Grumpy Cat (April 4, 2012[1] – May 14, 2019) was a famous cat on the internet. Her real name was Tard before getting her current name “Tardar Sauce”. She became popular because she always looked unhappy or "grumpy".[2]

Her owner said that her grumpy-looking face was due to feline dwarfism and the placement of her teeth in her mouth.[3]

Grumpy Cat died at home on May 14, 2019 of a urinary tract infection.[4]

Grumpy Cat, lived with her owner, Tabatha Bundesen, in Morristown, Arizona.

She was born on April 4, 2012, with "a flat face, bubble eyes, and a short tail".[3] Her mom was a calico short haired cat and her father had grey and white stripes. Tardar Sauce was small for her breed and had hind legs that "were a bit different". Even though she had a grumpy expression all the time, she was calm and "actually really nice". Her brother, Pokey, who was born in the same litter, had the grumpy personality.[5]

Her owners said Tardar Sauce was a normal cat "99% of the time". She was only allowed to have photos taken once a week. She could not be handled by people she did not know very often.

Grumpy Cat first became famous when Tabatha's brother posted some photos of her on Reddit, the social-news site.[6] Then, other users made photoshopped parodies of the unhappy cat with grumpy sayings, such as: ‘I had fun once. It was awful’ and ‘Just put me down’.

Grumpy Cat has her own website. She has a Facebook page. She has a manager, Ben Lashes. He also represents Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat.[5] There are stuffed toy cats of her, t-shirts, calendars and mugs available for sale in stores and online. Many are featured on her website.

She appeared at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas in 2013. She was shown in limited two-hour appearances every day.

Grumpy Cat was on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on May 30, 2013, and on the cover of New York magazine on October 7, 2013.[7][8]

The cable news channel MSNBC named Grumpy Cat 2012's most influential cat.[9]

In August 2015, it was announced that Grumpy Cat would get her own wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds in San Franscisco. An agent from Madame Tussauds in London said: "We're all very excited..." "She will launch there and then tour five other Madame Tussauds attractions in the US."[10]

Grumpy Cat was shown in some episodes of the Friskies brand of cat food YouTube game show, "Will Kitty Play With It?"[11][12][13] In September 2013, it was announced that Grumpy Cat would become the Official Spokescat of Friskies and sponsor their advertising.[14] TMZ reported that Friskies paid for her to fly first class. They gave her a private hotel room with a king-sized bed, a personal assistant, a chauffeur, and all the Friskies food and bottled water she wanted.[12]

On March 22, 2013, Grumpy Cat traveled to New York City to promote the Friskies game show. She appeared on Good Morning America[15] and Anderson Live with Anderson Cooper.[16] She also visited Time magazine for a photoshoot.[17] Grumpy Cat was "interviewed" for a story in an issue of Forbes magazine. It was released on March 25.[18]

In June 2014, news came out that the Lifetime television network would make a movie about Grumpy Cat. The name of the movie is Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever, and it was first shown on the TV channel on November 29, 2014.[19] Movie director Tim Hill wrote the script and the movie was made during the summer of 2014.[20] Actress Aubrey Plaza did the voice acting for the Grumpy Cat character.[19]