Couple spends hundreds at the vet on their limping cat after their wedding — only to learn she faked it to get back at them for being left alone

Some stories begin with a simple homecoming, but this one started with a limping cat and a very confused couple. Sydney and her husband had just returned from their week-long wedding trip when they walked into their house and saw their pet feline, Josephine, moving slowly, lifting one paw as if seriously hurt. They worried something had gone wrong while they were away and tried to understand what had caused it. When the cat mom shared the details of the incident on TikTok on November 23, 2025, it instantly caught everyone’s attention. The couple had already spent hundreds at the vet searching for answers, yet even in those early moments, small clues hinted that Josephine’s limp might have a different story behind it.

As reported by Newsweek on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, this trip had been the longest the couple had ever been away from their pets, and Josephine seemed to take their absence to heart. Sydney explained that the limp began almost immediately after they returned, leading them to rush to the vet. That first examination revealed no swelling or pain and nothing that suggested an actual injury, yet the vet provided gentle medication in case there was soft-tissue inflammation. A second vet visit ended with the same results. That was when the couple began to wonder if Josephine might be pretending. Sydney said the vet did not confirm that idea directly, but reassured them that their cat was completely healthy. Back at home, Josephine’s behavior made the couple even more certain that something else was going on.

Soon, the limp shifted from one paw to another. She moved normally whenever she was unobserved, but the instant she noticed attention on her, she acted hurt again. Sydney said, “Josephine has always been our most dramatic cat,” and the pattern matched everything they had seen before, including the silent treatment Josephine used to give them after long trips. They joked she was upset about being left out of the wedding and wanted their full attention. "She's very particular and would definitely prefer if she were the center of our attention." The video captioned, "We' even caught her switching up which leg "hurts" throughout the day," by @spellbookandslippers quickly went viral, with many users leaving comments reacting to the cat’s bold and creative performance. @l1ttle_bl4ck_c4t wrote, "My cat does this, but he isn’t consistent with which paw it is. It’s so silly." @jaydabduh mentioned, "This is such a cat thing to do." @sundaymmatinee recounted, "Thought my 14-year-old cat was going deaf… she was just ignoring me." 

Reunions of pets with owners often take a dramatic turn, and another incident proved exactly this. A couple from Lubbock, Texas, recently shared how their return from an eleven-day honeymoon shifted from pure excitement to sudden panic when they walked through the door to greet their dogs, Matador and Hazel. They had stayed in close contact with their pet sitters throughout the trip, confident everything was normal, but nothing prepared them for what happened next. Matador became so overwhelmed with joy that he grew "wobbly" and collapsed, leaving them terrified until he slowly regained awareness. A specialist later explained that it was likely a brief fainting spell caused by extreme excitement. 

For more heartwarming cat content, follow @spellbookandslippers on TikTok.