Jinx the Cat

About

Jinx the Cat is a cat named Jinx with birth defects who's known online for her large pupils that make her look really high or creepy. Her owner started posting content about her in late 2018 on Instagram. She grew a cult following on the platform which spread to TikTok in 2019 and Twitter in 2021. She became the subject of fan art and memes when creators used her as a reaction image and image macro.

Origin

On October 15th, 2018, Jinx's owner uploaded her first post to Instagram,^[1] being a photo of Jinx as a kitten, only four weeks old at the time. She stated in the caption that Jinx had really big eyes and was found in a field three days prior. The post earned roughly 10,000 likes over the course of four years (shown below).

Also on the 15th, she uploaded a video to Instagram of Jinx in her arms. It earned over 14,100 views and 950 likes in four years (shown below).

Spread

Jinx's owner, mii,^[2] continued to post content of her kitten on Instagram going into 2019. On January 25th, 2019, she witnessed an uptick in engagement when a post of Jinx on Instagram^[3] with her legs looking "wonky" earned roughly 6,600 likes in three years (shown below, left). On April 11th, 2020, a carousel post^[4] with two images earned roughly 4,100 likes in two years (shown below, center and left).

On June 18th, 2019, Jinx's owner made her first post to TikTok,^[5] showing Jinx in a pink-striped t-shirt. The video received roughly 102,700 plays and 7,600 likes in three years (shown below, left). On August 17th, 2019, she posted a TikTok^[6] that earned roughly 1.5 million plays in 230,500 likes in three years (shown below, right).

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6704060490403810566

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6726329144948411653

On May 10th, 2020, Instagram^[7] user cassidyyueh made fan art of Jinx which was reposted by the account and earned roughly 1,400 likes in two years (shown below).

Going into 2021, memes started to be made using Jinx as an image macro. For instance, as early as January 19th, iFunnyer ^[8] ShitpostSanctuary reposted a meme that captioned an image of Jinx with, "he has 97 mental illnesses and is banned from most places," earning over 40 smiles in 13 months (shown below, left). On April 30th, it was reposted by the Instagram^[9] page moist.tumblr who earned roughly 18,600 likes in one year. On April 14th, an exploited version was posted by the Tumblr ^[10] blog scolipede, who earned over 1,700 notes in one year (shown below, right).

On August 25th, 2021, Jinx the cat made her debut on Twitter,^[11] earning roughly 4,800 likes for her first tweet over the course of six months (shown below, left). Going into early 2022, Jinx the cat received more and more engagement on her Twitter. For instance, on April 12th, 2022, a tweet^[12] of hers that included pictures taken after the vet in which she was, "a little loopy," earned roughly 354,900 likes in five days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6991330803451972869

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7000138542055771398

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7056922773217742126

Search Interest

External References