I've seen this image hundreds of times.

What is its origin? Anyone know?

Odd, TinEye has nothing.

And Google says it's visually similar to cat in a goldfish bowl.

Google image search's earliest mention of it is this Chinese page.

That page was made over two years ago.

Maru proves a cat is like water:

http://pandawhale.com/post/13140/maru-proves-that-cats-are-a-liquid-not-a-solid

"That's it. So cats are liquid."

Cats in small bowls is a meme.

So far as I can tell after 30 minutes of sleuthing on Google image search, the pictures first appeared in a thread on baddawi.com on February 19, 2005.

There are at least 2 additional pictures of the cat (though this source may not be the oldest):

In tracking back the source of the original image, I eventually discovered that in November 1, 2011 there was a surge of activity in Russia around this cat. Around the 5th or 6th of November the most of the activity becomes limited to the image of the cat which we're all most familiar. In 2012 that image hit Tumblr, and the others were apparently forgotten.

OMG that last photo is SOFA KING CUTE.

Arguably much cuter than the image that went viral!

So, so CUTE! I love it..

I have made a terrible mistake...

Is it possible that's not Photoshop?

It is probably photoshopped -- the real cat would have spoke in Russian.

Da.

Cat in milk bottle

Liquid cat in action:

http://pandawhale.com/post/21455/cat-pancake-gif

More proof cats are liquid:

http://pandawhale.com/post/15319/more-proof-that-cats-are-liquid

Cat in Hamster Ball:

http://pandawhale.com/post/22696/cat-in-hamster-ball-gif