Tole Tole Cat — Side-by-side of a brown tabby cat being held and a painted illustration of the same cat with a sad expression

Tole Tole Cat

2023viral videodeclining

Published October 21, 2026

Tole Tole Cat, also known as Mei Mei Cat, is a brown cat whose dopey stare went viral on TikTok in late December 2023 after a clip set to the 'Moka Chan Oshiete Kureta Irona Mita' soundbite collected tens of millions of plays. By January 2024, editors had looped the footage into a scurrying bunny run that became a POV template for jokes about escaping embarrassing situations.

cats pet video memes tiktok sound trends exploitable templates self deprecating memes

Overview

Tole Tole Cat, also known as Mei Mei Cat, started as a straight TikTok pet clip and turned into an exploitable once editors isolated the cat's hopping movement and set it against sad or anxious audio1. The POV template works by pairing the bunny-style run with overlay text describing a specific humiliation the poster wants to flee, like getting overheard saying something unspeakable on a group call3.

Beyond the running edits, @rydrayn's cat picked up fan art, redraws and personal remixes on Reddit, Twitter and DeviantArt during early 20244. The tone of most posts stays affectionate and self-deprecating rather than mean, with the cat standing in for the poster's own panic.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Key People
@rydrayn, @boosiebounce
Date
2023

The earliest known video of Tole Tole Cat was posted by TikTok user @rydrayn on December 18, 2023, showing the brown cat resting on his owner's legs while the Japanese 'Moka Chan Oshiete Kureta Irona Mita' soundbite plays1. Within roughly three months the clip collected more than 35 million plays and 5.4 million likes, which gave the cat enough recognition to seed later edits4.

The nickname Mei Mei came from fans and co-exists with Tole Tole across repost accounts, though neither name has a single confirmed etymology in the KYM entry4.

How It Spread

Tole Tole Cat crossed from pet-account charm into template territory on January 20, 2024, when TikToker @boosiebounce stitched two clips of the cat together so he appeared to scurry like a frightened rabbit, scored with sad piano music2. That edit gathered more than 3.4 million plays and 585,000 likes in about two weeks and set the visual grammar for everything that followed2.

Six days later, on January 26, 2024, the same running edit was reposted with overlay text reading 'Me after my parents catch me saying the most vile thing on a call with my friends,' pushing the format firmly into POV-reaction territory and racking up over 416,000 likes in a week3. From there, imitators piled on with their own captioned versions, keeping the bunny-run footage intact and swapping the overlay for whatever mortifying situation fit56.

Alongside the video edits, fan art and redraws of the cat spread on Reddit, Twitter/X and DeviantArt through early 2024, treating Tole Tole almost like a character rather than a single pet4.

Timeline

2023-12-18

@rydrayn posts the original TikTok of the brown cat lying on his owner's legs set to the 'Moka Chan Oshiete Kureta Irona Mita' soundbite.

2024-01-20

@boosiebounce uploads the stitched edit of Tole Tole Cat running like a scared bunny with sad music, the clip that becomes the base template.

2024-01-26

A repost of the running edit with the 'parents catch me saying the most vile thing' overlay goes viral, locking in the POV format.

2024-02

Captioned variants and fan redraws of Tole Tole / Mei Mei Cat spread across TikTok, Reddit, Twitter/X and DeviantArt.

Frequently Asked Questions