Internet in Love With Cat That 'Identifies as Golden Retriever'

A video of a cat that appears to have adopted his canine's housemate's play behavior has gone viral on TikTok.

The footage was shared by Hannah Colson (@oliveandfig_) and has more than 847,000 since it was first posted on August 31.

A caption shared with the post reads: "Ernie now identifies as a golden retriever."

The clip begins with a cat and a golden retriever waiting near a couch. As a hand throws a toy across the room, both pets are seen chasing the ball. The cat is later shown playing fetch without the dog in sight, chasing the ball into different corners of the home and bringing it back towards a person.

A message overlaid on the clip reads: "What happens when you let your golden raise your cat."

Can Cats Play Fetch?

In an article for VCA, the animal hospital chain, veterinarians Ellen Lindell, Debra Horwitz and Gary Landsberg wrote: "Cats are natural hunters and will stalk, chase, pounce on, and capture things that move. Most cats enjoy a variety of toys which they can hunt, seek, attack, and carry."

Cat owners can try playing fetch with their feline companions, "as some cats are natural retrievers," they said.

Pet behaviorist Arden Moore, who is the author of Fit Cat: Tips and Tricks to Give Your Pet a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life, said that "it's important to enrich your cat physically and mentally," in an April 2015 PetMD article.

"When you play with a purpose—like you do with fetch—you achieve both," Moore said.

You can train your cat to play fetch by using your pet's favorite toy and rewarding its behavior.

"It's called operate conditioning," the author said. "When your cat does what you ask her to do, she gets rewarded. You don't punish the behavior if they don't do it."

You can use treats as the reward if you play before mealtime and Moore suggested rewarding the behavior with words when your cat retrieves the toy, saying "good fetch."

"I'm reinforcing the desired behavior with words," the pet behaviorist said, noting "cats are smart, and they recognize the word 'fetch' after a while."

'Too Smart'

Several TikTok users were amused by the cat's behavior in the viral video.

Donato Kawakame said: "Your cat fetches better than my late golden retriever."

User emmanuelemmanuel564 added: "Your cat fetches better than my kids."

Alex Langerak joked: "I think that Ernie's too smart to identify as a golden retriever."

Abnoy said: "golden too tired to compete with the cat HAHAHAHAHHAHA," and Kenny Ma said: "This is the kind of cat that I would consider."

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