Cat mom goes looking for her pet only to find that he’s shed a vital body part

Cat moms love to share their pets’ quirkiest moments on social media, often showcasing their cats’ mischievous antics. From funny cat videos to adorable fails, these clips usually have viewers laughing or cooing “awww.” But one TikTok creator took a turn into the bizarre, leaving her audience both horrified and confused with a video that could easily fit into the Twilight Zone.

Ava Stanley (@ava.stanley11) posted a video in which she explained that she was looking for her cat, Timmy, in her room when she noticed his black tail sticking out from under a pile of clothes tossed on her bed. But when she pulled the clothes aside, she found the tail… but no cat. “Pro tip to win hide and seek,” she captioned the nine-second video, adding a playful twist to the eerie scene.

The video immediately sparked concern, and the comments section exploded with reactions. One viewer wrote, “I’d absolutely lose my mind,” while another said, “Someone explain, because I’m panicking.” Others questioned how Ava was so calm, with one commenter adding, “You’re too calm, cause the way I would immediately start crying.”

But the explanation behind this bizarre moment is actually simple — and surprisingly amusing. The tail wasn’t actually Timmy’s, and there was no need for any panic. Instead, Ava had discovered a broken cat tail plug — yes, a personal pleasure device, not a detached cat tail. It turns out that Timmy had been playing with this object, and Ava had casually filmed his antics. In fact, one of Ava’s other videos shows Timmy pawing at the “severed tail,” with a caption saying it’s his favorite toy. She also posted another clip showing Timmy hiding under some curtains, tail intact and very much alive, to reassure viewers that her cat was, in fact, fine.

However, the real twist came when people started learning about cat tails and whether they could fall off. As it turns out, while it’s rare, cat tails can fall off due to injury or medical issues. The tail is part of a cat’s spine, so if it’s broken badly enough, it can fall off — though this typically happens due to accidents like being hit by a vehicle or getting caught in a door. Medical conditions like infections or tumors can also cause tail loss. Once the tail is lost, unfortunately, it won’t grow back, unlike some animals like lizards, which can regenerate their tails.

A user who works as a veterinary technician commented on Ava’s video, explaining that she’s seen cases where injury caused tissue death, leading to the tail falling off. Other commenters shared similar experiences, with one recalling a traumatic memory of finding their cat without a tail and another sharing a similar story from their childhood.

While viewers were relieved to learn that Timmy was safe and sound, this bizarre cat-related incident left many cat owners with an unsettling thought: what if they too found a tail without a cat? It’s an uncomfortable idea, but it sparked some curiosity about the rare, but real, possibility of a cat losing its tail.