‘Kitten Thief’ Caught in Woman’s Barn, Internet Obsessed With Culprit

An adult cat’s bond with a litter of kittens who do not appear to be her own has melted the hearts of viewers on TikTok.

The feline’s strong maternal instinct was captured in a video, later posted to TikTok on May 17 under @hellcatd6. Viewers were able to see the adult cat nestled in a barn pen, looking completely at ease as a horde of tiny kittens surrounded her. The heartwarming and humorous video, presumably filmed by her owner, captures the farm cat lounging in a bed of hay, unfazed and confident despite being caught with another cats’ kittens.

“She has stolen all the kittens on this property,” the cat’s owner filming could be heard saying in the background, her voice a mix of amusement and disbelief.

“She’s a kitten thief and the world’s greatest mommy, good thing their moms know where to find them,” an overlaid text on the video read.

Since it was shared to the platform, the short clip has struck a chord with TikTok users across the globe, receiving more than 727,000 likes and being viewed over 5.1 million times. The comments section is overflowing with praise for the so-called “kitten thief,” while some viewers have poked fun at the viral moment.

“Cats coparenting is such an amazing thing though,” one viewer said.

“Real question, when the other mom’s come back from dinner and movie, do they know which ones belong to them? Or do they just say I had three, I’ll take these ones,” another added.

“I had a farm cat like that,” a third viewer shared. “She never stopped nursing, she raised the kittens of the cats that didn’t know how to be moms and babysat all the others. She was responsible for helping to raise over 50 farm cats.”

“This is actually normal for cats they will take turns looking after all the babies so others can get a rest,” another commented. “Pip is just a bit over enthusiastic.”

“I think I read somewhere while I was studying animal welfare that cats will take shifts as babysitters if there’s multiple litters and mom’s in the colony,” another said, while a different viewer joked: “Does she accept human toddlers?”

“If that happened in human life the FBI would be involved,” another said.

Newsweek reached out to @hellcatd6 for more information via TikTok.

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