CatBread/Nekopan
About
Cat Bread (originally known as Kittyloaf, and later a.k.a Kitty Bread or Cat Loaf or Neko-Pan) (Japanese: 猫パン; Romanization: Nekopan) is a character commonly used as an avatar on discussion forums. It is also a popular subject of photo-manipulation that involves superimposing kitten faces over an actual loaf of bread.
Origin
Cat Bread was originally incarnated as the character “Neko-Pan” in a children’s book by Hirose Takuro. The books became wildly popular in Japan and several plushes and toys based on the character were made. Eventually, the character made its way to Western shores, but it did not kick off as it did in Japan. One of the earliest known discussions about Cat Bread can be found in the Neo-Geo forum thread titled “What is the Origin of Kitty Loaf?”, posted on December 23rd, 2002.
I’ve been in the forums for awhile now, but have always wondered just where the concept and what does the “Kitty Loaf” represent and at what point in time did the creator come up with this concept. Personally I like the Kitty Loaf, just want some detail on it.
One of the earliest instances of Cat Bread was uploaded on the website MTG News, a site that specializes in news related to the card game “Magic the Gathering,” by user sneakyhomunculus who found it on e-thug.net.