J-blip: cat montage

If you’ve been keeping your eyes open, you might have caught a glimpse of the “cat montage” meme that has been spreading through Japan and beyond.

The gist: A human draws a set of cartoon eyes for its furry friend and creates a funny collage.

Credit for this simple yet viral idea goes to Twitter user Shirotamaaaa, who sparked the trend in early November. His original post has been retweeted more than 4,500 times.

Spilling over into Instagram and YouTube, the meme is also gaining traction overseas.

So bored! #NekoMontaaju pic.twitter.com/yXEpB1lVkY

— Mick Tierney (@MrDevz) November 25, 2014

The joke has even spread further into the animal kingdom with pictures of dogs, rabbits and hamsters.

https://twitter.com/kohaumichan/status/537206228641132544/

Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! #猫モンタージュ

A post shared by @ luxana on Nov 24, 2014 at 8:19am PST

話題の猫モンタージュ　うちには猫がいないのでモルモンタージュで pic.twitter.com/DvVY3jvMXl

— 内田温(うちだはる) (@Halle_Uchida) November 21, 2014

Pro tip from cat montage experts: snap it when your feline is sleeping.

Here's my poor cat enduring my humour! #catmontage pic.twitter.com/O5WWDsxVwm

— Paula W (@PeeDub724) December 1, 2014

やってみた #猫モンタージュ pic.twitter.com/5ON7N3JjxB

— ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) (@uuutk) November 29, 2014

ぐぽーん。#猫モンタージュ pic.twitter.com/a3AOZvmYQq

— ソノヤマ･タカスケ (@T_SONOYAMA) December 1, 2014