When a pet owner decided to bring home a new kitten to keep her lonely cat company, she never expected the emotional roller coaster that followed.
In a viral TikTok video shared on Sunday under the username @wallkittys, the adult cat, Morty, sits at a distance watching the new kitten play, with a miserable expression on his face. He doesn’t engage in play at all, but just looks at him with sadness.
“I got my cat a cat but he looks sadder than ever,” reads layover text in the clip. “I got him FOR YOU!” the poster continues in the caption.
But then, right when she thought she made the wrong decision, the unexpected happened.
In a video update shared on Thursday, the two felines can be seen cuddling, playing together, and doing everything the poster was hoping for when she brought the still-nameless kitten home to her cat.
When your cat feels lonely and needs a companion to spend their days with, they will show signs, according to Pet MD.
These signs include excessive clinginess, changes in their eating and sleeping habits, unusually destructive behavior, litter-box issues, and a shift in overall energy.
If you decide to introduce a new cat into your home, it is important that you do it in a way that doesn’t create animosity between them. Give your felines space at the start, keeping the new kitten in a separate room.
The cats’ introduction should start with scent swapping, rubbing the kitten with a small cloth to collect scent, then letting your older cat smell it. Rewarding them for any positive or neutral response is crucial at this stage.
Once they are comfortable with the smell, you can introduce them face to face, strictly under your supervision. Do not let them interact alone until you are completely sure that they are happy with each other.
You can read more about how to introduce a kitten to your new cat here.
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The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 4.2 million views and more than 734,000 likes on the platform.
One user, Autumn, commented: “Give him some extra attention. he might think you’re replacing him. we gave our cats extra attention when we got a kitten to cheer them up.”
Syd wrote: “I was sad, now I’m depressed.”
Alice added: “He probably thinks you are replacing him cause he was acting sad.”
Newsweek reached out to @wallkittys for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
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