--- description: Yes, a sassy feline once sat inside the magazine's red border title: Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2014 4:15 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2014 4:15 PM CUT Today is [National Cat Day](http://www.nationalcatday.com/ "undefined") — even though it kind of feels like every day is National Cat Day on the Internet. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to take a look back at a key moment in TIME’s history: that time in 1981 when cats were the most important news of the week. It’s true. On Dec. 7, 1981, TIME’s cover featured a green-eyed feline model paired with the cover line “CATS: Love ’em! Hate ’em!” The corresponding story, called[ “Crazy Over Cats,” ](http://time.com/3545852/crazy-over-cats/ "undefined")declared the animals a “national mania.” Fun fact: Maureen Dowd, then a young TIME correspondent, was a reporter and researcher on the story, which outlined humans’ complex relationship with felines. As J.D. Reed wrote: --- > “” --- Though this cover was obviously a very silly one, it should be noted that plenty of other TIME covers have been just as ridiculous — especially in 1981, for some reason. (See: this one about [ice cream](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19810810,00.html "undefined"), and this one about [fitness](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19811102,00.html "undefined").) Few, however, have been quite so prescient. More than three decades ago, TIME knew that cats were nothing to LOL about. **_The Dec. 7, 1981, cover story is now available free of charge in_** **TIME’** **_s archives. Click here to read it in its entirety:_** [Crazy Over Cats](http://time.com/3545852/crazy-over-cats/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3545858/national-cat-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3545858/national-cat-day/"},"headline":"Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History","datePublished":"2014-10-29T16:15:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:09.959Z","description":"Yes, a sassy feline once sat inside the magazine's red border","url":"https://time.com/3545858/national-cat-day/","keywords":["animals","Newsfeed","cats"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3545858/national-cat-day/","name":"Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History"}}]}] ```