Pet Sitter Sends Owner Hilarious Picture of Her Unfriendly Cat: ‘Spicy’
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Pet Sitter Sends Owner Hilarious Picture of Her Unfriendly Cat: ‘Spicy’
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A cat owner was left laughing after her pet sitter sent her a hilariously grumpy picture of her beloved feline friend, Tofu.
Hannah Ayla, a designer and foster youth advocate who lives in San Francisco, asked her sitter to send her a daily update, including a picture showing how Tofu was doing, while she was away in Japan.
One image left her in stitches, and the video has proved to be similarly popular on TikTok, with the clip getting close to a million views already.
“Tofu is the grumpiest cat I’ve ever met, and most people in my life are terrified of her,” Ayla told Newsweek. “To this day, I am the only person who can pet Tofu without her hissing.”
Though she knew what was coming, the picture showing Tofu looking irritated at the pet sitter’s intrusion had Ayla breaking up. “The photo made me laugh so hard because it’s the Tofu that everyone else gets,” she said.
It’s often assumed that cats hiss at people because they don’t like them. But it’s actually a little more complicated than that, according to Stephen Quandt, a certified feline training and behavior specialist. “It’s about being fearful, stressed, anxious or conflicted,” he told The Dog People, a blog on Rover.com.
In this instance, Tofu’s hissing habit is likely a result of the difficulties she faced at the start of her life.
Ayla adopted Tofu during the pandemic. “Apparently, a lot of other people had a similar idea because every shelter I contacted wrote back that they were out of cats to adopt,” she said.
“After a few weeks of trying, one of the shelters wrote back that they had a cat but I had to pick her up that day without meeting her,” she said. “They sent some photos and said she had been there for almost five years. She had completely stopped grooming herself and was seriously depressed.”
As soon as she saw the pictures of Tofu, she knew she “couldn’t say no” to giving the cat a new home. “She was matted, greasy and looked so sad,” Ayla recalled. “I picked her up without ever meeting her and read all of her paperwork that said she had been returned various times for being a mean cat.”
Ayla reckons it took about “three months of patience” before Tofu finally warmed to her. “The first few weeks I wore an oven mitt to pet her because I was so scared,” she said.
The two have been the best of friends ever since, with Tofu enjoying cuddles with Ayla while gazing at the birds outside her apartment window. “Her favorite activity is being home alone with me and watching me do things from under the furniture,” she said.
While Tofu may be standoffish with most humans, it’s always been a different story with Ayla. “To this day, Tofu has never bit, scratched or hissed at me,” she said. “I absolutely don’t blame them, but the Tofu I get is sweet, gentle, lets me clip her nails and loves to snuggle with me.”
The cat is nicknamed “Silken Tofu” when she’s sweet and “Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu” when she’s sassy, like in the picture shared by the sitter. Ayla attributes the clip’s popularity to the fact that it’s so relatable.
“Everyone has had an experience with a sassy cat before,” she said. “Whether it’s your friend’s car, your neighbor’s cat, your boyfriend’s cat, we all know a grumpy old cat.”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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