Internet Obsessed With Fluffy Cat That Looks Like a 'Mad Scientist'

A video of a cat with striking "fluffy" hair captured in a fight with his feline friend has gone viral on TikTok.

The clip, which had over 904,000 views at the time of writing, was posted by @maxandhisfloofs, the TikTok account of a rescue cat called Max whose breed is unknown, according to the bio on the TikTok profile.

A caption shared with the post read: "When you've got the floofs locked and loaded! Max is about to make his move."

The footage, captured in Salt Lake City, Utah, showed Max and another cat sitting on the arm of a couch. The two cats appeared to alternate between remaining still for a moment and attempting to hit each other with their paws.

It's hard to tell whether the interaction between the feline friends in the latest clip is antagonistic or just a playfight. But it could also fall somewhere in between, according to a January 2023 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.

The study noted: "Intraspecific social interactions in domestic cats are often categorized as affiliative or agonistic," but it can be difficult to distinguish "rough-and-tumble play from true agonism."

The study's findings "support the suggestion of there being an intermediate category between mutual social play and agonism."

The study added: "This might escalate into a fully agonistic encounter, but does not necessarily reflect a break down in their social relationship but rather a short-term disagreement in social priorities."

A voice in the backdrop of the latest viral clip, which was apparently blasting from a television in the room, the original poster said in a later comment, could be heard saying: "We're family. We got a problem, we deal with it together."

'Mad Scientist'

The latest cat fight left TikTok users in stitches.

Dallas said: "The slaps are on point," while jnkz wrote: "Light sparring."

User emma_j.90 said: "I can't get over the fluffy ears, while kirigakure shura asked: "Is that cat a mad scientist?"

Several users were floored by the irony of what was blasting from the television in the background.

Julie R wrote: "Not TV audio matching this 'We're family, we got a problem we deal with it together,'" while Sky simply said: "Not the tv lmao [laughing my a** off]."

User @samantha.simz agreed, stating: "I love how the background noise is talking about living and family, we can solve our problems together yet they're fighting."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster via TikTok for comment. This video has not been independently verified.

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