Hysterics as owner tries and fails to distract food-loving cat from meal

A devoted cat owner put his feline’s food obsession to the test, seeing what it would take to distract him from his meal.

The cat dad, who goes by the Instagram handle @porkybellyandjim, shared the lengths he went to in an attempt to tear his greedy pet away from his food bowl. The footage quickly went viral, garnering 127,856 likes and 1.4 million views.

“I was originally making a Fear Factor series, doing a competition between Jim and my other cat Porky Belly,” he told Newsweek. “During those events, which featured classics like the vacuum or blender, Jim was the typical scaredy-cat.

“Except, I noticed on events where I used their food to get them in position, he was absolutely locked in and did not care about anything else. Thus it became a quest to see what could distract him from his beloved food.”

The cat dad made several attempts to get the gray and white feline’s attention. In the first attempt, he lifted Jim—who was standing on a cardboard box with his food bowl—into the air. Unfazed, Jim continued eating as his owner walked him around the room.

In the second bid, he tried vacuuming near his feline, yet Jim remained unbothered and focused on his meal.

For the third attempt, the owner shook a bag of Jim’s favorite treats, chicken hearts. Normally, the cat would rush excitedly from another room at the mere sound, which he shared a clip of. However, in this instance, he remained glued to his food bowl without so much as a glance.

Then the owner fed Jim’s brother, Porky Belly, right beside him. Even with his sibling enjoying a treat nearby, Jim did not lift his head from the bottom of his bowl.

Finally, his owner presented a large piece of chicken heart right in front of Jim’s nose, hoping to tempt him. Still, the cat remained fixated on his food. Only when he had licked his bowl completely clean did he finally accept the treat from his owner’s hand.

“I think the funniest ones are when I take their favorite treats and feed Porky right behind Jim while he’s eating his food,” the cat dad explained. “It shows he is happy with what he has and doesn’t even care to look at what others might have! And he’s still always so happy when he finally turns around and gets his own treat.”

The owner further shared that Jim is the baby of the house and enjoys cuddling, rolling around on his back, running and playing like a dog, and crying for attention.

When he first got him as a kitten, Jim weighed only 1.4 pounds, and his vet was concerned about his small size and lack of growth.

Jim had to be encouraged to eat as much as possible, which led to his deep love for mealtimes. Eventually, he hit a growth spurt but never lost his hearty appetite.

TikTok users were highly amused by Jim’s unshakable focus on his food.

“You could tell he was a little scared of the vacuum, but he locked in and did his job,” one viewer of the video observed.

“Thank you. This video woke my cat up and reminded her she still had food in her dish,” another quipped.

“Tbh I think the cat just trusts you a lot to not stop eating,” a different TikTok user commented.

“It’s so cute when they hold the human hand to bite the treat before taking it away to eat,” someone else noted.

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