Meowl was first made in 2013 as a photoshopped cat–owl hybrid image by a Chinese Weibo user named zhumaokele.

Quick answer

  • The original Meowl image dates back to April 2013.
  • It was created and posted on Weibo by the user zhumaokele.
  • That year (2013) is generally treated as the “official” creation date of Meowl.

A bit more context

  • Meowl (also called Cat Owl or Owl Cat) is a digital edit combining a cat’s head (from the viral Chinese cat Melonpi/Melonpi) with the body of a barn owl.
  • The first Meowl-style images were uploaded to Weibo on April 28, 2013, and then spread to Reddit and other sites over the next few years before blowing up again in 2024–2025 meme culture.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.