On Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Youtube, even on otherwise reputable news sites (possibly the only thing the Guardian and the Daily Mail have in common). In fact, if you open your fridge right now there is probably an internet cat bore sitting in there desperate to share with you their OMG SOOOO CUTE video of a kitten yawning and falling into a teapot.
What is it about cats and internet users? What IS it? Fair enough, there are also a few pugs, sloths and baby panda GIFs kicking about, but you can't deny that cats are the bread and butter of online existence. Cats falling asleep, cats on treadmills, cats who say no, cats vs. printers, cats in space, the list goes on.
NB. The cat really says "NO!". I can't watch this without feeling mildly hysterical.
Why is the internet full of cats?
The thing is this. If you have enough patience you can teach a dog to do pretty much anything. Watching a dog doing something wacky is only really as funny as watching a blatantly staged You've Been Framed Clip of somebody running into the side of one of those inflatable swimming pools and spilling all of the water and occupants into their back yard.
But a cat? A cat is a proud beast, who thinks of itself as quite superior to a human. A cat only does what it wants to do. A cat looking ridiculous? IS FUNNY. It's a bit like the school bully forgetting his PE kit and having to wear something frilly out of lost property. We chuckle to ourselves - haha, we say, not so smug now, eh Felix? Whilst deep down we suspect that in a parallel universe it is we who are popping in and out of a toilet roll, and all the cats are laughing at us.
When we see cats looking preposterous, it makes us feel better about ourselves. It's the only explanation.
Now. Next question, class.
If we took the cats out of the internet, would there be an internet left?
Oh, get back to work. All of you!
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