Cats have a reputation for being fickle little weirdos, and for good reason. Perhaps your Persian wakes you up every morning by affectionately chewing on your hair. Maybe your tabby has a pet almond that he carries around like a security blanket. Maybe your Maine Coon likes to sleep with his face buried in your shoe.
Since finickiness is an innate feline trait, it shouldn’t surprise us to hear about a kitty’s particular peculiarity, but it often does. because just when we think we’ve heard all of the strange things that cats do, someone shares a new one that makes us laugh, scratch our heads and say, “Huh?!”
For instance, meet Shaggy, the cat who won’t eat his wet food unless it’s accompanied by a side salad.
“Side salad” is not some cute nickname for a kitty treat, by the way—we’re talking about a literal salad on an actual salad plate, human being-style.
Witness:
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Shaggy’s owner, Dina Moeller, tells Upworthy that he started off life as a feral cat. Now here he is living the bougie life, full-on expecting a fancy, multi-course meal.
The good people of the internet, of course, have had a heyday in the comments, “warning” Moeller about this behavior.
“Actually cats shouldn’t eat sides of salad,” wrote one person. “They should not because, long term the cat will end up expecting a candle lit table with a glass of wine and live smooth jazz. You need to be more careful.”
“You shouldn’t feed your cats salads,” wrote another. “If you do, they may end up becoming baddies and making gym girl/bro thirst trap videos on IG before moving on to becoming health gurus who are only licensed by YTube 😂.”
“Don’t do this!! The cat will ingest iron from the leafy greens, become too strong, and take over your entire family (and then the world) 😔,” cautioned another.
“Next thing you know he’ll be demanding oat milk in his latte,” added another.
Many people joked about Shaggy requesting a wine list and cleansing his palette, while other cat owners chimed in to commiserate with their own kittys’ quirks:
“My black cat prefers to drink hot water (not warm), which I have to leave for him on the side of the bathtub every morning. I have no idea how we got there either 😂,” shared one person.
“My cat won’t eat the dry food if she’s not there to see it poured,” shared another. “This is fun at 4:30am.”
“I have to sit with Tiki while he is eating his wet food and the entire house must be silent. I sneezed during his dinner the other night and ruined his whole meal 😂,” shared another.
Many people suggested that Shaggy might have “whisker fatigue” from using the bowl for his wet food and suggested putting it on a flat plate like the salad.
But as Moeller’s showed in another video, the whiskers do not appear to be the issue, as Shaggy will go to the fridge and shove his entire face, whiskers and all, into the bag of salad.
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But it’s not just salad that Shaggy craves.
“He steals all my food,” Moeller tells Upworthy. “Bagels out of the toaster, fights me for muffins or scones, tries to get cookies out of containers or wrappings! Nothing is safe from his appetite!”
While it’s not great for cats to eat too much human food, Moeller has discussed Shaggy’s habit with her vet and is cautious about what kind and how much people food he gets. There’s only so much you can do with a cat’s unique quirks, though—and Shaggy’s got plenty of them.
“He’s kind of a cat’s cat and a bit of a punk,” says Moeller. “Doesn’t listen. Nothing scares him when he’s determined to do something good, bad or unsafe. Eats the plants when he wants to annoy me or get my attention. He gives me a hard time when I work at my desk past 6:30pm.”
Shaggy is quite the talker, too, having “conversations” with Moeller. “He likes to hide behind behind the shower curtain in the bathroom when I’m in there,” Moeller adds. “When I call his name and wonder out loud where he is, he will burst out from under it as if to say, ‘Here I am!'”
Here’s to our cats and all their quirky quirks. You can follow Shaggy on Instagram and TikTok.