Watch: Owner Trains Cat To Play Mini Piano Instead of Meowing for Food
Most of the time when you see a pet performing some cutesy trick, chances are that it’s a dog. They seem more eager to please than their feline counterparts, who are often distant and aloof.
But cats have to eat, too, and food can become a reward for certain behaviors. One particular cat from Philadelphia named Winslow has been entertaining the internet with his mealtime shows.
When Winslow’s owner first got him and brought him home, it took a while to adjust.
“He was originally from the streets of Camden, but I saw his little face, and I was like, this is the one,” owner Kate Nyx told NPR. “I could tell from the second I looked at him that his name would be Winslow. And he’s the first cat I’ve ever had that I could tell liked me back.”
“He would get into things and topple things over. And he gave, well, my then-boyfriend and I a terrible case of ringworm because he was all messed up from the streets.”
“And we ended up getting engaged because we were just so dedicated to him and each other that we realized that there was no point in pretending we were going to go through this with anyone else. So we call it our engagement ringworm.”
The act that has been catching everyone’s attention originally started out of practicality. As cat owners know, hungry cats meow. A lot. Even when there’s some food in their bowl. Even if they only think they might be hungry.
And if you try to sleep in past a scheduled feeding or forget about it, the cat will continue to remind you until the situation is rectified.
Winslow had been interested in a piano when he was little — so Nyx put the two together, and adorableness ensued.
“He used to run around screaming all the time, and I was like, ‘This is no good,'” Nyx told SWNS, according to Fox News.
“He loved the piano as a kitten and now we use it as a way to split up his food throughout the day to keep him on his diet,” she wrote on Facebook.
He varies his technique, too, to demonstrate how urgent his request is.
“He likes to go up and down the keyboard depending on how little we’re paying attention,” Nyx explained. “If we’re not paying attention enough, he’ll do a lot of really aggressive playing, sometimes with his forehead.”
“He’s very emotional, you know? Like, he just uses the piano as a way to communicate his creative spirit. He’s like me in that way.”
Nyx, an artist, put together clips of the kitty with lyrics and the video went viral, catapulting Winslow to internet fame.
“It was one of the first times where I was able to realize that I could affect things outside of me positively,” she continued. “When I hear him play piano, it’s just proof that I can bring light into the world, that I can bring joy and make beautiful stuff happen.”
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