Cat breading is the newest internet sensation. This craze consists of cutting a hole in bread, putting it over a cat's face, taking a picture and posting thatpicture online. This trend comes complete with step-by-step instructions on how toproperly bread a cat.
Facebook views of cat breadinghave spiked drastically. The amount of 'likes' on the official Facebook page has risen to 20,995 from 9,000 cited inan articlewritten on January 31. Even Stephen Colbert, with his facetious run for president, claimed to be donating all money raised by his Super PAC to cat breading.
Perhaps because of the lack of positive PR for cats until recently, felines have traditionally been disliked by Americans. These opinions are validated by a 2010Associated Press-Petside.compoll. The poll had people rate their like and dislike of dogs and cats, by indicating anywhere from 'like a lot' to 'dislike a lot', with an option for those who do not have strong feelings either way. In addition to the finding that 74% of adults like dogs a lot - compared to 41% who like cats a lot - four percent of adults indicated some measure of dislike for dogs contrasted with the 26 percent who indicated similarly for cats.
This trend may help cats' approval ratings. Cat breading comes in on the tail (pun intended) of the internet trends ofMaruthe stunt cat andLolcatsmemes. Maru videos consist mainly of a large cat trying to jump, slide or squeeze into different boxes. While simple in principle, millions of YouTube viewers show the popularity of this Japanese cat.
Lolcats, an early meme, may enjoy an increase in traffic, especially with the recentincreasein internet memes.
The internet seems to be an ever-growing forum for time-consuming activities. Americans 22% of their time on the internet looking at Facebook and other social media sites,according to Poynter, reporting on a 2011 study done by Nielsen. The study also showed an increase in the amount of people going toTumblrsites.
Despite their recent spike in popularity, cats are increasingly dissatisfied with their lives, according to a recent post on Xark! reporting on a Cat Dynamics Research Associates study done from December 16-19, 2011 on 1,634 adult, American non-sleeping cats. Full details of the report can be accessed fromXark'swebsite.