Business Cat is one of the many memes that has spring out of the wildly popular LOLCats genre. In addition, there are also a slew of similar memes to Business Cat, with one almost identical meme being Business Dog.
Business Cat takes the role of the “boss” in traditional American corporate business world. This is the office boss, the one that so many people have, which has been famously parodied on the British and American television shows “The Office”, developed by hysterical Ricky Gervais.
Because so many people work in cubicle-filled offices and have to deal with upper management in the form of bosses, this meme and others like it has struck a chord in office workers everywhere. The fact that boss-like advice is coming out of a well-dressed, professional-looking cat, makes it all the more funny, and the meme banks on that.
The photo of the cat in question was posted to the internet on the Something Awful forum by user named Apple Jax. The cat evidently was reported to have belonged to her boyfriend, Emilio. Since then, the owner has gone on to continue the success of Business Cat by creating its own website, entitled yobusinesscat.com.
The tie that the feline is sporting in the photograph was purchased from the crafting website Etsy. From there, the photo spread and gained popularity until eventually it became a meme.
Picture anything silly or ridiculous or demanding that your boss has said and you will instantly have created a tagline for Business Cat. Many of the taglines also
include references to cat behavior, sounds, and LOLcats.
Notable variations of the meme include the lines: “It’s time for your Purrformance review”, and “No LOL here. Get your ass in my office”.