Feline Frenzy: Cat Meme Coins Claw Past Dog Tokens in 2025’s Absurd Crypto Circus

Move over, Shiba—the internet’s new furry overlords are here. Cat-themed meme coins are posting triple-digit gains while dog tokens whimper, proving once again that crypto markets prioritize vibes over fundamentals.

Pawsitive momentum: Solana-based cat coins like MEOW and WHISKERS hit ATHs this week as traders chase the next dumb narrative. Meanwhile, legacy dog coins flatline—DOGE barely twitched after Elon’s latest tweet.

Claw marks on the charts: Analysts note cat coin volumes now eclipse dog tokens 3:1 on BNB Chain. ’It’s pure degeneracy,’ quips one hedge fund manager while secretly aping into a litter of kitten-themed shitcoins.

Tail end forecast: When the bubble pops—and it will—both species will land in the same dumpster. But for now, the cats are winning crypto’s endless battle of who-could-care-less.

Cats Outperform Dogs in Early 2025 Returns

Return on investment (ROI)shows that cat-themed coins delivered strong results, with several tokens standing out.

The market-cap weighted ROI for the group came in at. But this average was dragged down by Popcat, the largest coin by market cap. Whenis excluded, the ROI rises to. Overall performance was driven by the top coin’s trajectory, rather than by smaller tokens.

Dog-themed coins showed varied returns from. The overall market-cap weighted ROI for dog-themed coins was. Even when, the largest coin in the group, is excluded, the figure remains nearly unchanged at. The results suggest that, unlike cat coins, the gains in this group were more evenly distributed across both large and smaller tokens.

Lifespans and Survival Rates: Battle Ends in a Draw

Most tokens in both camps didn’t survive. As of May 10, only, meaning their price had dropped more than 90% from their all-time highs.The numbers show the high failure rate in the meme coin market, regardless of narrative or community size.

When it comes to staying power, dog meme coins appear to have the upper hand. On average,before dropping more than 90% from their all-time highs, compared to. However, this may be skewed by the fact that dog meme coins appeared earlier, which pulled the overall average higher.

When we focus only on tokens launched after November 2023, when both categories gained traction, the gap narrows. During this window,.

Dogs Stick Together, Cats Go Their Own Way

A price correlation check between top dog coins from January to May 2025 showed that most of them tend to move in the same direction. Dogecoin, the largest dog-themed meme coin by market capitalization and the original “top dog,” had a near-perfect match with Shiba Inu at 0.90. Bonk and Floki (FLOKI) followed closely with a correlation of 0.89. Dogecoin and Dog (Bitcoin) were less in sync, with a correlation of 0.61. Overall, dog coins often rise and fall together, though not always by the same margin.

Cat coins were more of a mixed bag. Popcat, the leading cat-themed coin by market capitalization, showed a strong correlation with Mog Coin at 0.84. There were moderate links between POPCAT and Cat in a Dog’s World (MEW) at 0.55, and Meow (MEOW) at 0.49. Ket (KET) and Toshi (TOSHI) showed lower correlation with Popcat compared to other cat coins. In general, cat coins were less coordinated than the dogs.

Popcat vs Dogecoin Price: Volatility With Different Results

The monthly performance of the two category leaders, Popcat and Dogecoin, highlights how differently cat and dog coins behaved in early 2025. Popcat saw sharp declines through the first quarter.

Dogecoin price, in contrast, showed a different pattern. Although its price was also volatile, with a 37% drop in February and a 17.7% drop in March, it did not experience the kind of strong rebound seen in Popcat.

What Happened After Q1 2025

In early May, both categories picked up speed, and for the first time, their biggest names landed in the top five by ROI.

(or 59.6% when excluding Popcat).

Dog coins also saw a rebound.(30.9% without Dogecoin). It’s also worth pointing out that several large-cap meme coins in the dog category finally started to MOVE — a sign that some traders may be rotating back into the older names.

How We Did the Research

To compare cat- and dog-themed meme coins, we analyzed historical price and market cap data from CoinGecko for 508 dog coins and 388 cat coins, covering each coin’s entire life up to May 10, 2025

We calculated market-cap-weighted ROI to measure each group’s overall performance. This means bigger coins had a greater impact on the result, giving a more realistic picture of the whole market’s performance.

To check if the coins moved together, we ran a correlation analysis on daily price changes for the top six coins by market cap. We used the Pearson method to see how closely their prices tracked each other.