'The Single Friend': Why Every Group Has One Cat Playing Third Wheel

Every friend group has one: the single friend, standing slightly apart while everyone else pairs off, radiating an energy that’s somewhere between “I’m fine” and “I chose this.” The Manager Meow’s newest design puts that exact dynamic on an orange cat, and it works better than it has any right to.

Orange cats already have a reputation

There’s a running internet bit that orange cats are a little chaotic, a little dim, and completely unbothered by social norms — which makes one an ideal stand-in for “the friend who shows up alone and is somehow having the best time anyway.” Pairing that reputation with a third-wheel joke gives the design two punchlines for the price of one.

A different kind of cat humor

Most of The Manager Meow’s lineup is about a cat’s attitude toward its owner — judgmental stares, dramatic bowl complaints, Monday-morning contempt. “The Single Friend” points the joke somewhere else entirely: at relationship status and friend-group dynamics, using the cat as a stand-in for a person rather than commentary on cat behavior itself. It’s a good sign the store’s humor is expanding past one format.

Who it’s actually for

This one’s less “gift for a cat owner” and more “gift for whoever’s single in the group chat” — it happens to feature a cat, but the joke lands with anyone who’s ever been the one person without a plus-one. It also works fine as straightforward cat merch if the recipient just likes orange cats and dry humor, which covers a lot of the same audience as the crossed-arms Ugh tee and the angry cat loaf.

Shop the design

Find “The Single Friend” in the Cats collection, or browse funny cat owner gifts for more designs in the same spirit.