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Who Is The 'Huh Cat?' The Meme And Viral TikTok Video Of A Confused Cat Explained
The expressive and often funny ways cats behave generate memorable memes like Maxwell the Cat, black cat zoning out or the Screaming Cat.
These are all but a small fraction of memes using cats that are all over social media, and the latest favorite meme star going viral is "Ben Cat," a confused or shocked-looking cat making a "huh?" sound. Let's find out how Ben became a popular meme on TikTok.
Who Is The 'Huh? Cat'?
The Huh? Cat is known as Ben Cat, which is a pet owned by TikToker @planetvenus500. The animal has been popular on the video platform since 2021, also known as "bru cat," especially in the Russian TikTok community, which often used the cat as an exploitable for memes.
For instance, @aromobar posted a video (shown below, left) on September 24th, 2021, adding overlay texts to match the cat's expressions.
How Did 'Huh?' Cat Became A Meme On TikTok?
Ben became prominently popular as the "Huh? Cat meme around December 2022, when a series of videos using the animal was posted on the platform paired with the "huh?" sound.
For example, on December 8th, 2022, TikTok user @21pamix added the "huh?" sound to match the cat's meow. The video (shown below, left) garnered roughly 135,000 plays and 5,000 likes in a year.
On May 11th, 2023, the cat's video received a new viral "huh?" sound meme video, posted by TikTok user @nyc.jav3 (shown below, right), which amassed more than 1.7 million plays and 135,000 likes in six months.
What's The Deal With Rambling Goat And 'Huh?' Cat?
In October 2023, Ben went viral again with the Rambling Goat and Huh? Cat meme, which is an exploitable video meme format depicting a goat making random noises and a confused cat making a "huh?" sound.
The earliest found usage of the meme was posted to TikTok on October 7th, 2023, by user @vivi000.o. The video (shown below) has the overlay text "When the teacher is trying to teach me calculus," which uses the goat as the teacher and the huh cat as the confused student. The post amassed over 7 million plays and 1.2 million likes in five days.
For the full history of the Huh? Cat meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.