“Tell your cat I said pspsps” may be one of the internet’s most efficient ways to send greetings to an animal that has absolutely no idea who you are.
Instead of asking someone to tell their cat hello, the phrase uses the familiar “pspsps” noise humans make when trying to attract a cat’s attention.
That turns an ordinary greeting into something supposedly written in the cat’s own language.
The joke behind the Tell Your Cat I Said Pspsps design is simple: if your friend has a cat, please pass the message along correctly.
What Does “Tell Your Cat I Said Pspsps” Mean?
The phrase is a playful variation of “tell your cat I said hi.”
However, instead of greeting the animal in human language, the speaker sends the noise people commonly use to summon cats:
Pspspspsps.
It is essentially a long-distance greeting for somebody else’s pet.
The cat will not understand who sent it. That is not important.
How Old Is the Phrase?
The general idea of asking someone to greet their pet has existed for a very long time, but surviving social-media posts give us a useful timeline for the modern internet version.
Examples of “tell your cat I said hello” and similar phrases appear on Twitter as early as 2009. By 2010 and 2011, users were also posting variations such as “tell your cat I said meow.”
Then the familiar pspsps version appears.
One documented Facebook post from August 8, 2013 reads:
“Tell your cat I said pspsps!”
So the joke predates its major 2020-era popularity by several years.
The Phrase Went Viral Again Around 2020
Internet jokes often exist quietly for years before one version suddenly reaches a much larger audience.
That happened with this phrase.
In late 2019, Twitter users were already posting versions such as asking someone to tell their cat “pspspspspsps.” Then, in June 2020, a Facebook post asking people to let their cats know the author said pspsps reportedly received more than 80,000 shares.
More versions quickly followed across Twitter, Facebook, stickers, shirts, and other merchandise.
By that point, the phrase had become recognizable cat-owner internet vocabulary.
Why Do Humans Say Pspsps to Cats?
There is no single proven scientific explanation for why many cats react to the sound.
However, animal-behavior experts have proposed several plausible reasons.
First, cats hear higher frequencies than humans, so the sharp S sound may stand out strongly from ordinary speech. The repeated switch between the P and S sounds also creates an abrupt rhythm that can grab attention.
Another theory suggests that the sound resembles the subtle noises of small prey, rustling, or other things a cat may instinctively investigate.
Finally, cats can simply learn that pspsps predicts attention, food, affection, or something interesting.
Not Every Cat Actually Cares
The internet sometimes treats pspsps as a universal feline command.
Real cats are less cooperative.
Some immediately turn their heads. Others approach. A few become suspicious. Plenty simply continue doing whatever they were doing because ignoring humans is also an important part of being a cat.
That unpredictability arguably makes the phrase even better.
You can send the greeting.
Whether the cat accepts it is between you and the cat.
Pspsps Is Almost a Fake Cat Language
The joke works because everyone pretends pspsps carries actual semantic information.
Someone says:
“Tell your cat I said pspsps.”
The implication is that the cat will hear the sound and somehow understand:
Ah yes. Your friend sends their regards.
Of course, that is not what happens. Yet the social ritual feels strangely complete anyway.
Why Cat Owners Immediately Understand the Joke
People who live with cats already know the behavior behind the phrase.
You see a cat across the room. Instead of using its name, you instinctively produce a collection of whispered consonants.
Pspspspsps.
Sometimes it works surprisingly well.
Because so many people independently use similar noises, the sound feels almost universal even though nobody formally teaches it as a word.
The Internet Turned It Into a Greeting
Once the phrase became common online, people began treating it like a standard message to pass along.
Someone posts a photograph of their cat.
A commenter replies: “Tell them I said pspsps.”
Another person sees a cat through a video call and sends the same greeting.
The joke creates a tiny social connection between complete strangers through an animal that remains unaware of the entire arrangement.
The Tell Your Cat I Said Pspsps Shirt
The Tell Your Cat I Said Pspsps shirt turns that online cat-owner ritual into a direct instruction.
Someone reading it does not need to know one particular meme image or viral video. The joke depends on recognizing the sound itself.
That makes the design useful both as internet humor and as a simple message between people who automatically attempt to communicate with every cat they meet.
It fits naturally alongside AmazeShirt’s other cat and Animal Designs.
Please Deliver the Message
The phrase has survived because it captures something genuinely familiar about cat people.
Seeing someone else’s cat creates an immediate desire to interact with it, even when the animal is nowhere nearby.
So the owner receives a responsibility.
Go home.
Find the cat.
Get its attention.
And please tell your cat I said:
Pspspspsps.
