If you thought picking up your cats when coming back from vacation is as easy as popping them in the carrier, then this story will make you think twice and hatch a backup plan in case your cats decided to pull a runner just as you come to carry them home.

It is a heartbreaking scene to hear about. A pawrent comes back from a much needed vacation, missing their cats deeply. Only to have one of them bolt the moment their pawrent approaches. Not only making their pawrent's longing go unquashed, but also making them feel deeply unwanted. Of course no pawrent comes prepared for such a pick up situation, which makes the event even more stressful and you are left with a pawrent whose rest and relaxation has gone out the window never to be seen again, a holiday wasted if you ask us.

But being the diligent cat mom that this hooman is, she did not give up and persisted in the purrsuit of her cat child until they were reunited. One thing is for sure, this pawrent will come prepared for madness upon pick up the next time they leave their cat in the care of someone else. 
 

Have you ever sat down with a delicious sandwich only to realize you're being watched by a pair of unblinking, judgmental eyes?

If you live with a foodie feline, you know that "personal space" is just a myth and "your" dinner is actually "our" dinner. It's a full-time job defending your plate from a tiny predator who thinks a crust of bread is a trophy worth fighting for.

These cat connoisseurs have a special talent for appearing out of thin air the exact microsecond a tuna can click open. They might be snoring in a sunbeam, but as soon as food is involved, they're launching a tactical strike on your charcuterie board with zero shame and even less table manners. Whether they're sporting a "yogurt mustache" or trying to stick their entire head into a cereal bowl, their dedication to the crunch is honestly aspirational.

It's a chaotic lifestyle, but sharing your home with a snack-obsessed furball means every meal is an adventure. From the dramatic "starving" meows to the silent paw-reach for your pizza, these deliciously derpy moments are the secret ingredient to a purrfect weekend.

We think that "don't do to your pet what you wouldn't do to your kid" is a rule of thumb that every pet pawrent should adhere to, no exceptions.

Think about it: As you wouldn't prevent your kid from having a meal, you shouldn't prevent your pet from having a meal. As you wouldn't raise your hand on your kid, you should definitely never raise your hand on your pet. As you wouldn't abandon your kid in a stranger's house to never be heard from again, you should never abandon your pet like that. But this one woman abandoned her cat just like that. And we'll never understand why anyone would think this is an acceptable behavior.

What in the world could make a person abandon their cat, their pet that they adopted? Sure, she might've thought she was leaving her with a friend, in a safe space, but the friend wasn't the one adopting, committing, or wanting a cat. When you adopt, you adopt the responsibility for the cat, period. You are the one in charge of their well-being, their health, and their life. How could someone just… leave a cat?

Despite this being beyond our understanding, we love that the wholesome online feline family comes to the aid each and every time - with good advice, with listening ears, and with a worldwide shared love for cats.

AI can do some pretty cool stuff, but it will never outpurr a classic feline photo full of all-natural cat comedy.

Like the rest of the world, you've probably had to deal with some level of AI integration in your daily life by now. Whether it's being used to assist you at work, it's replaced your coworkers entirely, or you're using it to generate silly pictures of you and your cat in the Bahamas, AI is here to stay, and there's not much we can do about it.

There are two camps of thought about AI: pro, or against. The ones who are against have very valid claims - that all of its "art" is generated by stealing the work of millions of artists online and creating pale imitations of their works without giving any credit to the artists who were used to train it. Another purrfectly important point is that every use of AI uses a lot of energy and water, so much so that it's literally clearing out whole towns to put large data centers in their place and using gallons of fresh water to generate a single image. 

Others are pro AI: they know that it's here to stay, and it's all about how we use it. Your purrsonal decision to avoid AI won't stop the whole world from using it, so they educate themselves and use it in a smart way. 

But us though? We're pro cat. As cool as AI is, it will never beat the classic comedy of a candid cat photo. That's because cats are purrfeclty unpredictable in a way that AI could never imagine. It doesn't matter whether you're pro or against AI here, all that matters is you believe that cats will always and furrever leave AI behind in the litter box.

If you're cold, they're probably not cold because they're pallas' cats. They were built for the snow and have adopted the most awwdorable habit to survive in freezing temperatures.

In general, cats are not built for the cold. They like warm things, like space heaters, blankets, and body heat from their hoomans. If you live in a place where it snows and you've tried to let your cat investigate the snow, most of them will take one tiny step and then immediately retreat back inside. And we relate to that. We're not cold-weather people. Give us a beach and a cloudless day over a snowy winter with frigid temperatures any day. 

But there is one cat that actually enjoys the snow, and that cat is none other than the furbulously floofy pallas' cat. These fearless floofballs can stand the cold because they have ultra-dense fur coats with twice the thickness of a normal cat's coat. They also have small, rounded ears that prevent heat loss, as opposed to your average house cat with cutesy triangle ears.

That's not even the best part though. Pallas' cats will stand on their fluffy tails to keep their purrfect paws warm in wet snow. It's quite pawssibly the cutest thing we've ever seen, and believe us, we've seen a lot of cute things here at the I Can Has Cheezburger offices. 

If you're needing some inspawration to brave the bitter winter cold outside, look no further than these meowrvelous manuls, AKA pallas' cats. May the floof be with you!

The sooner you find out whether you are compatible or not for the long-term, the better. And pets are part of that. 

Our one piece of advice for every cat owner - or pet owner in general - when we speak to about relationships is to check whether you are compatible as soon as you possibly can. There are always going to be surprises and challenges down the line, but at the very least, the things that you know you might have an issue with should be discussed. Listen, we, as people who write about cats every single day, have seen way too many stories about people breaking up over pets, and that is not a situation that we want anyone to be in. 

We've seen couples break up because on of them couldn't handle living with the cat. We've seen people be jealous of their partner's cats and the love that their partners show their cats and break up over that. We have seen people who have been together for a long time give their partners an ultimatum about their cat - it's either them or the cat. And all of that could have been avoided if only a proper discussion had been had right from the beginning. Do it like the two women in this story did. 

Cats can adopt you anywhere, anytime. 

And we're not joking. This is something that we have learned over our time both as cat owners and as people writing about cats on a daily basis. You could be doing anything, and if a cat wants to find you, it will find you. You could be working when a kitten is handed to you through the drive-through window. You could be going on a walk with your dogs when a kitten comes screaming at the dogs and adopts all of you. You could be sitting at home, at your computer, when a kitten flies in through your window and leaves you with no choice but to go out and buy kitten supplies. 

And maybe you are like this person, and all you did was go out to take out the trash. That's all it was, but somehow, it was a lifechanigng life-changing moment. Because out of the trashcan into which you tossed your trash came out an itty bitty kitten who was ready for a home. And if you are the home that the kitty chose, then really, you have no choice in the matter. You have to accept your fate and enjoy the consequences.

Why go "Brrrrrrrrrr," when you can go "meoooowwwww?" Cuddly cats are your best bet at staying warm during these snowy days. So let's enjoy them through memes! 

A cat stretch will always make you say ooh big stretch. 

Cats take stretching very seriously. It's not just a quick reach and move on. It's a full routine every single time. Front paws go out, back legs extend, toe beans spread, and sometimes there's a big yawn in the middle of it like they're really putting in the effort.

They stretch when they wake up, stretch before walking across the room, and then stretch again once they get there. It looks like they're getting ready for something important. Maybe a run. Maybe a jump. Maybe some kind of real activity. Most of the time, they're just preparing to sit somewhere else.

Every stretch is slow and a little dramatic. The back arch alone feels unnecessary but they do it anyway. Then they hold the pose for a second like they want you to see how well they did it. It's hard not to stop what you're doing when it happens because it always turns into a whole thing.

They'll finish the stretch, take a few steps, turn around, and lie right back down like it wore them out. All that effort just to nap in a slightly different spot.

They went to work a dog person and came home a cat person.

This person had always been a dog person and had no plans to get another pet anytime soon after losing their dog a few years ago. Living in a small apartment and working long days didn't seem like the right setup for bringing home a new animal, and they had been pretty firm about that decision with anyone who asked.

Then a kitten showed up alone in the McDonald's parking lot next to the vet clinic where they work. When they went to catch her, she didn't try to run or hide. Instead, she clung on the second she was picked up and stayed close for the rest of the day.

She spent that time in a kennel at the clinic, rubbing up against the bars whenever they walked by and crying when they left the room. With no microchip and no one coming forward to claim her, it didn't take long to realize she wasn't just passing through.

It's been two weeks now since this tiny kitten, estimated to be around five months old and weighing just 4.4 pounds, went home with them. Blue is the cat they never planned on having, but somehow ended up finding them anyway and fitting into their life in a way they didn't expect.

When you're feeling low, feline funnies are there to lift you up.

Do you think your cat would pay rent if they understood the concept? Or, do you think they'd freeload off of you until the point of no return? Sometimes, our felines are like that one roommate who refuses to clean their own dishes, refuses to replace the toilet paper even though they have finished the last roll, and never pays the utility bill, no matter how many times you ask them to. The difference? Cats do not hoomans, and do not have monetary capital in this world. They're basically newborn babies for the rest of their lives. It's cute, but we forget just how much they need sometimes!

Even still, we wouldn't want it any other way. We've signed our lives away to the idea of being pawesome pet parents with a knack for the more feline things in life. We need to make sure their water is as fresh as pawssible, their little brown crunchies are topped off at all times, and the best Churu flavors are at their disposal.

Without our furry felines, where would we be? Cute cattos have the pawtential to turn our frowns upside down when we feel like the world is ending, and we think that's beautiful. If your frown needs some love, scroll below! These feline funnies will get you going in no time!

We are always looking for motivation to work out more, and we finally found it… cat yoga.

We know all kinds of workout classes incorporate pawdorable animals into the syllabus, both to inspire more people to attend the classes and help the sweet fur babies find their forever homes. There is cat yoga, puppy pilates, and even goat yoga; all are classes where you work out while fluffy furriends run around you and generally make the experience so much better. 

While we love watching people enjoy these experiences just for the fun of it, nothing makes us happier than finding out that someone found their forever family during a class. What can be better than burning some calories and taking a sweet soulmate home with you at the end of the day? Who can even say no to that?

That is exactly what happened in the awwdorable video below. This woman was attending a cat yoga class when one of the beautiful kittens simply decided to choose her as a companion for the class. Throughout the entire lesson, this kitten stayed on her back and refused to leave her side. He was there, usually on top of her, while she did every pose, stretched, and relaxed. It was like he knew that they were meant to be.

By the end of the class, it became clear to the heartwarming hooman that she cannot leave this sweetheart behind. And since cat yoga classes usually encourage the adoption of the furry participants, she was able to immediately adopt the baby and take him home with her.

Now, she shares their combined journey online, while they fall in love, enjoy their time together, and happily do cat yoga at home. Keep scrolling to view the full story and some of the updates that followed, and make sure you scroll all the way down to watch the original video. After you're done, check out this sweet story of a cross-eyed cat who also found their forever hooman. While you do that, we're off to book a cat yoga class!

Thanks to the glorious world of cosplay, cats are able to take on all manner of pawsonalities and professions within and outside the feline world. And in this collection of feline fashionistas we have a whole heap of cosplaying cats in their fabulous outfits for you to enjoy.

Tis truly the most wonderful thing about cat pawrents being so obsessed with their fur babies, they always want to dress them up in  new and exciting clothes so that they can pretend to do anything from baking to saving the planet. Which for us, the viewing audience, is quite the marvelous show to watch, especially considering we have not had to wrestle a cat into a costume to make it happen ourselves.

And that is why we made this list of pics from the cat cosplay catalog, so that all of us feline fans who enjoy clothed cats can have a concentrated giggle, and so that any pawrents planning a kitty costume party can have the opportunity to check out the myriad of outfits out there and see which one would suit their cat child best. Saving you time and scratches.
 

Closet cat lovers are all the same, they try to hide their feline obsession, but sooner or later the cats out them and the one thing leads to another and these secret feline fans end up being an irreplaceable part of the cats' daily routine. Or at least that is what happened to the quiet cat connoisseur in this story.

Though it has happened to more than a few hoomans we can confirm as such, we have never seen it happen in quite the way and intensity in which it happened to this hooman. For most of the time the end result of a closet cat lover's journey is a scene with them on the couch and a cat on their shoulders or chest.

A heartwarming and connecting scene for sure, but also a relatively tame one in the wild world of cats. But this story's ending is far more significant as this hooman became an integral part of these felines' feeding process. Which as any pawrent will inform you is a sacred duty and one that cannot be replaced, ever. Meaning that not only did this hooman's love for cats get exposed to the world, it also became cemented in the cats' lives. 
 

Cat people are truly emotionally joined at the hip to their feline friends. 

We're not saying that being attached ot your cat is a bad thing - on the contrary. The emotional bond between cats and their humans is one of the strongest that can form between us and another species of animals. Cats are not just pets - they're our best friends, our house masters, our emeowtional support, our feline family that we will do anything for. The connection some people feel for the cats is so strong that some of them might wonder - is this how it should be? Is this what you're supposed to feel for a feline?

In some way, this is what one wholesome woman wondered - can you feel homesick, not for your home, but for your cat? Feeling the bond so strongly that what you miss most when you're away is your cat. Or, in other words - home is where your cat is.

Would any cat pawrent disagree? We think not. Our cats are our everything. And the online cat community that showed up after this one woman's question proved exactly that. Countless examples of the most adorable cat-human connections we given, and our hearts completely melted.

Don't you look purrfect today? You do, you meowing model. Strut the streets with your tail up.

There's something contagious about cat confidence, and that's being said in the best way pspspsible. It's the feline feeling that nothing can hurt you today, because you're the best. Cats know they're the best, and we think we should embrace this ameowzing way to go about the day. If cats can be the silly little creatures they are but still feel, look, walk, and be the most majestic creature in any room they enter - so can we. Or at least we can try.

We just said to ourselves, "We're purrfect for the day. The day is purrfect for us. We feel bonita and radiate diva. Our cat taught us that, and we're A++ students." That alone can boost the confidence of any cat pawrent. Do you have a cat? Do you have a mirror? Don't hissitate and go tell yourself some good words. We're sure that's what our cat does in front of the mirror when we're not at home. Also takes a 10-hour nap, for sure. Because cats can. And so can we.

Cats are purrfection - but also you. Own it like your cat would.

If not for 'Bob', the k9 rescue dog who sniffed her out, this sweet cat might not have survived.

After the wildfires in California last year, we're ever more thoughtful of the pets that are affected by natural disasters. When an earthquake, hurricane, or wildfire hits your area, you have a very small window (if any, at all) to collect everything important to you and run to safety. One of the hardest things to do in a time of stress is to find your cats, as cats immediately run to hide in the nearest place when they're scared. If you've ever tried to get your cat out from under the bed when it's time to go to the vet, you know exactly how difficult this can be.

As a result of this, many pets unfortunately get left behind during these pawsitively horrible events. Many of them run away, get lost, and are never found again. But what about the pets that don't even get the chance to run? These ones rely on search and rescue teams to find them, and thanks to a k9 doggo named 'Bob', our kitty today was found and safely returned to their owners. 

After 30 hours of being trapped underneath two floors of rubble after an earthquake, they were sniffed out by the pawfessional German shepherd who allowed rescuers to dig out the terrified tabby. Bob also found another cat in the rubble, as well as a pet rabbit!

Three cheers for Bob, and may all animals affected by natural disasters find their way safely back into their pawrents' arms.

You may not want a cat, but if a cat wants you… then you want a cat. 

We say it all the time, and we will continue to do so. It's not us who choose whether to adopt a cat or not, it's the cats. Cats adopt their humans, not the other way around. And you can be as adamant as you want that you don't want another cat, don't like cats at all, never wanted a cat in your life… It doesn't matter. Because it is not your choice. You could be going through life, doing your normal things, when, out of nowhere, a cat will pop out and change your whole world. 

The person in today's story, despite already being a cat owner and knowing what cats are like, thought that they had a choice in the matter. They didn't want another cat, but a cat chose them. And so, they found themselves in the exact position that they didn't want to be in - forced to take in another fluffball. And just like they expected… they hate every second. We're kidding, of course. They love the little feline and are thankful that he showed up in their lives. And all is right with the world.

It might be hard sometimes, but you don't give up on family - and that includes cats. 

So many times, we have come across stories of people abandoning cats when those cats suddenly became "difficult". If those cats got sick, or if the cat got prognant, or other reasons… those people decide that this is not what they signed up for and just abandon the kitties. If they are lucky, those cats get found by other kind humans and rescued from the streets. But if they're not… We'd rather not think about it.

We, at ICHC, always complain when we see these stories. We say that abandoning the cat should have been a last resort, that there are always options that are better. If you really feel like you can't take care of the cat anymore, take the cat to a shelter or find them a different home. To this mom's credit, she did do that. She saw her financial situation, knew that she and her family were about to move, and decided that the cat would be better off elsewhere, with other people. So, she found him a new home. But that doesn't mean that he had to agree with her. And he didn't. And then he took his fate into his own paws. 

The best kind of cat memes is the kind that truly captures the chaos. 

You learn very quickly, as a cat owners, that living with a cat means living with a chaos machine. Nothing stops the machine. It sleeps all day and has small sporadic bouts of energy that can come out of nowhere. You never know when the machine will turn on. It could be first thing in the morning, when you are more or less ready for it, or it could be in the middle of the night when you're deep in REM sleep. Others don't understand the chaos. At least not normal humans living without a machine like this. But other cat owners? They understand. And they make the best cat memes. 

Listen, funny cat memes are one of our ways of coping with the chaos of having a cat in the house. It is not fun when our cat breaks our favorite mug - again - but it is funny to read about it happening to other people sometimes. We need these chaotic cat memes to cope, to stay sane, to understand that no, we are not the only ones facing the chaos, and we are definitely not the only ones who love our cats all the more for it.