Cats can be just as loving and faithful as dogs, but if there’s one thing they’re known for, it is their refusal to follow any kind of orders.
A cat owner from Los Angeles has gone viral on social media after sharing a clip of her cat Birdie vocally refusing to follow her instructions as she tells her followers the story of what she did the night before.
In a video shared on TikTok in April under the username birdiebkitty, she said: “True story. It was Birdie’s first night here last night, I put her upstairs in my room, closed the door so that she couldn’t come back down. What she had access to was the bedroom, and then I left the loft open because that’s where her litter box is, and the water and things of that nature. And I thought, she’s so tiny, she’ll be fine.
“Where do you think she was when I came home from dinner last night? She was over here on the couch,” she said, pointing toward the lower floor of her mezzanine living room. Birdie had probably jumped there from the upper side of the room, which was the only area she had access to.
“How do we think Birdie got from up there to down here? I’m going to teach her how to use the stairs now.”
The poster, Joy, told Newsweek that the first day she brought Birdie home, she had dinner with friends, and was going to be out for a couple of hours. So she put the six-month-old ragdoll upstairs in her room, which is adjacent to the office loft.
“I left the door to the loft open, because that’s where her food and litter box are. When I came home that night, the little rascal was sitting downstairs on the couch. I have no idea whether she jumped or fell— but she didn’t use the stairs, because the door was still closed.
@birdiebkitty The Balcony vs The Stairs! Birdie must decide…. #catsoftiktok #kitty #kitten #kittensoftiktok #ragdollcat #fyp #catmeme #catmom #mischief #capcut #CapCut
The next morning, the poster spent all day teaching Birdie how to use the stairs, and now she uses the stairs all the time to go up and down the house.
“I love her, but she is lazy. Like any fur toddler, she was simply crying in hopes that I would come and get her. I refused, in hopes that she would find the stairs, and she did! Thankfully!”
Joy hasn’t seen her jump again intentionally, however, she has seen her fall twice, both times while chasing a toy.
“The first time she rolled off the edge— like a rolly polly. The second time I was downstairs and turned in time to see her leap after a toy she was playing with and land on her feet. She missed the couch but hit the carpet. She was a little stunned but then shook it off. So I don’t worry about her too much anymore.
“She’s bigger now—close to seven pounds, and getting more adventurous every day. She climbs higher, jumps further and will surely be leaping off that balcony intentionally in a matter of months. However, I now have a camera facing the balcony—in case she does!”
Cats are known for their special ability to land on their feet most of the time, and that is due to a unique feature called the righting reflex.
Catster explains that during a fall, cats first assess which side is down or up by either visual appreciation or with their vestibular apparatus (a part of the inner ear), and once they orient themselves, the reflex kicks in.
The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 678,300 views and 50,100 likes on the platform.