People on the Internet love cats. I can’t think of a dog in the last few years that has even come close to going viral, except for maybe (sort of) Tyson the skateboarding bulldog, or Denver the guilty dog, or all those videos of dogs greeting soldiers coming home (which, if you want a good cry, is a good place to go).
In fact, in my hard-hitting research for this article, I realized that there is a whole Wikipedia page with famous cats, a lot of which are Internet famous. The corresponding list of famous dogs are all dogs who a) are/were movie stars, b) were heroes, or c) died when their owners died or visited their graves or something.
The most famous cat right now is Grumpy Cat, the cat who, obviously, looks grumpy all the time. Her owner’s brother posted a picture and then a video of Grumpy Cat and from then on, she took off. People loved her grumpy face. Now, you can even buy licensed merchandise such as t-shirts and mugs. She appeared at South by Southwest last year where she caused a sensation during each of her daily two-hour appearances. The cat herself made low six-figures by spring of 2013. The corporation Grumpy Cat Ltd. has an estimated value of $1 million. This cat is rich because it has a weird face.
Speaking of weird faces, Lil Bub, a “perma-kitten” with facial deformities that causes her tongue to stick out, was so popular that she is the star of both a movie and a web series. She also attends book signings, goes on talk shows, does photo shoots, and sells merchandise. Lil Bub’s owner, Mike Brivadsky, donates a portion of the merchandise sales to various animal shelters. Again, Lil Bub is famous for looking funny.
Keyboard Cat, who died before attaining Internet fame, is famous for a video his owner made, where it looked like he was wearing a shirt and playing the piano. Keyboard Cat is famous for being tolerant of his owner manipulating his limbs to make a funny video.
Maru is a cat famous for sitting in boxes.
Some of these cats are so famous that they require a manager: enter Ben Lashes, a talent manager who appears to specialize in Internet memes: he manages Grumpy Cat, Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat (the cartoon cat with a pop-tart body), Ridiculously Photogenic Guy (AKA Zeddie Little, the smiling and not-sweaty marathon runner), and Scumbag Steve and Success Kid of the memes of the same name.
Google Grumpy Cat, and article after article comes up. Google Denver the Guilty Dog, the only viral dog I can think of, and all that comes up is the original YouTube video and a website for a book series about her. She has nowhere near the attention that even Nyan Cat has gotten – who, let’s reiterate, is a cartoon cat with a pop-tart body.
There are a variety of articles out there attempting to answer the question, “Why are cats more popular than dogs on the Internet?” I’m biased: I’m a dog person. They’re cute, they’re loyal, and they want to be your friend. I also like cats. I’ve had cats all my life, but there’s only one that I’ve ever loved – my current cat Wicket, and it’s probably not a coincidence that I love her because she is friendly and cuddly like a dog.
Jack Shepherd, who runs Buzzfeed’s cute animal section, posits in the Guardian that when dogs do something funny, it’s because they want you to like them. They’re trying to impress you. When cats do something funny, it’s because they’re not trying that makes it funny. It’s essentially how playing it cool and playing hard to get is effective a lot of the time in dating situations: we’re more attracted to people who don’t try to win our approval.
Other theories, which I think are reaching, is that cats resemble human babies. They’re easy to anthropomorphize and historically, humans are fascinated by cats.
I also think a big reason is that the cat is a reflection of Internet-users at large. The stereotype of someone who spends a lot of time on the Internet is that they’re introverted, they don’t like to spend a lot of time with others, and they want to do exactly what they want to do at that time – they don’t want to please others, they just want to please themselves. Not to say that the stereotypical Internet-user is selfish, just that they’re not people pleasers. And that’s why so many people relate to cats: cats don’t want so spend their time pleasing others; they just do exactly what they want – something that perhaps hardcore Internet users wish they could do.
