Pot Roast (cat)

Pot Roast (August 8, 2014 – February 16, 2022) was an American cat from Kansas City who went viral on TikTok for her bedraggled appearance. She was owned by an anonymous woman who goes by Pot Roast's Mom online due to privacy concerns.

Life
Pot Roast was adopted as a kitten in 2014, when her owner met her at an event hosted by the Missouri University of Science and Technology. She was originally going to be named Concrete; however, Pot Roast’s mom could not correctly spell Concrete consistently. The name Pot Roast was inspired by the "Caucasian middle class dish" of the same name. Her owner, a student at the time, hid the kitten in her bedroom closet at her sorority house for a week, but due to the house's no-pet rule, the kitten took up residence in the neighboring fraternity house. The shelter was not forthcoming about all of the cat's health problems, including feline herpes and stomatitis (which resulted in all of her teeth eventually being extracted). Pot Roast’s mom kept her teeth and pasted them on a canvas.

After first posting on TikTok in late 2020, Pot Roast and her owner quickly gained traction, in part due to the cat's "listless" and "stiff-limbed" appearance, which resulted in an ongoing joke that Pot Roast was taxidermied. Videos included her owner monologuing or answers to comments, all while holding Pot Roast for comedic effect, who sometimes wore hats.

At the time of Pot Roast's death, Pot Roast's Mom had 930,000 followers.

Death and legacy
In early February 2022 Pot Roast was diagnosed with FIV, and her quality of life declined in the following weeks. She died on February 16. Her owner continued to post on TikTok, updating followers on her grieving process. Some viewers harassed her owner and criticized her for jokes she made about her grieving process or her decision to keep and articulate Pot Roast's bones.

Pot Roast’s Mom is currently living with her two male cats named Faucet and Coupon, who she refers to with female pronouns,. Her other male cat, Rocko, died on February 22nd, 2024. One of her followers also sent her a FurReal Friends cat customized to look like Pot Roast. The robotic toy, which has since made appearances in TikTok videos, was deemed Bot Roast. Initially, Pot Roast's Mom introduced the toy to her followers by declaring that it was "Pot Roast's taxidermy".

As of April 2023, Pot Roast's Mom is writing a book about pet grief.