“Don’t Show Your Cat”: 40 Chucklesome Cat Pics And Memes Shared By This X Page

Don’t Show Your Cat is an X (formerly Twitter) page that is hard to put a claw on. The overarching theme seems to be sharing pictures that the cats themselves wouldn’t probably share with the rest of the world. Or at least, not as their profile picture.

But over half a million people—504,300 as of this listicle—are all for it, so whatever it is, it’s working.

And why wouldn’t it work? Cats rule the internet, remember?

Pics of cats minding their own business—like being absolutely furious with you waking them up, derping out on the bed, using others as beds, ruining your kitchen’s feng shui, and visually representing how I feel inside—is exactly what folks online tune in for.

Don’t Show Your Cat is a sister page to Show Your Cat, a.k.a. Memes To Show Your Cat. This one shares memes and pics of cats that folks can relate to. Actually, memes and pics of cats that cats can relate to. You know, bossing you around, being the king of the bed, that sort of deal.

Anywho, because memes are so shareable due to their ability to capture a relatable moment, a thought or feeling in a visual, social media-friendly style, it’s only natural why cats took the world by storm this way. And memes are essentially timeless for that same reason. Just slap new text on it and it can continue to thrive. Even more so with cat pics.

The other element in the popularity of cat memes is the cats themselves. Cats are one of the most popular pets to have around the house, and their quirkiness and cuteness make them perfect for memes. Sorry, purrfect. Seldom do people stare blankly at a cat that’s stuck in a funny position or a picture of a cat moments before a sneeze.

Part of the relatability of cat memes (or any kind of meme, to be honest) is the idea of self-expression. Since memes have become a form of communication, expressing how you feel or what you think through a visual representation of a cat has simply become the way it goes nowadays. You know the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, a meme is definitely often more spot-on in its expression than a wall of text.

There’s also this thing called meme economics. As cat memes rose to fame, an entirely new industry was born that capitalized on this. Meme creators can finally get paid for memes by using social media platforms in combination with ad revenue, sponsorships and merchandise.

And you better believe that cats have cewebrity status. We’ve all heard of Grumpy Cat and Nyan Cat. Then there’s that one cat being yelled at by a woman, polite cat, heavy breathing cat, crying cat… you get the gist. Just like monorail cat, ceiling cat and the other classics, these too now are household names among memesters (and closed work groups with not enough to do so they create emojis using cat memes).

According to statistics, there are somewhere between 600 million and 1 billion cats in the world. Between the 480 million cats that are strays and the 373 million who have forever homes, that is a lot of meme potential.

We’re gonna circle back and say that cats rule the internet. And so you can continue on the virtual feline path and check out more listicles from Bored Panda–namely about people who found cats that weren’t theirs in their houses.

If you’re calling it a night, at least leave a comment and an upvote to restore balance to the earth. Or something.