Also called First World Cat Problems · Sad Kitten Problems
A kitten rests its head on a sofa as if life has become unbearable. Give it a tiny complaint about food, attention, or the inconveniences of being a pampered house cat.
The sad expression gives a minor inconvenience more weight than it deserves. The cat is comfortable, but one detail has failed to meet its very particular standards.
Write from the cat’s point of view. The best complaints make sense to a cat while sounding unreasonable to the person who feeds it.
Know Your Meme records this kitten photograph in a Quickmeme submission to Reddit’s r/AdviceAnimals on January 11, 2012. Its caption complained about clean laundry being outside the sunlight. Earlier cat-problem jokes used other images, including a standing cat in September 2011. [1]
On January 17, 2012, Reddit user SadlyOptimistic8 shared a version about wanting to sleep on a keyboard only when someone was using the computer. The surviving thread includes the caption transcript and the poster’s response to reaching Reddit’s front page. [2] [1]
Know Your Meme records a standing-cat image about being offered dry food. It is a predecessor, not this kitten photograph. [1]
A Quickmeme caption about laundry and sunlight is shared on r/AdviceAnimals. [1]
SadlyOptimistic8 shares another example and celebrates reaching the front page in the replies. [2]
Put the situation in the space at the upper left. Place the complaint along the bottom, below the kitten’s face.
Give the cat something it ought to appreciate, then explain the unreasonable objection. Beds, boxes, doors, and food bowls all offer small details a cat could take very seriously.
Original captions to try with this template.
The useful purchase matters less to the cat than its packaging.
Getting through the door is apparently less important than asking someone to help.
A small gap in the bowl becomes a reason to complain.
References for this template. Example captions are original.
Distinguishes the earlier cat images from the January 2012 resting-kitten captions.
Preserves the keyboard-caption transcript and the poster’s discussion of the front-page response.
