6 online cats you should be following

2 mins to read

While viral and cat aren’t two words cat lovers generally like to hear in combination, these viral kitties are sure to give you a good giggle – or paws for thought (pun completely intended.)

A study recently published in Computers in Human Behavior suggests that people that watch cat videos are more likely to feel happier, more energised and less stressed… albeit a titch guilty about watching said cat video when they’re supposed to be working! But since we all need a little relaxation every now and then, here’s six cats to get your feel good endorphins singing.

1. Max the Roomba Cat

With over 11 million views, get your cleaning-inspo on via this robotic vacuum riding kitty in a shark suit. He’s a 12 year old snowshoe/siamese mix cat owner Helen describes him as bossy and funny. And going by his YouTube channel, he’s pretty willing to ride that Roomba just about anywhere – including by the pool!

2. Maru the Cat
Famous for his love of tiny boxes, rescue kitty Maru is a male Scottish Fold who hails from Japan. His YouTube videos have been viewed over 300 million times combined, with the average hit count clocking in at 800,000 views each. The now 8-year-old cat has been in several advertisements in Japan, and you can catch more of Maru’s antics on his blog.

3. Thula the cat

One to make you grab the tissues, Thula the cat is a companion to a young girl with autism, Iris. Since Thula came into her life in 2014, Iris has started to talk, something doctors warned she might never do, and she's also grown more comfortable doing activities that used to trigger severe anxiety; including riding in a car, taking a bath or swimming. And the really amazing part? Thula does all these activities with her little friend (yes, including the bath!) Iris is also a gifted painter, whose work has sold for thousands of dollars. You can read more about her work online.

4. Cats and their exercise wheels

If copying someone is the greatest form of flattery, then there’s one hamster out there that should be puffed up with pride – his feline companion was so fixated with watching him run on his hamster wheel that the kitty decided to go out and find his own. Which he successfully did, in his owners washing machine – as this Vine, which has been watched over 2 million times, hilariously illustrates. It’s not the first time cats and running wheels have been a thing though, back in 2014, a Kickstarter campaign successfully ran a campaign to fund the production of an exercise wheel to the tune of 3000% of the cash they were seeking – which you can now order online, or watch in action on Youtube.

5. Any cat that was ever afraid of a cucumber

Because they are such vicious predators! There’s a number of viral mash-ups doing the rounds, and sharing them was a big thing on social media several months back. Got kids that hate their veggies? Here’s a video they can probably relate to (or at least have a giggle.)

6. Grumpy Cat

The original viral kitty, Grumpy cat has amassed over 8.5 million Facebook ‘likes’, more than 15.7 million views on a single YouTube video, a front page on The Wall Street Journal, a cover on New York magazine, a movie, a book, countless merchandise items (we’re talking more than 400 items), and an animatronic waxwork at Madame Tussauds in San Francisco. Born April 4, 2012, Grumpy Cat’s real name is actually Tardar Sauce (she’s also been dubbed the ‘seven figure scowl’), and her owner, Tabatha Bundesen (who has since retired from her job at the Red Lobster to manage the Grumpy Cat empire), says that her permanently grumpy-looking face is due to an under bite and feline dwarfism.