A video of a cat giving its owner an "attitude" while returning an object it stole has gone viral on TikTok, where it had received over 843,000 views at the time of writing.
The clip shared from the TikTok account @pennythegingercat was posted with a caption that read: "It's the audacity for me."
The video showed the cat, called Penny, sitting on the floor of a living room, holding an object in its mouth. A message overlaid on the video said: "You stole my kitchen sponge and now mama wants it back."
As another message shown across the video read: "Give it back to me please. Right now. Please hand it over," the cat was seen abruptly flicking the sponge across the floor towards the camera as the clip ended.
A cat's obsession with objects it's gotten hold of could be down to its hunter origins.
"Cats are natural hunters, so their toys will be most interesting if they are the size and texture of prey, if they can be moved around in such a way as to represent small prey (mice, insects, lizards, birds), or if they contain tasty food or treats," veterinarians Debra Horwitz, Gary Landsberg and Theresa DePorter explained in an article for VCA, one of North America's largest animal hospital chains.
it’s the audacity for me
In another article for VCA, Horwitz and Landsberg said it's often the simple toys, such as ones that offer unpredictable and rapid movement as well as a high-pitched sound, that are likely to provide your cat with "hours of entertainment."
The veterinarians advised: "It is important to keep in mind that some pets may have aggressive chew strength and could potentially ingest bone or toy material. Pets should be monitored and supervised, at least initially, with all toys. If a pet will chew off pieces of a product, then this product is not recommended for them."
The latest viral video has left users on TikTok in stitches.
In a comment that got 8,911 likes, user @iammasadilla said the cat must have been saying: "Fine take it" by throwing the sponge towards the owner.
User angeliz [heart emoji] wrote: "The attitude [face crying floods of tears emoji]," while user Cik Da said: "hahahaha...ohhhh..what an attitude [crying laughing emojis]."
User @ruizgisale wrote: "The level of disrespect [crying laughing emoji]" while Red said: "I love how she [the cat] flings it, 'fine, I didn't want it anyway'."
Evan Williams said: "You know after the video cut off, she [the cat] slammed a door somewhere."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment. This video has not been independently verified.
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