Copy cat: Scout the tabby kitty mimics her owner as she brushes her hair in adorable video


Copy cat: Scout the tabby kitty mimics her owner as she brushes her hair in adorable video

  • Scout the tabby cat intently staring at her owner Susan as she brushes her hair  
  • The cat, who was rescued from a shelter as a kitten, then ‘brushes’ her own hair
  • Susan, from Portland, Oregon, shared clip to TikTok where it has had 7.7m views

This is the surreal moment a tabby cat imitates her owner and starts ‘brushing’ her own hair with her paws. 

In the video Scout, who was rescued from a shelter as a kitten, is seen intently staring at her owner Susan as she brushes her hair at home in Portland, Oregon on April 5.

The adorable tabby then lifts her own paws to her head and mimics the motion as if she was brushing her own hair. 

In a clip shared to Susan’s TikTok account the owner asks: ‘Do you have a cat that imitates you?’

Scout is then seen sitting on the bathroom vanity on two legs as if she’s a human and studying Susan’s movements before trying to copy them.

The cat carefully runs her paws over her ears in a downward motion as if she is brushing long locks of hair. 

The video has had over 7.7million views and 2.8million likes since being shared to Susan’s TikTok which is dedicated to Scout.  

Social media users were enthralled by the human-like cat and suggested she was copying Susan’s actions to ‘feel closer’ to her.

In the video Scout, who was rescued from a shelter as a kitten, is seen intently staring at her owner Susan as she brushes her hair ready for bed at her home in Portland, Oregon on April 5

In the video Scout, who was rescued from a shelter as a kitten, is seen intently staring at her owner Susan as she brushes her hair ready for bed at her home in Portland, Oregon on April 5

The cat carefully runs her paws over her ears in a downward motion as if she is brushing long locks of hair

One social media user said: 'She wants to be just like Mommy! hahaha'

The cat carefully runs her paws over her ears in a downward motion as if she is brushing long locks of hair

One user wrote: ‘OMG If I had a cat who did this i’d never get anything done and never leave my house.’

To which Susan replied: ‘I never get ANYTHING done and never leave my house.’

Another social media user wrote: ‘It’s called pet mirroring, they mimic your actions when they want to feel closer to you.’ 

One social media user said: ‘She wants to be just like Mommy! hahaha’.

Very few animals are able to perform the copy-cat trick where they learn to mimic an action done by humans – although, alongside dogs, scientists have also observed mimicry in apes, dolphins and killer whales. 

The video has had over 7.7million views and 2.8million likes since being shared to Susan's TikTok which is dedicated to Scout (pictured together)

The video has had over 7.7million views and 2.8million likes since being shared to Susan’s TikTok which is dedicated to Scout (pictured together)

The first time that such behaviour was formally observed in a cat and written up in scientific literature was in October 2020 when researchers at at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary worked with an 11-year-old kitty named Ebisu.

The food-driven cat had been taught by her dog-trainer owner to copy her using the so-called ‘do-as-I-do’ method and was rewarded with a treat.

In the case of Scout the cat appears to be mirroring her owner’s actions without being rewarded with food.

Advertisement

Leave a Reply