A Reddit post in the subreddit r/funny by the user u/msfreckles from 2020[1] shows a pentagram of cat-like animals with the label “forbidden cats” in the middle. The animals depicted are a red panda, a raccoon, a skunk, a fox and an opossum. An earlier version by user u/ctotty0115 in the subreddit r/memes posted in 2019[2], is missing the skunk and opossum, depicting a triangle with a raccoon, fox and red panda with the same label in the middle. These seem to have found their own little community online, with plenty of reposts across other social media like Tumblr, Instagram and circulating around Discord servers.
The concept or idea spread enough to make fanart and even merch. Several different t-shirts were and still are sold on different websites. Outland[3] also stocked t-shirts saying “Adopt a cat” with a raccoon, an opossum and what looks to be a skunk (though it is unspecified).
‘Cause who wouldn’t want a cute and cat-like critter as a pet?
I believe the choice of animals is not random, but what makes a “forbidden cat”?
All five animals are quite popular online, especially raccoons, foxes and opossums, as they have seemingly unlimited potential for memes. And the internet does what it does, giving them all their own internet nicknames. The most concrete or wide-spread of these are probably the raccoon, aka “trash panda”, and foxes, which are often referred to as cat software running on dog hardware (and it’s definitely got friend firmware).
One comment from four years ago on msfreckles’ post by user u/TheDalob states:
“Those aren’t fake cats they are a Trash Panda [aforementioned raccoon], a fake trash panda [red panda], a Trash Ferret [opossum] a Dog on Cat-Hardware [sic., fox] and the last one just stinks [skunk],”
- u/TheDalob
-Showing that they are all loved by the internet.
Something curious is how none of the established forbidden cats are actually from the Felidae family (where we can find felines such as house cats and big cats like the lynx or lion), but rather the Canidae family (where we can find canines such as dogs and wolves)[4]. This is pointed out by comments in the Reddit posts, with several people saying that foxes are actually more like dogs than cats. I believe this is the point, as animals in the Felidae family such as the serval, lynxes or Pallas’ cats aren’t considered forbidden cats in the same manner. Of course the internet loves these as well, but they are perhaps too cat-like, as if we expect them to behave like, look like and have similar vibes to the house cats we know and love.
Another thing about the forbidden cats is that they’re typically not allowed as housepets, which explains the “forbidden” part. In Norway it’s not legal for any of the wild animals to be kept as house pets, although there are a few states in the US that allow foxes and raccoons as pets[5]. There have been attempts at domesticating the different animals, but very few have been successful in their endeavors. Of course you’ll see a handful of people online keeping a pet raccoon or fox, but these are the exceptions to the norm.
In a hypothetical world where none of the animals were illegal to keep as pets, how catlike are they really? Here’s a small ranking of their cat likeness, based purely on vibes because I am no biologist.
- 5: The skunk. Sorry skunk fans, but it’s just too stinky. I will admit skunks can be quite cute, they don’t have the same chaotic cat energy, and I wouldn’t get too close to one.
- 4: The opossum. It’s got the caffeinated chaos vibes a cat has, but something about their rounded ears and thin tails just don’t do it for the cat-shaped hole in my heart.
- 3: The red panda. Just like cats, red pandas sleep most of their time, and they have fluffy tails and pointy ears!
- 2: The raccoon. Being more catlike than the red panda, but just barely less catlike than the fox lands the raccoon and its friendship with humans a second place on this ranking.
- 1: The fox. The most cat of them has to be the fox! They’re silly, have endless amounts of meme potential, and embody chaos the way cats seem to do. It is cat software running on dog hardware after all!
I have an additional animal that I think would fit into the world of forbidden cats. They’re furry, they’re slinky, they’re loved by the internet and from the Carnivora order… It’s the ferret! Though they are generally legal to keep as pets[6], so maybe it could be an honorary cat rather than a forbidden one.
sources/inspiration (in order of appearance, also connected to footnotes):
- u/msfreckles. «Forbidden Cats.» Reddit, 9. November, 2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/jr034k/forbidden_cats/.
- u/ctotty0115. “The forbidden cats!” Reddit, 21. July, 2019. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/jr034k/forbidden_cats/.
- Clothing From Outland. “Adopt Forbidden Cats T-Shirt,” n.d. https://www.outland.no/p-adopt-forbidden-cats-t-shirt-pts00693.
- UsefulCharts. “Evolutionary Tree of Life | Episode 3 – Mammals (Including Humans).” Video. YouTube, 11. October, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZvT6bn6gcI.
- Lovdata. “Lov Om Jakt Og Fangst Av Vilt (Viltloven) – Kapittel III. Vilt i Fangenskap.” 29. May, 1981. https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1981-05-29-38/KAPITTEL_3#KAPITTEL_3.
- Mattilsynet. “Ilder,” n.d. https://www.mattilsynet.no/dyr/kjaeledyr/ilder.
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