Orange Cat Behavior

Submission 49,469

Part of a series on Cats. [View Related Entries]

About

Orange Cat Behavior and Orange Cats Share One Brain Cell refers to the widespread notion and cliche that orange (ginger) cats are more chaotic, more affectionate and more stupid than other types of cats. The stereotype first started gaining spread online in 2019, and, supported by viral stories such as that of Jorts the Cat, achieved major recognition in 2022.

Origin

Social media posts singling out orange cats as more chaotic and stupid than other cats have been going viral at least since 2019. For example, on November 16th, 2019, Twitter^[1] user @ulat_bulu_bulu posted a video of an orange cat fishing for items in a drawer, captioning it, "orange cat is the crackhead of cat." The video (shown below) received over 3,200 retweets and 4,900 likes in four years.

On April 16th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user @AssholeGentlem1 tweeted that orange cats are the "true harbingers of chaos and destruction," with the tweet gaining over 280 retweets and 4,900 likes in three years (shown below).

On November 6th, 2020, Facebook^[3] page All orange cats share 1 brain cell was created, accumulating over 126,300 members in three years, becoming a major driving force behind the spread of the stereotype.

Spread

The stereotype gradually drew more public attention through 2021. Most notably, on December 13th, 2021, Redditor throwawayorangecat made a post in the /r/AmItheAsshole^[4] subreddit in which he described an obtuse orange cat named Jorts at his work, which then went viral (shown below).

In 2022, the meme received further spread on TikTok where users shared memes about orange cats sharing one single brain cell between all of them, with only one cat getting to use it each given day. For example, on August 26th, 2022, TikToker^[5] @mildwestsami posted a video about her orange cat that accumulated over 25.9 million views and 6.7 million likes in seven months (shown below, left). On December 2nd, TikToker^[6] @starlitmachine posted a meme that gained over 180,000 views and 13,200 likes in four months (shown below, right).

On February 18th, 2022, the /r/OneOrangeBraincell^[7] subreddit was established for the purpose of collecting Orange Cat Behavior content. The subreddit accumulated over 330,000 followers in one year (viral posts^[8]^[9] shown below, left and right).

Memes and jokes about orange cats being more chaotic and stupid than other cats maintained their presence online across all major social media platforms in 2023.