Cats are particular about their daily habits, with grooming at the forefront of their routine. They never slack on their cleanliness, licking until their heart’s content to make their coats shine perfectly.
However, one owner learned the hard way never to get in the way of a cat’s grooming or it will never let you live it down. In an August 15 TikTok video posted by user @daneed89, a black cat was lounging on the couch with his belly out to get to the hard-to-reach spot. With his eyes closed, he focused on the task at hand.
But the owner couldn’t fight the urge to pet the cat and decided to touch the exact spot where the cat was carefully grooming himself. While some cats might have moved past a betrayal such as the one in the video, this feline wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
He stopped licking himself immediately and paused. Confused, he must have wondered: “Did that just happen?” The cat felt betrayed. His hesitation showed he was figuring out how to respond to the rude interruption of his grooming session.
His internal dialogue told him to calm down and not get into a scuffle, but it looked as if he debated it for some time before turning to look at his owner. He didn’t do anything at the moment, but anyone could tell it was an infraction he would not soon forget. He stared at his owner with disgust. It was a look of “don’t you ever test me again.”
A TikTok video shows a black cat grooming himself until his owner intervened. The cat was upset that his owner pet him where he had just groomed.
@daneed89/TikTok
Luckily for him, his coat won’t be contaminated by human contact for long. It’s an easy fix because cats spend about 30 to 50 percent of their day grooming themselves, an article from Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine says. He’ll be able to relick that spot clean without wasting too much of his time.
Plus, there are no hard feelings between the two of them. The owner told Newsweek via TikTok that the cat is “very tolerant” of his shenanigans.
The cat’s reaction quickly went viral, bringing in over 8 million views on TikTok as of Thursday.
“He looked at you like, ‘I beg your pardon,'” commented one viewer.
“The left lift too! His flabber was so ghasted!” said another.
One user could understand the feeling and compared it to when you “mop and someone steps on it.”
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.
