‘The eye twitch’: Curious cat decides to inspect dog brother’s breath and is doomed to regret it for the rest of its nine lives

At this point, we should all be familiar with the phrase “curiosity killed the cat.” What we should be asking, however, is why that saying always has to be so severe.

Indeed, why not “curiosity mildly inconvenienced the cat?” Why not “curiosity ruined the cat’s weekend plans?” Why not “curiosity is going to take up a lot of the cat’s time?”

Or, in the case of the poor feline owned by TikTok‘s Kevin McWeeney, “curiosity will forever traumatize the cat, olfactory nerve and all.”

Distributed by @pubity, it takes just 10 seconds for the kitty’s life to change forever. After joining his human and his canine brother on the bed, curiosity—the dastardly scoundrel that it is—took control and led the cat to taking a substantial whiff of the dog’s breath. What the cat didn’t know, however, was that the dog apparently subsists on onions, day-old cured meats, and toilet water. At least, that’s what the cat’s reaction to the scent suggests.

The utter disgust coating the cat’s face is surprisingly pronounced, to the point where it almost looks human; the squinty eyes, the dramatic twist away from the source of the stench, the way it curls its mouth open as if to let out a groan, and the inching away from the dog shortly after. Undoubtedly, this encounter changed the cat forever, and the fact that the dog seems none too bothered by the hell that he breathes out into the world only makes it funnier.

The dog, of course, isn’t going to do anything about his bad breath, so it will be up to Kevin to get to the bottom of this stinky situation. The answer, of course, could be any number of things; according to Lakeland Animal Clinic, the most common causes of bad breath in dogs include having eaten something gross, a bacterial imbalance in their stomach, diabetes, and other conditions affecting such organs as liver, kidneys, and the gastrointestinal tract. Bacteria buildup is another possible culprit since—and Lakeland was happy to point this detail out in the post— dogs are not compelled to floss, use mouthwash, or brush their teeth like us humans.

In fairness, cats are no great practitioners of dental hygiene either, so while this kitty seemed all too happy to make a scene over his brother’s breath, we’re sure he would get awfully quiet if it was the other way around, and it was the cat’s breath being inspected. Glass houses, Mr. Cat; glass houses.