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title: National Cat Day: TIME Magazine Cover Story Researched by Maureen Dowd
description: Yes, a sassy feline once sat inside the magazine&#x27;s red border
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og:title: Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History
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# Celebrate National Cat Day With the Most Ridiculous Cover in TIME History

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by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


Oct 29, 2014 4:15 PM UTC

by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


Oct 29, 2014 4:15 PM UTC

Today is [National Cat Day](http://www.nationalcatday.com/) — 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/)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), and this one about [fitness](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19811102,00.html).) 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/)

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