The cat world suffered a tragic loss on May 17, 2019, when owner of the world famous Grumpy Cat, Tabatha Bundesen, posted on twitter that the cat had passed away earlier in the week due to a urinary track infection. The Grumpy Cat, originally named Tartar Sauce, was 7 years old.

Rise to Fame

The Grumpy Cat first broke the internet in 2012 when Tabatha’s brother, Bryan Bundesen, posted a picture of the cat while it was sitting in his lap. Grumpy Cat was born with feline dwarfism, which paired with an underbite caused a permanent grumpy facial expression. Bryan uploaded the picture to the social media site Reddit, and users quickly began adding captions and making memes of the picture. One of the most famous pictures, known as the Grumpy Cat birthday meme, features a picture of Grumpy with the Caption “Happy Birthday… Now you are one year closer to dying.” Observing the cat’s growing popularity on Reddit, Bryan decided to make a website and social media accounts for the cat. At the time of its death, Grumpy Cat’s twitter @RealGrumpyCat had 1.57 million followers on twitter. Hundreds of thousands of people took to twitter to mourn the untimely death of the cat. The post notifying the world of Grumpy Cat’s death had over 150,000 retweets and 500 million favorites.

Kitten Grumpy Cat

Here are some adorable photos of the kitten grumpy cat. It turns out grumpy cat was also an adorable kitten!

Media Accolades

Aside from flooding the internet in the shape of memes, Grumpy Cat experienced a wide range of media and commercial success. Grumpy Cat made appearances on many major media broadcasts including ABC News’ Good Morning America and CBS Evening News. Grumpy also appeared on the popular t.v. show The Bachelorette as well as WWE Monday Night Raw. On July 23, 2013, Grumpy “published” a book titled Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book. The book included a wide range of pictures, grumpy cat games, and activities such as grumpy cat coloring pages. The book would go on to become #3 on The New York Times Best Seller List. Grumpy even starred in the Lifetime movie, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever.

Becoming a Brand

As Grumpy Cat’s popularity rose, so did its brand. Grumpy became registered with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, and The Washington Post estimated that Grumpy’s owners earned over one million dollars through merchandising. From Grumpy cat coffee mugs, pillows, to socks, its picture can be found on just about anything.

Becoming a Brand

The Grumpy Cat’s legacy will live on in spirit (…and meme)

Although the Grumpy Cat is no longer with us, it’s legacy will live on forever. View the photos below to see our top 5 favorite Grumpy Cat memes of all-time. Rest Easy Grumpy Cat.