Big Floppa

On December 23, 2019, Instagram user prozhony posted a photograph of their pet caracal named Gosha (Гоша) and a Maine Coon cat lying next to the pet caracal.[2] The image received over 16,600 views in six months (driven largely by its meme popularity). The name "Big Floppa" originated in reference to the caracal's distinctive large tufted ears.[3]

Gosha was born on December 21, 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine.[4] In April 2018, he was adopted by Andrey Bondarev and Elena Bondareva from Moscow.[4][5] Andrey and Elena also own a Maine Coon named Justin (Russian: Жора, Zhora), who is 4 years older than Gosha and shares a room with him. Gosha enjoys eating shrimp and mice and is very active around his apartment.[4]

In 2020, Gosha had surgery to remove a tumour from behind his ear, but subsequently recovered.[6]

In December 2021, Gosha and his owners were featured on state-owned Russian television station 360.[7]

An unlicensed Big Floppa pillow, showing one of the many edited images of the caracal committing various crimes.

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many social media websites and services stopped operating in Russia, including Instagram, where Gosha's owners typically post.[8] In response to this, a post was made on their instagram page which read "Dear friends, today Instagram will be blocked in Russia, but we remain with you!".[9] Soon after this announcement, they also announced the creation of a YouTube channel and a Telegram channel.[10] Gosha’s owners have spoken out about the Russian-Ukraine war, and have called for peace. Gosha's YouTube channel, called 'Big Floppa Official' hosts livestreams of Gosha with various webcams around Andrey and Dino's house. As of October 2022, Gosha's channel has 20.3k subscribers.[11]

The original Big Floppa following spawned an internet subculture based on caracal memes in general.

Within this community the term "Floppa/floppas" (lowercase when used generically) has come to refer to caracals with a social media presence in general,[12] notably a caracal[13] named Pumba from Latvia. In 2022, Gosha and Pumba met virtually via Skype.[14][15] More caracal cats associated to the meme are a caracal named Adolf, also from Russia, who lives with a Serval cat called Myxa, and caracal Kimbo, however Gosha is the source of the “Big Floppa” meme.[16][17][18]

Big Floppa, as a distinct title, is now usually reserved for Gosha alone, and is often compared with rap monikers as it is very similar to many rappers' scene names, with "Big Floppa" itself being a reference to the 1994 Notorious B.I.G song Big Poppa.

The meme notably involves Gosha committing war crimes and terrorist attacks, that his owners have since comically addressed.[7]

Gregory (AKA Big Floppa) sitting on a kitchen counter with a watermelon

In Russian Internet culture, there is a flash mob called "Мам, смотри, это Шлёпа, он тебе нравится?" (Mom, look, it's Floppa, do you like him?).[19]

• List of individual cats

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Big Floppa.

• Official website
• Big Floppa on Instagram
• Big Floppa on Telegram
• Big Floppa's channel on YouTube
• Kittypuppy TV