12-08-2025
Woman Brings Home 'Stupidest Purchase' and Shows Cat—Has Instant Regret
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.
A woman who bought a "creepy" cat statue captured the moment her own pet cat met the new member of the family for the first time, with unexpected results.
The woman, 32 and from Texas, who goes by Kitty, recently lost her cat, Mia, who she described to Newsweek as a "once in a lifetime cat."
"She was affectionate, friendly, confident and all she wanted was to live in your skin," she said.
As Mia recently passed away, Kitty found herself looking through old photos and videos of the gorgeous tortoiseshell cat, and rediscovered one from 11 years ago—which she decided to share with people on TikTok.
At the time, Kitty had found a bizarre-looking cat lawn ornament at a department store, which she aptly named "SpookyCat," and "stuck googly eyes on it cause it has dead eyes."
After taking SpookyCat home, she called Mia into the room to see what she would make of it—and as she put it to Newsweek, "I did not think she would react like that."
In the video, posted to Kitty's TikTok @ifight4rumplegoocher on August 9 and described in a caption as "Mia meeting the stupidest purchase I've ever made," Kitty first shows off the hunched-over lawn ornament, complete with googly eyes.
And as she calls Mia, the cat instantly comes running—only to freeze stock-still, in the same hunched-over position as the lawn ornament. Kitty starts giggling, as Mia remains frozen, not moving a muscle, her ears flat on her head and rump stuck up into the sky.
SpookyCat the statue, and Mia's reaction.
SpookyCat the statue, and Mia's reaction.
TikTok @ifight4rumplegoocher
Kitty moves to show Mia's face as the cat begins flicking her tail in frustration, showing Mia's face, which is wide-eyed, her pupils dilated.
She finishes the video by showing Mia that SpookyCat isn't real, and apologizing: "I'm sorry, I'm done."
Mia showed classic cat body language signs that she was not happy: eyes open with wide pupils, lip licking, puffed up fur, flattened back ears and slow, guarded movement are all signs of a stressed cat, according to Cats Protection.
However, Kitty told Newsweek: "I figured she'd be concerned or curious. It was so unexpected. She never reacted like that to anything before or after!"
Mia puffs up her body to look intimidating, as the googly-eyed statue stares back at her.
Mia puffs up her body to look intimidating, as the googly-eyed statue stares back at her.
TikTok @ifight4rumplegoocher
And as some people in the comments complained it was cruel to do this, and that Mia was clearly stressed out, Kitty added in the caption that she did "not expect her to react this intensely."
"I promise you I didn't torment her or do this regularly," she wrote, adding that Mia was "very deeply loved and lived a good life."
Kitty's video exploded in popularity, racking up more than 4.4 million viewed and close to 1 million likes, as one described it as "the cat equivalent of us meeting a wendigo pretty much."
Another joked: "Congrats! Now you have two cat statues," while one laughed at Mia's "immediate pause."
And one, sharing their condolences after Mia's death, wrote: "She brought joy to many with this vid. It was a precious moment captured."
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