‘He’s such a thinker’: Mouse-hunting cat attains self-actualization in real time after nabbing his first live catch

At this point, we should all be familiar with the notion of failing upward (especially in light of the political world stage over the last decade or so). Relatively few, however, may be acquainted with the similar notion of fortuitous competency.

What that describes, dear reader, is an event where someone manages to pull off a task whilst being entirely unaware of either the task itself or the significance of its completion. Upon realizing what happened, the perpetrator may experience something adjacent to an identity crisis, or perhaps imposter syndrome. Such were the emotions that Rooster the cat recently experienced during his first successful hunt. TikTok has the story.

Captured by Rooster’s owner — who manages his account, @roostermeows, for what’s probably a paltry wage made up for by Rooster’s fuzzy wuzzy charm — the 13-second video above sees Rooster holding a live mouse in his jaw, which causes him to flutter through some emotions that he clearly was not prepared to deal with.

Rooster, you see, seems to think that it’s not a mouse in his mouth, but one of his plush toys. The big twist comes along when Rooster spots that very toy nestled on the carpet, and he does a double take upon spotting it; “If my toy is on the floor… then what’s in my mou- EGADS!”

And like that, Rooster has graduated from playful kitten to Prime Minister of Rodent Control; a transition that Rooster now seems to be regarding with a lot of “Whoopsie!” energy. The mouse now allegedly maintains a property in Bermuda, which Rooster frequents during the winter months in exchange for having allowed the mouse to live.

Commenters were quick to praise Rooster’s critical thinking ability, as well as the speed with which he concluded that he was complicit in a hostage situation rather than playtime. “He’s such a thinker,” complemented one responder. “Not him comparing and contrasting,” said another. Others, however, were more focused on how calm Rooster’s owner was behaving at the sight of a live mouse; “The way you’re not panicking???,” remarked a third commenter.

Now, according to my dog who subsists on Doritos and coconut shavings whilst hogging my massage recliner, it is generally frowned upon to put your pets to work, given the large role they already play in managing the emotional equilibrium of their owners (by allowing us to scratch their ears and tummies, of course). Still, one of the advantages of having a cat is their natural hunting instinct that can be leveraged to solve rodent problems in the home (despite what Tom and Jerry might have you believe).

Indeed, according to Pointe Pest Control, there are a number of ways to help your kitty improve their mousing ability. These include hunting games with pieces of string, praising your cat when they bring you objects/corpses as a gift, keeping them well fed, and pairing them with an older, more experienced mousing cat.

But I’ll stop here. All this talk about how great cats are has led to my dog giving me a particularly venomous side-eye, although it may also have to do with his snack bowl needing a refill. Whatever the case, I hope he doesn’t dock my pay too much.