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Where Did The 'Furry Parents Fighting' Image Come From? Memes Inspired By A Crying Furry Wolf Explained
It's not often that a furry artist gets their work turned into a viral meme, but getting your vent art turned into a meme has to be a badge of honor.
Brazilian furry artist @Tatujapa seems to agree, according to recent posts where they XD reacted to learning that people are still making memes out of their Furry Parents Fighting artwork.
People had been making memes out of the artwork for years, typically sharing a very low-resolution version of the piece to joke about what it feels like when you're third-wheeling and a couple starts fighting or when people start bickering in the video game voice chat.
The exploitable meme basically became a template to joke about feeling victimized in very low-stakes scenarios. But how did a FurAffinity furry drawing become a meme anyway? Here's a recap, including what its original creator thinks of the meme.
Where Did The Original 'Furry Parents Fighting' Artwork Come From?
On June 1st, 2016, FurAffinity user Tatujapa posted an image called "Trauma." The image depicted a bruised and battered anthropomorphic wolf crying while large shadows behind him show his parents arguing, and a clearly male wolf holding a large bottle, possibly indicating that the artist had experienced domestic violence at the hands of an alcoholic father.
It seems as though someone picked up the image from the site and reposted it to the subreddit /r/terriblefacebookmemes with an ironic caption nearly a year later on December 16th, 2017. The post had the text "So Sad Gamer Moment, Can We Get 1000 Like" slapped onto it in Impact font.
How Did The Furry Parents Fighting Meme Spread?
The meme only really began to gain traction in 2023 after it had been screenshotted and reposted so many times that it was now moldy and super low-quality.
On September 24th, 2023, Redditor realdemon_ posted a version of the image captioned, "when the mods start arguing in #general" (referencing Discord), gathering over 400 upvotes in seven months, while iFunny user @Barnicle_Fucboi posted a blurry version of the image with each character labeled with a Red Dead Redemption character in February 2024, gathering over 4,000 likes in three months.
Amid the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake feud in early April 2024, X user @KeitrelPick6 posted a blurry version of the image with the caption, "This is what it feels like to be a Kendrick and J Cole fan rn," gathering over 1,900 likes in a month, and X user @wormbarf posted the image a few weeks later with the caption, "when you’re third wheeling and they start to argue," gathering over 80,000 likes in two weeks.
What Does The Original Artist Think About All The Memes?
On February 4th, 2025, X user @Tatujapa (the original artist behind the furry art turned meme) finally responded and replied to a post about the artwork, explaining how they created it as "vent art," that they are in a better position in their life now, and that they enjoy the memes being created with it.
For the full history of the Furry Parents Fighting meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
