Cat 'So Addicted to Mice Videos' She Stares at Owner's Phone All the Time

A cat has become so addicted to watching videos of mice that she now spends much of her day staring at her owner's phone in the hopes of seeing more.

Coven, the 3-year-old black cat, lives in Victoria, British Columbia, with her owner Chloe da Mata. "She is very gentle and playful," da Mata told Newsweek. "We adopted her when someone was selling their cats' 'accidental' kittens nearby in 2020."

Coven is a cat with many interests. "Her favorite treat is pumpkin puree," da Mata said. "Her favorite activities are playing with her stuffed chicken 'Edgar,' playing the cat version of fetch (she chases the ball and comes back without it), cuddling and of course watching mice on YouTube."

She's not necessarily alone in enjoying animal videos, of course. In 2008, a study published in the scientific journal Applied Animal Behavior Science looked at how cats respond to visual stimulation such as moving images.

As part of the research, 125 shelter cats were split into five groups of 25. Each group was shown one of five videos. One group watched videos of humans, another watched snooker balls moving on a table. A third watched videos of birds, rodents, fish and cats.

One group watched no television while another was presented with a television that was not turned on. Each cat was observed every five minutes for three hours a day for a total of five days. Researchers found that cats spent around 6 percent of the time they were observed looking at the television. However, they were more likely to watch if the television was playing either the snooker balls or animal videos.

All of which indicates cats may enjoy videos, albeit in moderation. Coven is slightly different though. "Her love for mice videos began about a year ago," da Mata said. "She loved watching cartoons with me so one day we put on 'mice TV' and she fell in love."

Coven began to show a real interest in mice content. "At first, we played the videos on the TV whenever we were done watching our shows," da Mata said. "Recently I put the video on my phone and placed it on the floor. That was an even bigger hit because she can move the phone around and feel like she is really chasing it."

One of the downsides of showing Coven clips on the phone has been that the feline now fully expects to see videos of rodents anytime she sees her owner's smartphone.

To prove this, da Mata even filmed a video of Coven looking for a mouse video on her phone. "POV: Your cat is so addicted to mice videos that she stares at your phone like this anytime it's laying around."

Coven certainly appears transfixed by the phone in the clip, though da Mata is keen to stress that her cat does not have a problem.

"I wouldn't say that she's obsessed, but she's definitely been conditioned to know when she is likely to get mice," she explained. "For example, she gets excited and stares at the TV whenever there's credits or (like in the video) stares at my phone excitedly whenever it's on the floor."

Even so, it might be time to wean her onto something else. Catnip comes highly recommended.

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