Wall-Staring Cat Unmasks Mouse Invasion, Wins Internet Hearts

Quick Smiles:

• Sumo, a curious feline, puzzles his owners by persistently staring at their house walls.
• A profound understanding of their cat’s behavior empowered Sumo’s humans to discover a severe mouse invasion.
• Sumo, the Internet’s favorite cat detective, has won the hearts of hundreds of thousands on TikTok with his wall-staring video.

@razzle.reads

We’ve been making fun of him for weeks because he just stares at his “invisible wall demons” all day but we just discovered we have a mouse problem. Sumo can’t figure out any of the treat puzzles we get but he can at least detect mice I guess 😂 We gave him extra treats tonight to make up for how badly we’ve been roasting him lately #catsoftiktok #catlovers #catsvideo #cats #smartcat

♬ original sound – Rachael | Booktoker 📚

Michigan couple, Rachael and her husband, adopted an amusing habit of chuckling over their cat’s fixation on staring at walls. This quirky activity got them wondering if their feline friend, Sumo, was “missing a few brain cells.”

This jest quickly turned into a deep appreciation for Sumo’s odd inclination. The couple discovered, through a revealing TikTok from Rachael’s account @razzle.reads, that Sumo was attempting to alert them about a massive mouse problem.

Sumo was recorded scrutinizing the walls and meowing on the staircase, leading Rachael to exclaim, “Nobody believed you!” This clip amassed an astonishing 71,000 likes and 400,000 views in just a few days, putting Sumo’s detective skills in the spotlight.

Rachael explained, “Sumo used to stare at the walls in our apartment occasionally, too, so we didn’t think anything was weird initially. But he’s been doing it with such an intensity and dedication that we started to get suspicious.”

Their suspicions spiked when Sumo started intensifying his wall watching during basement renovations, an area off-limits to the cats. The couple was aware of a prior mouse issue from previous homeowners. Although they were unaffected for years, Sumo’s unusual behavior provoked further investigation.

After detecting signs of a rodent invasion, they laid out non-toxic traps around the house. In less than 10 minutes, a mouse was caught, thus justifying Sumo’s staring.

“‘He got a huge apology,’ Rachael said. ‘We broke out the good wet food and my husband bought him a rotisserie chicken the following day.’”

Why didn’t they trust their cat from the start? Rachael clarified, “I think it’s important for everyone to know that part of why we didn’t believe Sumo at first is because we have two cats, and our other cat has shown absolutely no interest in the walls or the floor!”

The Humane Society of the United States explains that cats’ communication cues, such as staring or meowing, have varied meanings. According to veterinarian Dr. Louise Barnes, “cats have excellent vision, smell, and hearing, so when they stare at walls it could simply be because they can detect something that we can’t.”

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