Home Cat Teaches an Adopted Stray Cat Brother How to Play and Melts Hearts

A friendly cat teaching his newly adopted brother how to play after he spent most of his life as a stray has melted hearts online.

Tuxedo cat Dobby lives in Australia with his owners Lou Wright and Chris Gardiner and recently welcomed a sibling: a fellow tuxedo cat they named Deek.

Deek lived his life as “part of a street colony” before being rescued and subsequently adopted, Wright said Newsweek. And it was up to Dobby to teach him how to relax into a life of love and luxury.

A video shared on May 7 from Wright's account on TikTok, which you can see here, has gone viral and received over 1.7 million likes.

It shows Dobby chirping and meowing at his brother and encouraging him to play by running away and then running back towards him before dropping to the ground and hitting playfully with his paws.

Deek seems cautious but interested, slowly following his new brother and watching his chirping brother, but not quite ready to start playing yet.

Wright captioned the video: “POV: Your pet cat tries to teach his newly domesticated brother to play.”

Wright, a creative originally from New Zealand, explained that Deek is still very new to domesticated life, as they adopted him from the colony just four weeks ago after seeing a social media post “about a bunch of kittens, who had to be accommodated because the animal shelters were closed “full”.

“Dobby seemed a little lonely since we adopted him, so I jumped on it.”

According to pet care company Purina, if you want to get a second cat, it's best to choose cats with matching personalities.

“Having two cats at home can cause tension or arguments, especially in the early days, even with two sociable cats. At the same time, the coexistence of a sociable cat with a shy one can make the latter feel stressed.”

Luckily, the two of them quickly became firm friends with Deek and Dobby.

Wright said Newsweek: “Deek has never had a house or an owner before us, we renovated him. It’s been four weeks and he’s doing so well!”

Although they have only known each other for a month, the bond between the cats developed early, Wright said. Even in the beginning when Deek was in a big cage to acclimate him.

“Deek was obsessed with Dobby from the start and would make birdsong every time Dobby entered the room,” she said. “It took Dobby about a week to get used to him, but he was always interested from the start and would drop to the ground a meter or two away.”

TikTok users loved the sweet video and flocked to the comments in their thousands to share their thoughts. One of them pleaded: “Give us an update, my heart can’t take it.”

“I love watching them learn that they can actually play and not just survive,” said one touched commenter, while another noted: “The flop that shows he's not aggressive!”

“Oh those squeakers, my heart hurts,” said one, and another added: “I swear tuxedo cats are some of the chattiest I've ever met.”

As for the chirping and meowing that commentators were obsessed with, Wright said Dobby was “always a little frisky, but not that vocal.”

“We had a tuxedo that died before we got these two, and we had extensive conversations with him,” Wright said. “Since Deek arrived Dobby has become very lively in his conversations and it’s lovely, we love chatty cats.”

She added: “It was incredibly heartwarming to see all the lovely comments about people getting emotional, it made me emotional!”

“The power that animals have to bring joy into our lives is beyond.”

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