Would you believe it? Another cat-based TikTok has gone viral — and we aren’t complaining. This time, it’s a video of a cat reacting most peculiarly to his human’s sneezes. The on-screen caption reads, “My orange cat, Snicker Doodle, always yells at me when I SNEEZE…”
In the 61-second video uploaded by Pubity (username @pubity), there are several examples of the unusual behavior from Snicker Doodle (adorable name, by the way). Simply put, every time the girl sneezes, the cat makes the most agitated face with his mouth wide open and lets out a yell (albeit a quiet one). The last instance also includes some world-class side-eye from the feline, referenced in the video’s description (which reads, “Snicker Doodle’s side eye on the last video”).
Naturally, as with most animal-based TikToks, the community on the popular video-sharing platform has reacted en masse.
How did TikTok react?
As of the time of writing, the video has around 3.9 million likes, which suggests people love the video — and that’s reflected in many of the comments.
Many people said their cats reacted similarly when they sneezed. Comments of that nature included, “omggg our little girl calico cat does this when we sneeze. we’ll fake sneeze when we can’t find her in the house so she meows and we know where she’s at. it’s so cute,” “OH MY GOSH!!! My cat does this too!!!! She does it every time. She also comes and rubs my face when I’m talking loud because she thinks I’m upset. So cute,” and “My cat does this too I always think it’s her saying bless you.”
Meanwhile, other people said, “I had a orange cat that would attack me each time I sneezed,” and “This was so wholesome. My moms cat would come sprinting into the room after I sneezed just to bite me.”
Several others suggested it was Snicker Doodle’s way of blessing his human, with comments like, “maybe its his or her way of saying bless you,” “She’s saying bless you,” and “he’s bleesing you.”
Other suggestions came from people who said things like, “He’s saying calm down I’m trying to relax calm down .. be calm be calm be calm,” “He thinks you’re hissing at him and he’s doing it to try to calm you down. To his ears, your sneeze sounds like you’re angry. You just need to pet him and reassure him & offer a treat at the time that you sneeze so he knows that you’re okay,” “has anyone thought about maybe he’s laughing,” “You shivered his timbers!!!!” and “does it hurts their ears?”
One user nailed it by simply saying, “The sass is strong with this one.” According to Catster.com, some of the nine primary vet-approved reasons cats hold their mouths open (which is referred to as the Flehmen Response) include identifying urine and identifying their kittens. That’s because cats’ mouths are much better at identifying scents than their noses are. So, in the case of Snicker Doodle, he may open his mouth when his human sneezes to sense if anything’s wrong because he cares. If that’s the case, it’s actually pretty cute.