A cat owner has gone viral after capturing the moment her pet spotted another feline outside—and began barking.
Cathy, who posts to TikTok under the username @cathyann.9, posted a video to her account in April. The footage showed, as she described it, what happens “when your cat has grown up with dogs.”
Cathy’s gray-and-white cat makes regular appearances on her page, usually relaxing on the couch or gazing out the window, and once even wrestling with the owner’s dog. But one video in particular has gone massively viral, as it showed the feline barking like its canine sibling.
In the clip, the cat stands on a side table, her tail flicking menacingly as she looks out the window at another feline. But, rather than growling, hissing or meowing, the cat instead lets out a series of what can only be described as barks: short, sharp and loud, with one almost turning into a howl.
Someone in the background of the video can be heard commenting: “She’s a barker,” and Cathy wrote in the caption: “She saw another cat and instantly started barking LOL [laugh out loud].”
The 14-second-long clip has amassed more than 21.4 million views, and racked up over 4.1 million likes, as animal lovers flocked to the comments section.
“God forbid a girl wants to learn a different language,” one commenter wrote—racking up more than 260,000 likes in the process.
“Your cat can put bilingual on her resume,” another posted, while a third described it as “cat hardware, dog software.”
Some worried about the cat, with one wondering if the animal could be “coughing,” and suggested taking her to the vet.
And one user, who claimed they were a former vet tech, wrote: “I legitimately thought oh this cat’s having a legitimate asthmatic episode, then it was possible congestive heart failure, turns out cat is barking.”
Cathy’s cat barks through the window at another animal.
TikTok @cathyann.9
While it is unusual, it is possible for cats to bark. An article from LiveScience, quoting veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman, said that the arrangement of a cat’s larynx, trachea and diaphragm is capable of producing a noise like a bark if the feline wishes to do so.
Cats have plenty of common vocalizations to communicate with humans and other felines, however. This ranges from the everyday meowing and purring; to yowling to indicate distress; chattering when spotting prey outside of its reach; and chirping to communicate with kittens, according to PetMD.
If a cat begins to make coughing sounds out of nowhere, however, owners should bring them to the vet for a checkup, as it could be a symptom of an injury or medical issue.
Newsweek has contacted @cathyann.9 on TikTok for comment on this story.
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