[Work in progress]

About

Staring Cat, also known as Gusic and Swag Cat, refers to a ginger cat known for his photographs in which it stares directly at the camera. Starting in early 2018, the photographs have been used in memes on Instagram, iFunny and Reddit, often paired together with Walter, Staring Hamster and other Staring Animals.

Origin

On December 25th, 2017, Instagram^[1] account @swgcat posted the first photograph of a ginger cat of unknown name looking at the camera (shown below, left), posting more photographs in the following days. On January 6th, 2018, the account^[2] posted the currently most recognized photograph of the cat, with the post receiving over 2,500 likes in two years (shown below, right).

On January 4th, 2018, Instagram user blastingdg posted the earliest known meme based on the photographs of the cat, with the video receiving over 2,000 views and 360 likes in two years. A repost of the video by @swgcat received over 5,400 views and 970 likes in the same period.

Spread

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References