50 Hilariously Unexpected “My House, Not My Cat” Moments (Best-Of-All-Time Edition)

Since nearly anything these days can be called a meme, as long as it’s viral and reproduces easily as a concept, it’s safe to say that “my house, not my cat” has become somewhat of a meme in the past few years.

If you don’t believe me, example number one, example number two, example number three… need I say more?

“My house, not my cat” has a simple premise: it’s a piece of visual content that captures a cat, usually domesticated, but not necessarily, inside someone’s home, but that particular someone doesn’t own a cat. Or if they do, this specific one is not theirs. And then you’re left with the confusion of finding out whose cat is it anyway, let alone how it got there.

But, let’s start at the beginning. There’s a behavior that cats have called roaming. Just like humans with a healthy mindset, cats too love to just walk around all the time. But not down a particular path, but rather to wander. Also, just like humans sometimes do, I guess. This is completely normal behavior in cats—they, again, like humans, love their independence and know what’s around.

The reason cats roam is because they are curious. Simple as that.

That’s how they keep themselves entertained all the while being up to date with what’s happening in their immediate (and not entirely immediate) surroundings. By seeing new things, they can anticipate whether their territory is safe.

From a biological perspective, hormones also give an idea why. Especially if the cat hasn’t been spayed or neutered. Males will roam about looking for a mate, while others might just have a strong hunting instinct. This can be both a good or a bad thing as cats are to some extent considered an invasive species as they do hunt down small animals like birds, mice and lizards, but they can help get rid of pests at home, so there’s that.

Now, cats are known to traditionally roam a radius of around 130 to 650 feet (or 40 to 200 meters) from their homes. At least the domestic ones who have garden space to enjoy. Farm cats, however, can roam as far as 2 miles away from home.

Since they are also territorial, they might be roaming the area that way, but urban cats have been known to share their surroundings, keep to their gardens and only roam at specific times so as to avoid conflict.