Golden Retriever Pup Playing With Black Cat Backfires: ‘No Survival Skills’

A puppy and a cat have become unlikely best friends, with a rather different way of playing together.

Penny, the golden retriever puppy is 4 months old, and joined Morgan Drum’s family in August, gaining two cat siblings along the way.

“Her sisters, Cricket and Clover, are two-year-old black cats with big personalities,” Drum, 23, from Kansas City, Missouri, told Newsweek.

Drum and her husband had always wanted a dog, and while there’s always potential risks with bringing in a new animal to a house, Penny and Cricket got on brilliantly right away.

“Like typical sisters, they have their moments, but overall enjoy chasing each other around the house, barking/meowing at each other and of course, play fighting,” Drum said.

A video of Penny and Cricket doing just that has now gone viral after being shared to Drum’s TikTok account @morgan.bug on October 13, where it has over 2.7 million likes and over 12.6 million views.

According to the video’s caption, “Penny has no survival skills,” and shows the puppy smiling up at the black cat, who repeatedly slaps her in the face, the rapid-fire battering clearly audible.

Cricket doesn’t have her claws out, and Penny seems to take it all in her stride, barely moving as the cat boxes her from the safety of the bed.

Drum told Newsweek her pup and cat “play like that all the time,” and she was “so excited I got it on camera this time.”

“They both enjoy the slap fighting,” she added. “I do have another kitty named Clover who is still warming up to Penny. She likes to observe Penny and Cricket playing and is always there if her kitty sister needs backup!”

TikTok Users React

TikTok users were in stitches over the video, with one writing: “That dog got Stockholm Syndrome.”

“The thuds are so loud,” another TikTok user wrote, while one pleaded, “Damn baby fight back!”

Some worried Penny was actually being injured or being attacked by Clover, but as one user pointed out: “No claws skippity pats means the kitty doesn’t actually wanna hurt the babe.”

Drum told Newsweek it was “cracking me up how many people thought Cricket was being mean.”

“Some people thought I was a terrible pet parent for standing there while my dog got bopped in the face by a 5-pound cat. I’ve been ignoring those silly comments and have instead enjoyed reading the hilarious things people have written,” she said.

Drum was shocked at the huge response to her video.

“My husband isn’t on social media, so when I told him how many views it was at, his mind was blown,” she said. “Knowing millions of people are laughing, for the most part, at my pets is such a strange concept! It’s been really fun to share my pets with everyone else and to see that other people love their goofiness as much as I do!”

Is Your Cat Playing or Fighting?

As well as the lack of claws, there are other ways you can tell your cat is playing rather than fighting, according to a vet-reviewed report from Catster.com. If the cat is quiet, rather than yowling or screeching, they are likely playing as they don’t vocalize playtime.

A cat’s ears being straight up, rather than flattened, means they are not stressed out. And if their body language is relaxed, then the cat is relaxed.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.