Cat Owner Finds Pet Doppelgänger in 1900s Japanese Painting

There is a chance, however small, that each of us could have a doppelganger, according to scientists—and whether or not this also applies to pets, a cat named P.B. definitely found her look-alike in a painting from another era.

A post shared on Reddit on Monday by the cat owner under the username u/CatFan499, shows a picture of their cat, P.B., which stands for Princess Bubblegum, loafing on the floor, next to a picture of a Japanese painting from 1906 titled Cat and Plum Blossoms by Hishida Shunsō, which looks exactly like the same cat.

The owner told Newsweek that they don't know her exact age because they got her as a kitten in mid-2015, but they suspect that she's about seven.

According to Live Science, the idea of having a doppelganger is actually totally plausible, and that's because there is only "so much genetical material" around, and once it's all been used, there's a chance of it being used again.

The Great Cat blog, documenting all the times that cats were mentioned in art, history and literature, says that over 100 artists in the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th century chose to capture cats in art, not only in painting, but also in sculptures, advertisements and greeting cards.

Some of the most prolific artists to have painted cats include Henriette Ronner-Knip, Theophile Alexandre Steinlen and Louis Wain. Cats have also done well in photography, including in the works of Harry Pointer, who photographed them in strange anthropomorphic poses.

The viral post, first shared on the r/aww subreddit, has attracted animal lovers from across the platform, receiving over 42,000 upvotes and 200 comments.

One user, Korblox101, commented: "It's good to know that the Japanese in the early 1900s were also enjoyers of round-bodied cats." And MissyxAlli suggested: "Or your cat was born in 1906."

Another user, Ninjas4cool, joked: "OK! who let the cat time-travel again?" And HiveMindKing pointed out: "The funny thing is that cats do exactly the same thing no matter the time period, a couple [of] thousand years in the past- be a cat and chill and do crazy stuff, couple thousand years in the future same Loaf, different day."

Violated-Tristen said: "Well... you know he's at least got 9 lives left." And _ItsAllenNotAlan wrote: "Reincarnation is real."