When a newlywed couple returned home from their week-long wedding trip, they thought their limping cat was injured, but after two vet visits, they discovered she might just be an Oscar-level actress.
Sydney and her husband left for seven days for their destination wedding. She told Newsweek via email that this was the longest they’ve ever been away from their pets. One cat in particular, Josephine, seemed to take their absence personally. They noticed Josephine limping around the house, holding up a paw as though she were seriously hurt.
Concerned, they rushed her to the vet. But after a full exam, the veterinarian found no swelling, and Josephien showed no signs of pain. The vet sent the couple home with mild pain medication in case it was soft-tissue inflammation, Sydney said. They visited a second vet to be on the safe side, but that visit yielded the same results.
The thought dawned on the couple: Is she faking it? Sydney said the vet didn’t confirm the theory outright, but did reassure them that Josephine was healthy. And once they returned home—a few hundred dollars later—Josephine’s “injury” began to evolve. She started switching which paw she limped on. She would walk perfectly until she noticed someone watching her. She had them wrapped around her little paw.
While feeling relieved that Josephine was healthy, Sydney said she wasn’t too surprised by her cat faking the injury. Josephine would previously give the couple the silent treatment after they left her at home. She’d hide under the bed or in the hamper for a few days before finally forgiving them.
“Josephine has always been our most dramatic cat,” Sydney said. “She’s very particular and would definitely prefer if she were the center of our attention.”
Sydney and her husband joked that Josephine put on this act because she was upset about not being invited to the wedding.
The internet joined the couple in laughing at the cat’s deception, and within two days, the TikTok video reached over 1.2 million views, 225,500 likes and 571 comments.
“I’m not gonna lie, this would work on me 100% of the time,” wrote one viewer, while another added:
Someone else asked: “How do cats figure out how to manipulate people? I’m actually impressed.”
A study from the Ohio State University found that healthy cats act sick when their routine is disrupted. Researchers observed healthy cats and those with feline interstitial cystitis—a chronic illness characterized by recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder with an urgent need to urinate.
When these cats experienced changes in feeding schedule or caretaker, the healthy cats were just as likely to show sickness behaviors, such as refusing food, frequent vomiting and leaving waste outside the litter box, as the chronically ill cats.
And while this study does not look specifically at felines faking an injury, it is not a stretch to think they would limp their way to attention.
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