The cat laugh has spread mainly through short-form video and meme edits, where creators reuse short reaction sounds to punctuate jokes rather than tracing them to a single show or film. Its appeal is its instantly readable tone: it sounds mischievous without needing any dialogue or context. A closely titled variant, cat laugh meme 1, circulates alongside it, while similar reaction clips like the baby laughing meme are often used for the same light-hearted, teasing effect in edits, comments and reaction videos.