A pair of sisters were looking around a furniture shop when they found what they thought was a display cat lying on a bed—only to realize he was very much real.
Star Lawrence-Hill, 20, and her sister Paige Sapherson-Lawrence, 31, headed out on a trip to variety store The Range in Warrington, England, recently, on the hunt for a new bedside table.
But what they found instead led them to go viral, with a video to Lawrence-Hill’s TikTok account @star.lawrence.hill on May 6 racking up more than 230,000 views in just over a day.
“We came across a display bed, which had a cat laying on top of it,” she explained to Newsweek, adding that she and her sister “did not say anything, we just stared at this cat in disbelief until she said to me ‘is that real?’ and I told her I wasn’t sure.
“My first thought was that it was just for display, but we took a closer look and could see its ear was twitching.
“Even though it was moving, I still thought it was just a really realistic robot cat being used for display!”
Eventually, the sisters touched the cat’s paw, and “it moved slightly but we still weren’t convinced it was real”—at which point Sapherson-Lawrence started recording, and when her sister stroked the cat’s head, it “did a big stretch,” and they realized: “Yeah, that’s not a robot.”
That video of the duo realizing there was, in fact, a real cat taking a nap on the store’s display bed proved hugely popular online, as it captured the moment Sapherson-Lawrence was still insisting: “It’s not real that, is it?”
And when the cat did his big stretch, the siblings burst out laughing, with TikTok users joining in on the fun in the comments.
“That’s literally the manager,” one wrote, as another asked: “How much is it?”
“I hope you reported him for sleeping on the job? He should not be getting paid to lay there all day,” one user wrote.
And it turns out the cat is a bit of a local celebrity, as many in the comments recognized him, one explaining: “He’s regular and he lives not too far from there,” and another recalling: “He was round my legs once when I was leaving, and then last time he was just sat on a chair in the entrance.”
In fact, the cat—whose name appears to be Chunks—makes regular appearances on local lost and found pets Facebook groups, only for commenters to assure the “finder” that the friendly cat often hangs around the store and approaches strangers for cuddles.
Richard James, store manager at The Range in Warrington, told Newsweek: “We’ve definitely noticed our furry little regular popping in and out of the store—he’s become an honorary member of The Range Warrington staff.
“Customers and colleagues alike have grown fond of his visits, and it’s always a surprise to spot him snoozing somewhere cozy (even if it’s on one of our display beds!)”
James added that while Chunks is “not on the payroll just yet, he’s certainly part of The Range Warrington family.”
Lawrence-Hill told Newsweek she and her sister were “laughing hysterically” at the situation, “because no one else in the store was phased by the cat sleeping on the bed, it was like we were the only ones that could see it.”
“We accepted that the cat was real and left it to sleep on the bed, still in disbelief of what we had seen. He was a very chilled and friendly cat,” she added.
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