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Crying Cat GIFs Collection: Funny, Viral & Crystal Clear 4K

hitpaw editor in chief By Daniel Walker
Last Updated: 2026-02-26 19:11:47

Crying cat GIFs capture the perfect blend of exaggerated sadness and adorable feline features. They have become the internet's go-to reaction for disappointment, irony, or the dreaded "Monday blues."

Whether you are looking to express sympathy in a Discord chat or just want to laugh at a melodramatic kitten, these looping animations bring instant relatability.

This guide explores the most popular sad cat memes, the best sources to download them, and-most importantly-how to use AI tools like HitPaw VikPea to fix pixelated, low-quality GIFs so they look crystal clear on modern screens.

Why Crying Cat GIFs Are So Popular

The "Crying Cat" phenomenon, often traced back to the "Schmuserkadser" edit, has remained a Tier 1 evergreen meme for over a decade. But why do they stick around?

Primarily, they bridge the gap between genuine sadness and internet humor. They allow users to express vulnerability without being too serious. The juxtaposition of a cute animal with photoshopped, teary human eyes creates an image that is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious.

crying cat gif

Here is how these GIFs add value to your digital communication:

Discord Emotes

Instant Relatability: Perfectly captures the feeling of losing a game or missing a notification.

Social Media Reactions

Engagement Booster: Ideal for replying to "bad news" tweets or ironic situations on X (Twitter).

Workplace Slack

Softening the Blow: Adds humor to minor mistakes or complaining about Monday mornings professionally.

Personal Mood Boosters

Comfort & Humor: Viewing melodramatic cats can actually alleviate stress through laughter.

Digital Collecting

Meme Preservation: Saving classic internet culture moments for future use in high quality.

The Most Popular Crying Cat GIFs You Can't Miss

The internet is full of sad felines, but a few have reached legendary status. Here are the top clips you need in your collection.

1. The Original Crying Cat (Serious Cat Edit)

This is the "Mona Lisa" of sad cats. Originating from a photoshopped image of a white cat, this GIF usually features a slow zoom into the cat's tear-filled, glassed-over eyes. It represents pure, silent devastation. It is the perfect response when you realize you forgot to save your work document.

2. The Thumbs Up Crying Cat

A masterpiece of irony, this GIF features a teary-eyed cat giving a shaky "thumbs up." It perfectly encapsulates the feeling of "I'm suffering, but I'm trying to be supportive" or "Everything is fine (it's not)." It went viral on Reddit as the ultimate reaction to receiving bad advice that you have to accept politely.

3. Screaming Crying Cat (Yamero Cat)

Unlike the silent sadness of the original, this GIF features a cat with its mouth wide open in a wail, often accompanied by shaking effects. It represents panic, overwhelming despair, or a tantrum. It is widely used on TikTok to react to overwhelming situations, like having three exams on the same day.

4. Crying Cat in Bed (Butter Cat)

This clip shows a cat tucked into blankets, looking mournfully at the camera. It is the definitive "Sunday Night Blues" meme. Users love this GIF for expressing the desire to stay in bed and avoid adult responsibilities.

5. Crying Kitten with Milk

A tiny kitten with massive, photoshopped watery eyes looking up expectantly. This is the "manipulative" sad cat-used when you want to ask a friend for a favor or apologize for being late. It weaponizes cuteness to gain forgiveness instantly.

Best Sources to Find Crying Cat GIFs

Tenor

The engine behind Discord and Google Keyboard's GIF search. It has a massive library of user-tagged memes.

  • Pros: Highly accessible and integrates with keyboards.
  • Cons: File sizes are often small, leading to visible pixelation on larger screens.
tenor crying cat

Giphy

The world's largest GIF search engine with a strong focus on pop culture and trending memes.

  • Pros: Excellent variety and easy social sharing.
  • Cons: Heavily compresses files to save bandwidth, meaning your "HD" cat might look blurry.
giphy crying cat

Reddit (r/sadcats)

The birthplace of many original edits. This subreddit is a goldmine for raw, uncompressed images and new variations.

  • Pros: You can find high-quality originals here.
  • Cons: Searching is difficult, and you often have to scroll through hundreds of posts to find the specific animation you want.

How to Use Crying Cat GIFs in Your Daily Chats

Using these GIFs effectively is an art form. Here are specific suggestions for social situations:

  • When you make a typo in a group chat: Instead of writing a long apology, drop the "Crying Cat with Thumbs Up". It admits the mistake while laughing at yourself.
  • When a friend cancels plans: Use the "Original Crying Cat" (zoomed in). It jokingly guilt-trips them without starting an actual argument.
  • When the food delivery is late: The "Screaming Crying Cat" is the only appropriate response to hunger-induced despair.
  • Reacting to a wholesome but sad movie: Use the "Saluting Crying Cat" to show respect and emotional damage simultaneously.

Part 5. How to Enhance Crying Cat GIFs to Get Better Viewing Experience

Crying cat GIFs are widely used to express emotions like sadness, disappointment, or dramatic humor. However, many of these GIFs are low resolution, blurry, or heavily compressed, which reduces their visual impact. Enhancing crying cat GIFs can make facial expressions clearer, improve motion smoothness, and restore lost details. With AI-powered tools like HitPaw VikPea, you can easily upscale and refine GIF quality, making your emotional cat memes sharper, cleaner, and more engaging for social media, messaging apps, or content creation.

  • AI upscaling boosts GIF resolution while preserving original emotional facial details.
  • Noise reduction removes grainy artifacts caused by heavy compression in old GIFs.
  • Frame enhancement sharpens each frame for smoother and more natural motion effects.
  • Color optimization improves brightness, contrast, and visual clarity in dark scenes.
  • Detail restoration recovers lost textures around eyes, fur, a
  • Batch processing allows enhancing multiple crying cat GIFs at once efficiently.

How to Enhance Crying Cat GIFs with HitPaw VikPea:

  • Step 1.Install and open HitPaw VikPea on your computer. From the main screen, select Video Enhancer, then upload your crying cat video or simply drag the GIF into the workspace.

    vikpea video enhancer
  • Step 2.Choose an appropriate AI model such as General Model, Sharpen Model, Portrait Model, or Video Quality Repair Model depending on the GIF quality and enhancement goals.

    remove noise from gif
  • Step 3.Set your preferred output resolution in Export Settings. You can upscale the GIF up to 4K or 8K. Click Preview to check the result, then click Export to save the enhanced crying cat GIF.

    preview and export enhanced gif

Frequently Asked Questions About Crying Cat GIFs

No, the cats are not in distress. These images are created using Photoshop to superimpose human eyes or edit the cat's expression. The original Serious Cat was just a white cat with a neutral face before editing.

Discord often compresses images, but starting with a high-quality source helps. Use HitPaw VikPea to upscale the GIF to 1080p first, ensuring it retains detail even when Discord resizes it for chat.

The original white cat is often referred to as Serious Cat, but the edited crying version is famously linked to an anonymous uploader or the username "Schmuserkadser" from early 2014.

Yes. You can record your cat, and use tools like HitPaw VikPea to trim the video, enhance the lighting and quality, and export it directly as a GIF file.

Conclusion

Crying cat GIFs are a staple of internet culture, providing a hilarious way to express sadness and irony. However, finding high-quality versions can be a challenge due to years of compression.

By using sources like Reddit and powerful AI tools like HitPaw VikPea, you can restore these classic memes to their former glory. Don't let pixelation ruin the joke-upscale your favorite GIFs today and keep the laughter sharp and clear.

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