If you’re wondering why the heck people are putting slices of bread on their pets, you’re not the only one.

One Reddit user has posted a question on the subreddit r/outoftheloop: “I keep seeing dogs around the internet (specifically Pomeranians) with slices of bread fit around their head, is there any reason for doing this besides that it looks cute? And why bread? Does anyone know the origin of this meme?”

Luckily, people were armed with many theories in their answers. One answered that the meme has to do with “them being purebred, bred=bread.” Another suggested the joke went back to cats. “If you put a string or rubber band around a cat's whiskers they will freak out and start backing up as though they are trapped halfway down a pipe.”

In reality, the "pet breading" pun is thought to have emerged from the original cat bread photo posted on Tumblr and Reddit way back in 2011. It resurfaced several times after as a viral photo fad, the name of which refers to a pun on “inbred.”