An orange cat named Pumpkin has left the internet in stitches after his owner shared a video of him trying to prank his sister only to fail miserably.
The video, shared on TikTok on Tuesday under the username @maple.and.pumpkin, shows Pumpkin hiding inside a cardboard box in the yard, waiting for his calico sister, Maple, to walk by so he can jump scare her.
As he hid inside the box, preparing for the big prank, his sister walked by unbothered, and he only managed to jump when she was already gone.
“When you’re trying to jump scare your sister but you have no sense of timing,” read the layover text in the video. A caption shared with the viral post said: “My silly boy, thought they had good hearing hahaha.”
Stock image of an orange cat. A cat tries to scare his sister in a clip, but there’s a problem.
Getty Images
Notwithstanding Pumpkin’s bad timing, cats do have a sense of time, though they don’t perceive it the way humans do.
The website Vet Explains Pets says cats are creatures of habit, so they rely on familiar routines to understand the passage of time, and this is why they often seem to expect meals or attention at specific intervals during the day.
In certain situations, when they react quickly to stimuli and show heightened awareness, like when they are hunting, it is thought these sharp reflexes suggest that their perception of time may be more acute in such moments that require immediate action.
Additionally, cats are known for their ability to anticipate events. By picking up on subtle changes in their environment, they can predict things like feeding times. This indicates that while their understanding of time isn’t as structured as ours, they do have a way of tracking it through patterns and cues in their surroundings.
The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 350,900 views and 43,100 likes on the platform.
One user, lpbrowncoat, commented: “He’s got the spirit, that’s all that counts.”
Xannie_xann said: “The other cat slow down walking knowing the OTHER cat plan.”
Lanaelien0 wrote: “He possibly dozed off for a moment and had sweet orange dreams.”
Louise260587 added: “I feel like that other cat needs to go back out and let the orange cat try again. I feel so bad for it.”
Newsweek reached out to maple.and.pumpkin for comment via email. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
