To eat meat or to not eat meat; that is the question. As Thanksgiving comes and goes this weekend, it's natural that dietary needs and restrictions come up as topics for debate. Some animal fans think being a vegetarian or a vegan is a requirement for being an animal lover . Others believe that since animals kill and eat each other, and because human beings are animals themselves, eating meat is a non-issue. I think we can all agree that the way the meat industry treats and kills animals is not…

Gatekeeping is sometimes necessary. I find it unquestionably necessary to gatekeep cat and dog memes from the rest of the animal memes. There is no shortage of lists displaying hundreds of thousands of dog and cat memes. If I were a betting man, I would say there are more cat memes than any other type of meme on God's green earth. I've got nothing against dogs or cats, but I have to ask, where are the worm memes? Where are the buffalo memes? When will the non-domesticated animal of the world ge…

It's not every day you see a cat with a job, but if you asked my cat what her vocation is, she would probably tell you (in trill-y meows) that it's her job to supervise me whenever I take a crap. Then there are the famous bodega cats of New York, fixtures in delis where you can get discount cigarettes and a sandwich for $15 or less. Recently, we became acquainted with the ‘Cats With Jobs’ Twitter account. It's exactly what it sounds like: a lengthy archive of cats who are clearly working hard f…

Bark Bark. Meow Meow. These are the classic sounds of the dog and the cat we all know and love. They are the most common pets for a reason, and that reason is that they are so rad. A dog will bark when they hear you coming out of the bathroom. A cat can stretch out to over three feet. These are iconic animals that I can't help but love with all of my heart. I understand why certain people do not want dogs or cats as pets. They is much more responsibility required for a feline or a canine than a…

Cheeky

I have a question for you. Do you like animals? If you answered yes, I have a second question for you. Do you like animals that aren't just cats and dogs? If you answered yes to both of these questions, congratulations. You will probably enjoy the animal memes that lie before you. Sometimes I think about what it means to be an animal lover, and I think I've cracked the code. In the world, there are animal lovers , and then there are pet lovers. Some people are literally addicted to having a dom…

Who wouldn't?

Dogs are an S-tier pet if there ever was one. They are called man's best friend for a reason; doggos are uncritical, love you unconditionally, and are generally a blast to be around. Dogs might not be for everyone, but if you're an extrovert who wants even more social interaction in your life, then these furry friends are perfect for you. Even if you're more of an introvert, having a sweet, cuddly, and quiet dog around you is a welcome distraction from all the annoying people in the world. Alth…

Isn't it crazy how we're all animals ? You and me are just as much of an animal as a fish or a bird. The only difference is that we convince ourselves we're better than other animals because we're the apex predator allegedly. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that humans have better than animals is language. We can conjugate sentences, and they can do nothing of the sort. That's all we've got on them. Most other animals do not have to go to work. Sure, they have to get food and clean them…

Frogs and Cranberries? It must be fall. Much like Mariah Carrey's All I Want For Christmas is You on the Billboard Top 100 Chart, this meme comes crawling back to us seasonally, and we can't get enough of it. But why? On a fundamental level, "Frogs and cranberries it must be fall" is just plain funny. Why must it be fall when these two collide, we non-frog experts ask. What about this amphibian and this fruit coming together marks the period between September 22nd and December 20th? The meme or…

Halloween season is almost here, so it's time to celebrate all of the vermin in the animal kingdom. Sure, black cats, bats, and spiders typically get the publicity for this upcoming month, but many different animals deserve a chance to shine as Halloween Monster Animal of the Year TM . For instance, raccoons . If Universal Studios had not featured black cats as horror icons and instead made raccoons a monster animal in their B movie horror flicks of the 1930s, I guarantee raccoons would be the…

If I'm being honest, Russell from Up (2009) deserved far more than just a wilderness explorer badge for his adventures with Carl. That child was a friend to the elderly and the animal kingdom more than most of us could dream of being. He had the explorer's spirit, and he did something about it. He befriended birds and dogs alike and stood up to a freaky old guy in defense of his nice old guy friend. Most of us will probably never reach such an advanced state of wilderness exploring. Sure, we ma…

Cats are the bomb, but cats have their fair share of haters who can never keep it to themselves. These cat haters all have the same blanket excuses for disliking cats. One of these excuses is, "when you die, your cat will eat your dead body." Well, to that, I say, I'm glad she will. If my cat didn't gobble up my corpse in a desperate bid at survival, I would be disappointed, to say the least. But let's not think about that morbid side of cats. Let's think of positive things! Sunshine, rainbows,…

I am not afraid of bugs , per se. I wouldn't call myself an ally to the bug community, but whenever somebody screams and hollers at the sight of a bug, I get a little annoyed. Like, come on…it's a bug. I believe the widespread fear of bugs comes from the fact that they look so much weirder than any animal in the animal kingdom. Most mammals, ugly as they may be, can look you in the eyes and make a real personal connection with you. Not bugs. Those things are closer in appearance to aliens than…

I grew up in a family obsessed with dogs. Whenever we went on road trips, we played a compelling game of my creation, creatively titled, “The Dog Breed Game.”

Frogs are not only one of the greatest animals in the entire animal kingdom, they're also the stars of some of the most legendary memes of the 2010s. One cannot communicate with words the legendary status Pepe the frog held in 2015. There were art kids at my high school who made a giant recreation of Pepe out of tape and carried him around throughout their day. There were full-tilt custody battles over the physical manifestation of a meme in his prime. What a legend. Around the same time period…