A pup named Larry was on a walk with his owner when he randomly bonded with an orange kitty—then he refused to leave without his new best friend.
In a viral TikTok video shared in October under the username @larry.the.labmix, the black Labrador retriever/golden retriever mix can be seen stopping by a cat café to play with a curious feline who keeps following him from behind the window. Larry is so obsessed with the kitty that he refuses to leave without her, despite the poster repeatedly telling him to "say bye to [his] friend."
"I don't speak cat. Does this mean I'm required to adopt [her]?" reads layover text in the clip. A caption says: "Seriously though, do I have a cat now?"
The poster, 34-year-old Lexi Zia, from Portland, Oregon, told Newsweek that she did end up adopting the orange cat from the clip, Ruth. Now, she has a total of five pets in her household; two dogs, two birds and the newly-adopted feline.
The pup in the video, Larry, is 6 years old and is not just a pet, but also a trained service dog that helps the poster with her physical disability. Her other dog is called Prune, and is a 1-year-old rescue pug who was found abandoned outside a shelter in rural Oregon.
"Larry and Prune are obsessed with each other; they love to play and cuddle," Zia said. "So far, Ruth is very keen on Larry; she tries to come near him and sniff him when he's asleep. Larry is a little nervous because he knows he has to be calm so as to not scare the smaller pets. But I strongly believe, at some point, once Ruth is more comfortable in our house, that they will become great friends.
"Ruth is still unsure about my pug Prune, I think because of all the noises she makes, but I'm sure eventually they will be good friends as well," Zia added.
Larry was over the moon when his mom adopted his new bestie. Zia said: "He was trying so hard to be calm and not scare her, but he was whining in the car and wanted to play immediately. He has since learned that he needs to slowly approach her and give her space, but hopefully Ruth will be ready to cuddle and play soon."
Countless TikTok videos show proof that cats and dogs can be best friends, and science seems to agree. Even though they have always been portrayed as mortal enemies, studies have found that these two pets can live together without issues.
A 2020 study published in the journal PLOS ONE, which questioned over 1,270 pet owners who own both a cat and a dog, found that over 64 percent of the felines and canines living together also played together, while 58 percent chased each other, and 41 percent fought. Cats were more likely to attack dogs than vice versa.
While Larry fell in love with the kitty at first sight, it can sometimes take longer for pets to get used to each other, especially when they are different species.
Marny Nofi, senior manager on the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Behavioral Sciences Team, previously told Newsweek that introducing your pets is a process that must be done slowly and in a safe way.
Before bringing your new cat home, you should revise recall training with your dog, to ensure you have the situation under control if they manage to get a hold of the cat during the process. You should make sure both have access to separate areas in the house where they can feel safe.
Introductions must be carried out gradually to avoid creating unnecessary tension between the pets, always under your supervision, until you are 100 percent sure they are comfortable with each other's presence.
The poster's other pets, Bea, a 4-month-old feral foster pigeon who fell out of her nest and was found outside a grocery store at 3 weeks old, and Bertie, a 3-year-old pigeon that she saved from a hoarder situation, have also welcomed their new sister.
"Bea the foster pigeon loves Ruth and has no sense of cat danger evidently. But my other pigeon, Bertie, is very unsure what to think of the cat so far. Ruth is very interested in the pigeons and surprisingly hasn't tried to hunt them or anything; she mostly just wants to sniff them," Zia said.
The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 3.9 million views and more than 606,000 likes on the platform.
One user, Kitty Meow Meow, commented: "Most definitely means that he is your cat. Poor baby probably came from a home with a dog friend."
Dafotochica posted: "It's illegal to leave the cat …"
SpicyJCat added: "That cat plans on making your dog one of his henchmen."
Damntheman_savethempire wrote: "The dog isn't actively barking at the kitty, I think that means you have a cat now!"
Newsweek reached out to @larry.the.labmix for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
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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