a day ago
Competing With 30 Cats, Shelter Kitten Ups Her Game to Find Forever Home
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Because animal shelters are often at or beyond capacity, adopters are often faced with a difficult decision on which new pet to bring home. This leads to some animals being overlooked, but determined not to let that happen to her, one kitten made a plan.
This tiny kitty must've known the odds were stacked against her, with 30 other kittens available for adoption at Monmouth County SPCA in New Jersey. She wanted to "stand out" among the other available pets. But with dozens of animals needing forever homes, it can be difficult to make a mark on people's hearts.
About 5,766,000 dogs and cats entered rescues and shelters in 2024, a 1 percent decrease from the year before, according to the National Kitten Coalition. Of those, 2,880,000 were felines, with 57 percent being kittens age 5 months and younger.
Instead of waiting for someone to come to her, this kitty made her way to the window of the cat area. In the July 10 TikTok video by @mcspca, she stood on her hind legs and began jumping up and down. Her front paws scratched the window. Her eyes widened with each jump, begging for someone to notice her.
If her attention-hopping wasn't enough at the shelter for someone to notice her, her presence has now gone viral, with the clip reaching over 3.7 million views as of Monday. And her performance earned her an "A for effort," as the caption states.
Newsweek reached out to the Monmouth County SCPA for comment.
Screenshots from a July 10 TikTok video of a kitten jumping up and down trying to stand out and get adopted.
Screenshots from a July 10 TikTok video of a kitten jumping up and down trying to stand out and get adopted.
@mcspca/TikTok
Thankfully, her master plan worked. The animal shelter wrote in the comment section of the video that she has been adopted.
TikTok viewers flooded the comment section, bringing in over 840,400 likes and 3,220 comments. They fell head over heels for her, claiming it would be an "instant adoption" with the technique she used to be noticed.
"If all of them were hopping around like this—I fear I'd take them all," wrote one viewer.
Another added: "At that point, you can't adopt any other cat."
Others shared similar situations with their pets: "This is LITERALLY what my cat did, all the other kittens were asleep and she was jumping up and down and yelling at me, so I just took her home."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
