The Fear and Loathing Cat meme features a cat styled as Raoul Duke, the iconic protagonist of Hunter S. Thompson's semi-autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The imagery usually depicts a feline wearing a signature white bucket hat and yellow-tinted aviator sunglasses, mirroring Johnny Depp's portrayal in the 1998 film. It gained widespread popularity on platforms like Reddit and Tumblr for its surreal aesthetic, blending the intensity of gonzo journalism with internet cat culture. The meme is frequently used to express feelings of confusion, sensory overload, or the chaotic energy of a wild adventure, often accompanied by the famous phrase 'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.'