstance.
#3 Polite cat
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/polite-cat
On June 7th, 2018, this photograph of a cat was submitted to the humor site 9gag in June 2018 and gathered upwards of 1,200 points within two months. Netizens noted how polite it looked, and ran with it, creating multiple variations over time.
The meme is often used to address having to ‘suck it up’ in unpleasant situations, and though the cat’s photoshopped face is a little unnatural, it definitely sums up how one feels under said circumstances. #relatable.
#2 Grumpycat
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat
This iconic cat named Tardar Sauce was first posted on Reddit in September 2012, reaching more than 25,300 up votes in 24 hours, and nearly 1,030,000 views in the first 48 hours on Imgur. Unlike some of the previous entries that were photoshopped, Tardar naturally had this extremely grumpy face, which is mainly why he became such a legend.
Image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/650277633688464296/
It seems inevitable that netizens turned Tardar into a meme, with the grumpiest captions they could think of. He eventually had a website, social media accounts with over a million followers and scores of merchandise. Sadly, in May 2019, Grumpy Cat died at age seven after contacting a urinary tract infection. His legacy however, still lives on.
#1 Woman yelling at cat
Image: https://thetab.com/uk/2019/11/13/best-woman-yelling-at-cat-memes-131890
If you’ve used the internet or social media at all in the past year, you would have already seen at least 1 iteration of this meme.
The angry accusing image is of Taylor Armstrong having a meltdown in an episode from season 2 of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in December 2011. The cat, named Smudge, appeared on Tumblr in June 2018 and itself, gained over 50,300 likes and reblogs in one year.
But it was only in May 2019 when Twitter user @MISSINGEGIRL put the 2 images together did it really blow up. It gained over 78,900 retweets and 276,800 likes in two months and has since allowed netizens to come up with all sorts of uses for it.
Image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/woman-yelling-at-a-cat
The meme was usually used to depict exaggerated reactions and a dumbfounded victim (or sometimes, just playing a victim). However it also then evolved as a response to poorly thought out signs, where the woman would argue the intended purpose, but the cat saying it as it is seen.
For its many uses and prevailing amusement, you can be sure this is one meme that will be staying around for years to come.
Do you agree with our list? Did we miss any cat memes?
Think we missed out on any quintessential cat memes? Tell us on our social channels, we’ll update this list periodically when a new kitty inevitably becomes the next overnight cat sensation.
