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By Melissa Fleur Afshar
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A viral video claiming that cats wake their owners up out of concern for their safety has melted the hearts of viewers on Instagram.
The video, shared to the platform on February 24 by a cat lover under @_oliverandcompanync, has been liked more than 69,000 times, prompting discussions about the true motivations behind this familiar feline behavior.
The post, which can be seen here, had been shared by the owner of a trap-neuter-return (TNR) shelter in Asheville, North Carolina. The shelter owner appears to have a close bond with the cat that comes into her care, treating them like her own pets while they are looked after at the shelter.
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The video, captioned "when I learned this I lost it," features the woman holding a black cat and explaining that cats do not wake their humans solely out of hunger.
"Cats don't wake you up in the morning simply because you are hungry, no, you wanna know the real reason why they wake you up?" she asked.
She went on to tell viewers that cats in the wild sleep lightly to stay alert for predators, and that when they see their owners sleeping deeply, they become worried.
"They wake you up primarily because they see you as a large cat, and they don't think that you can actually defend yourself if you are sleeping heavy," the woman said. "So when they yell and meow, or climb on you and make biscuits, it's because they're happy to know that you are alive."
She continued that this behavior is particularly prevalent at dawn, a critical hunting time for cats in the wild.
"They don't want you to miss out on hunting," she added.
While the woman's clip has struck a chord with viewers online, not everyone agreed with all her comments. Newsweek consulted Allie Bender, the founder and co-owner of Pet Harmony Animal Behavior & Training, to gain an expert perspective on the claims made in the video.
Bender was cautious about attributing such complex emotions to cats.
"The short answer is that we do not get to 100 percent know what they are thinking," Bender told Newsweek. "That is true for any individual outside of ourselves but even more true for individuals who do not speak the same language that we do."
Bender suggested a simpler explanation for the behavior most owners come across in the morning: hunger.
"There are ways that we can get clues into the motivation behind this behavior by looking at what happens as a result of waking up their humans," she said. "In many of these situations, the human wakes up and then feeds their cat."
This straightforward cause-and-effect pattern could explain why so many cats persistently wake their owners at dawn.
"I am disinclined to put it as the human 'hunting' with the cat because the majority of people feed their cats in a bowl, thus negating the hunting predatory sequence," Bender added. "It might just be as simple as, 'I am hungry and this being with the thumbs gives me food.'"
While Bender acknowledged that cats, as both predators and preys, are vigilant in the wild, she expressed doubt that this drives them to wake their humans out of a protective instinct.
"Cats are a pretty solitary species so it does not necessarily make sense from an evolutionary standpoint to want to be vigilant in groups," she said. "That said, some cats might feel more comfortable when their human is awake and present, but I don't often see that being a factor in fear and anxiety cases."
For cat owners struggling with early morning wake-up calls, Bender offered some practical advice.
In cases where a cat's behavior seems driven by hunger, feeding a small meal before bedtime might help them sleep longer without feeling the need to rouse their human companions.
"In most situations in which a client comes to me asking for help with their cat waking them up in the morning, it is usually a situation like this," Bender said. "We can sometimes resolve it by feeding a small meal before bedtime so they don't wake up as hungry."
For those who prefer to believe that their cats wake them out of love and concern, Bender's explanation might not satisfy. But the debate itself is a reminder of the complex and often mysterious bond that can form between humans and their feline companions.
Newsweek reached out to @_oliverandcompanync for more information via email.
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