Cats! Because Internet! The Stories Behind These Viral Images of Cats

Let's face it: we are literally obsessed with cats. In fact, we are so cat-centered that your chance of being noticed on the internet without tweeting, sharing and talking about your fluffy feline is slim, to say the least. It's quite straightforward - if you want to become an instant Internet celebrity, one thing is certain: you will need a cat. Star it, in either a photo, a short gif animation or a HD video, like the footage the Polaroid Cube captures, and you're basically good to go. 

There are literally thousands of channels available online to share your cat's photos, videos, and stories, but only a few can make you an instant success. There are also thousands of cat owners that create and share their own content featuring their beloved pets. However, only a few of them ever become viral and instantly recognizable. Let's see the stories behind some of the viral images of cats on the Internet:

1. Grumpy Cat

(http://www.freeallimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/grumpy-cat-no-1.jpg)

Tardar Sauce is Grumpy's real name, but, honestly, that's a detail that really doesn't matter on the Internet. Born on April 4, 2012, in a small town in Arizona, Grumpy owes its success to its amazing grumpy facial expression. Its adorable grumpy-looking face is caused by an under bite and feline dwarfism, a rare genitival condition that affects less than 1 percent of cats worldwide.

So how did it all start?

Grumpy's popularity literally exploded after being shared on Reddit by its owner's brother on September 22, 2012. Tardar Sauce was only a 6-month old kitten at that time, but its first images instantly became a hit. Hundreds of image macros were created with different captions, including digitally processed images, collages, and various other artwork in the following months.

The cat's popularity grew steadily after 2013, being a hit sensation on many forums, social media platforms or video sharing platforms. Its official Facebook page has more than 8 million fans and the cat was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and on the cover of New York Times. Now, Grumpy Cat is getting its personal animatronic waxwork at the Madame Tussauds Museum in San Francisco. Let's hope that the weekly photo sessions featuring Grumpy Cat will continue to amuse Internet users for a long time to come.

2. Ceiling Cat

(http://www.catster.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ceilingcatoriginalEDIT_0.jpg)

Ceiling Cat is one of the best-known LOLcats on the Internet. Depicting a cat peeping through a hole in the ceiling of a room, this image quickly became a popular meme since it was first posted on 4chan.

So how did it all start?

The image was posted on 4chan sometime in 2003, but its origins are uncertain. Some say that the cat belongs to a Wikipedia user named Samguana, but nobody can confirm this information. Other forum posters have claimed to know the cat, but no one knew this for certain. Apparently, a user on the Something Awful website has suggested that the cat passed away in 2010. The image has since become an Internet sensation, having hundreds, if not thousands of variations and captions, the most popular being “I see you pee”.

3. OMG Cat

( http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/515/629/9bd.gif )

OMG cat is heavily featured on multiple online forums, social media platforms, and chatrooms, but few know its origins. Chocolate, the cat's real name, was first posted online on a Japanese chatroom called 2channel in March 2010. The user wanted information on how to deal with the cat's jaw problems. The cat became an instant success, being featured on numerous videos on YouTube and other video sharing platforms. Hundreds of variations, mashups, reaction clips and mimic videos were posted in a matter of months. The cat gained increased popularity when Justin Bieber parodied it on April Fools' Day in 2011.

 

Flaviu Mircea is a professional student and freelance writer who has a passion for videography. If you would like to learn more about Flaviu, you can check out his google+ profile.