A rescue cat has taken to watching television in the most human way possible, but there's only one show that really catches her attention.
Sara Hesri from Orange County, California, adopted her beloved cat Mochi from a local cat show to keep her 3-year-old lynx point Siamese, Miso, company.
"It was my first time attending this event, and I went in thinking I wasn't going to adopt a cat," Hesri told Newsweek. "However, when I saw Mochi in a litter of eight other ragdolls, I knew she would be the perfect addition to the family. She was only 2 months old at the time, and she was so sweet and little."
Cats have a reputation for often being docile, nap-loving pets, and Mochi was no different, although she does have her energetic moments.
"Mochi is known for being a very floppy cat," Hesri said. "She loves to lay on her back with her arms and feet stretched out. When she is in the playing mood, she loves to run around the house with crazy zoomies and do parkour all over the furniture."
One of Hesri's favorite things to do with Mochi is to get her to chase a laser pen. But when it comes to downtime, Mochi has one activity in particular that she enjoys more than most: watching TV. More specifically, watching one very special program.
"Mochi loves when I put 'videos for cats' on YouTube," Hesri said. "She will sit and stare at the TV screen and try to catch any toys that show up on the screen. When I'm watching my own TV shows, she loves to flop right next to me on the couch and cuddle."
There's nothing all that unusual about Mochi watching television. A 2008 study published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science highlighted how cats respond to visual stimulation such as moving images.
In the study, 125 shelter cats were put into five groups of 25, with each shown one of five videos. One group watched videos of humans; another watched snooker balls moving on a table. A third watched videos of birds, rodents, fish and cats. One group watched no TV, while another was presented with a television that was not turned on.
Each cat was observed every five minutes for three hours a day, for a total of five days. Though the cats watched only an average of six minutes of TV in any one session, they were more likely to watch either the snooker balls or animal videos than the other offerings.
It's not Mochi's love of TV that is turning heads, though, but rather the unique way she sits up to watch it. Hesri captured an example of her cat's interesting approach to posture in a video posted to TikTok under the handle sarahesri.
"I think from the beginning Mochi got super comfortable in my home, and she always loved to be on her back. So when she's in bed, she likes to sit like a human and cuddle in between pillows," Hesri said.
Though it might make for an unusual approach, it's not all that big a surprise to Hesri, given Mochi's occasionally eccentric ways.
"I think ragdolls are very interesting cats," she said. "They are known to be very floppy and funny. I just thought she acted this way because of her breed. She is definitely an oddball, but she is super cute and funny.
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