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TikTok recliner degloved cat tail
Image via brianfuggincrawford/TikTok

‘Burned into my brain’: Pet parents issue PSA on the recliner that partially degloved their poor cat’s tail

Something for every cat owner to be aware of.

Warning: this article details injury to an animal

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A tattoo artist has gone viral on TikTok after revealing something shocking that happened to his cat. Brian Crawford (username @brianfuggincrawford), from Kent, Ohio, uploaded the video showing the gruesome truth about what happened to his poor kitty.

In the 22-second clip, filmed by a female acquaintance of Brian’s, said woman walks down some stairs and asks, “is it bad?” She then enters a room where Brian has upturned a recliner to look at the mechanism. He then turns the spinning mechanism on to reveal his cat’s tail tangled in it, at which point the woman shrieks. He says that was why the cat screamed so loud, and the video ends.

The video’s description says, “So this is the moment I found out exactly what happened to our cat’s tail. I’ve debated posting this because it’s lightweight horrific and it was a complete accident.” It also explains that he and his children were looking for the tail for a couple of hours, that he’s posting the video as a warning to other pet owners, and that the cat was “flailing and doing everything it could to get loose.” It’s a genuinely horrendous scenario that the TikTok community had much to say about.

How did TikTok react?

@brianfuggincrawford

So this is the moment I found out exactly what happened to our cats tail. I’ve debated posting this because it’s lightweight horrific and it was a complete accident. This is after we took her to the vet and found out they were going to have to amputate what was left. Me and my kids were looking for the tail for a couple hours! We assumed to recliner severed it! We assumed wrong! This is the moment we found out what happened! I’m posting this mainly as a warning to those who have a motorized recliner. When it first happened my daughter thought that she had to reverse the recliner to release the tail. She couldn’t see what was happening and reversing it actually caught the tail in the mechanism even more, it didn’t help that the cat was flailing and doing everything it could to get loose! All of this was happening under the chair and no one could see what was really happening! Like I said an accident but a horrific one! #cats #accident #recliner #poorcat #9lives #wtf

♬ original sound – Brian Crawford

Some users noted the tail’s horrible crunch sound when Brian turned on the recliner’s mechanism. Comments about it included, “The crunch. Why is no one talking about the crunch!!!” and “THE CRUNCH???!!!!!!!!”

Others simply expressed their shock and horror with comments like, “yeah this lesson is gonna be burned into my brain,” “bruhh thats horrifying,” “omg I can’t imagine. poor kitty,” “this traumatized me,” and “”that’s why she was screaming so bad” made me tear up.”

A few people spoke of their own experiences of similar horrible incidents, writing things like, “this happened to my cat when he was maybe 2 years old the emergency vet said they would have to amputate his tail and we said no so we took him to his regular vet and they cleaned the wound and wrapped it up we had other cats too so he had to stay in my room while he recovered multiple vet visits to change the bandages and now he is coming up on 9 and has a beautiful fluffy tail,”,”Ive worked at a vet clinic and you don’t know how many accidents I’ve seen because of reclining chairs.”

Several people thanked Brian for posting the video and spreading awareness of the dangers of reclining chairs. They wrote things like, “Thank you for posting. This is horrendous and people need to know. I’m so sorry you all had to experience this,” “I’m so sorry this happened to your kitty but thank you for spreading awareness because my electric couch is built exactly like this and I would’ve never thought to unplug,” and “Thank you for posting. I never would’ve thought about that happening and now I will never own a chair or couch like that. I hope your cat is okay, I’m sorry all of you went through that.”

But most people were simply concerned for the cat’s wellbeing, asking questions like “what happend to the cat,” “Is your cat ok?!?!?!?” and “Where’s the cat?!?!?” A second video revealed it’s surprisingly well, following surgery to amputate its damaged tail.

Several sources, including Statista and PetMD, confirm that cats are America’s second most popular pet. The idea of something so horrible happening to what is essentially a family member is gut-wrenching. We hope the kitty continues its recovery well.


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Author
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Kevin Stewart
Kevin is a freelance writer at We Got This Covered. He's been writing and editing for various publications worldwide since 2013, mainly about movies, TV, and sports. He's had more than 2000 pieces of writing published. He loves to travel, watch movies (horror, superhero stuff, and '80s films are his favorites), and keep fit. Kevin has a degree in Business Management, once appeared on British TV quiz show The Chase, and regularly asks #KevsMovieQuestions on his X (formerly Twitter).