A pair of indoor cats who love watching the outside world go by got to experience the magic of fall when their owner brought in a box of crunchy leaves.
Schoolteacher Kelsey Geer lives in Massachusetts with her two cats and boyfriend, Zach Laverty, with whom she is expecting her first child.
She regularly shares updates on life with her boyfriend and adore pets, Toodle and Fran, to her TikTok account @kelseyg77, and one sweet gesture from her partner, helping their cats experience fall, has now led the family to go viral.
"We're expecting a baby soon, and know it'll be a big adjustment for our fur babies, so we've been really focused on making these next few weeks [and] months centered around making them feel loved," Geer told Newsweek.
"So, my boyfriend bringing in a box of leaves was just one of the billion things he does to bring them extra happiness."
The video, posted on October 30, shows Laverty "introducing our two indoor cats to autumn leaves for the first time," and has proved hugely popular, with 6.5 million views and over 600,000 likes.
In the clip, Laverty walks into the house with a box filled with yellow, red and brown leaves taken from outside, and gently drops the box on the floor. Toodle and Fran immediately come to check out the new arrival, sniffing at the box and even having a curious chew on the leaves.
The dad-to-be then throws the leaves in the air one by one, with the cats jumping at them playfully—before one of the pets gets in the box to be fully immersed by the autumnal season.
TikTok users love it, with one commenter joking: "My cats would have immediately peed in the crunchy new litter box."
"That was such an aesthetic pile of leaves," another said, while one cat owner declared they had "just added this to my to-do list tomorrow".
Others started a debate in the comments as to whether cats should be allowed to explore outside, but as Geer told Newsweek, the family lives "right next to a highway and major intersection, hence why they have to be indoor cats."
While guidelines on indoor versus outdoor cats differs from country to country, in the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) asks cat owners to please keep their pet indoors.
The charity notes that outdoor cats generally do not live as long as indoor cats, as they are at risk of trauma from cars, fights with other cats, and predators such as coyotes. Indoor cats are also less at risk from contagious diseases and parasites.
In the case of Toodle and Fran, Geer said: "They love sitting by the windows all day and watching cars, people, and especially leaves and critters—our kitten loves to hunt bugs and leaves through the screens."
Geer and Laverty are "so excited and shocked by the response" to their video, but she added: "Since they both bring us so much happiness every single day, we're happy that others are able to experience them too."
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English (US) ·