A cat’s reaction to his owner’s sneezing has left online commenters in stitches this week after a video was re-shared on Reddit.
Danielle R, 35, lives in Maryland with her 8-year-old ginger cat, Snicker Doodle, who has an unusual habit. Whenever his owner sneezes, Doodle lets out a hilarious chattering or chirping.
Usually, cat chattering, chittering or chirping happens when the animal is happy, excited or focused on hunting. This is why your cat might chatter when looking out of the window at neighborhood birds or when “hunting” its favorite toy.
Doodle, however, appears to chatter almost every time he is woken by his owner from a nap, which was captured in a series of hilarious videos that she shared on TikTok.
They were reposted Wednesday on Reddit, and one has gained over 23,000 upvotes as cat lovers rushed to react. “His internal CD player is skipping,” joked one Redditor. Another said: “I think he’s laughing at you.”
danilanereubot/TikTok
Danielle told Newsweek: “He’s been doing this since at least 2016. I think that was the first time that I caught it on camera. He doesn’t always react—sometimes if he’s in the middle of something or distracted.”
To capture the amusing footage, Danielle has to be pretty dedicated to the cause. “Whenever I feel the tingle in my nose of an oncoming sneeze, I open my camera app and start recording. I work from home and he’s my little shadow, so he’s by my side 90 percent of the day.”
He now has over 13,000 followers on TikTok, but Doodle’s internet fame had humble beginnings.
“I used to record the lectures from him to send to my boyfriend for a laugh,” Danielle said. “I had gotten a really good one, paired it with two others and decided to post it on TikTok. Then it all took off and became his first viral video.”
Reacting to a video shared on TikTok, one user said: “He’s trying to say bless you,” while another viewer wrote: “That cat was straight up glitching.”
“I honestly don’t know why he does it,” Danielle said. “I’ve heard theories where people think he interprets it as a hiss, but he’ll sometimes come running from another room when I sneeze with his tail up all happy.”
Danielle said she thinks that Doodle’s chitters come from caring. “I think it’s a mixture of him caring about me, like his meow is checking on me. Though sometimes it definitely sounds more like he’s annoyed that I’ve disturbed his peace.”
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