🔗 Longcat

🔗 Internet culture 🔗 Cats

Longcat (2002 – 20 September 2020) was a Japanese domestic cat that became the subject of an Internet meme due to her length. Longcat, whose real name was "Shiroi", was born in 2002. An image depicting her being held with "outstretched paws" became popular on Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel, where it was nicknamed "Nobiko" ("Stretch" in Japanese) some time around 2005 or 2006. She was reportedly 65 centimetres (26 in) "from head to toe".

Subsequently, the meme spread to English-language websites, primarily 4chan's /b/, where it was edited into various images, and even had a song written about it. A backstory was invented for the cat, involving a world-ending battle called "Catnarok" with a nemesis named "Tacgnol" (resembling Longcat with the colors inverted).

The virtual community and message board Subeta, which made available a number of pixel art virtual accessories for user avatars, briefly introduced a "Longcat scarf" in 2007; this prompted "a legion of internet users to attack Subeta", primarily in the form of a DDoS campaign involving "all of the chans", until the Longcat item was removed later in the month. A Pokémon design released in 2019, the "Gigantamax Meowth", was compared by some commentators to Longcat.

In a 2019 interview, Longcat's owner said that the cat was "originally rescued after being discovered on the street in 2002", and at the time was thin with gray hair; as she grew older, she became white and fluffy. The cat was deaf. In 2019, Longcat's owner said that, at the age of 17, the cat no longer "climbed to high places" but was "relaxing and living her life".

In September 2020, after a period of ill health, Longcat was taken to the hospital, and died at the age of 18.