Golden retriever grieving 'brother' cat, refuses to eat — until the owners bring him a surprise gift

Noticing your pet grieve over the loss of another beloved pet is undoubtedly a sad and emotional sight. You start wondering how to make them feel, and the same confusion weighed on the minds of the owners of a 10-year-old golden retriever, Murray. Until one day, they decided to give him a surprise. The owner shared a clip of the said surprise for Murray, and it instantly grabbed the attention of numerous users on social media. According to Newsweek, the video was uploaded by @theveryguudbois on their TikTok account on July 13, 2025, and instantly went viral with over 619.6K views and 87.8K likes so far. 

The overlaid texts on the video explained the entire story about how Murray was grieving the loss of his elder brother, George — the owner's senior orange cat, who unfortunately passed away after a dental procedure. The cat's owners believe his reason for death to be a punctured trachea while he was given anesthesia. The owners also shared how the loss of George had a major impact on Murray, who was constantly around the cat as the duo were inseparable. They shared with Newsweek, "Murray started showing signs of grieving, mainly being super-anxious and barking at random things and walking around the house — he had never been without George, and we began to wonder if he was lonely."

According to a study, after losing a companion animal, many pets show signs of behavioral change. About 74% of dogs and 78% of cats became more clingy or affectionate, with 82% of those dogs and 97% of cats demanding more attention, while nearly 42% of dogs also ate less food, and 81% showed increased sleep, which may reflect grief, stress, or withdrawal. "It was hard coming home to Murray without him, and you can't explain to them what happened — we cried so much," shared the owners. 

This is when Murray's owners decided to gift him with two lovely kittens. As featured in the viral video, after a little toy shopping, Murray finally came home to the two new additions and immediately bonded with the felines. The video shows the pets constantly being around each other in a perpetual playtime arrangement. The owners further shared how they had adopted the two new kitten siblings, Ash and Oreo, from the Delaware County Humane Society on July 10. Before introducing the felines to Murray, they used to swap blankets between the animals to get them adjusted to each other's natural scents, which would allow them to get comfortable quicker. 

The owners have been surprised by the visible change in Murray, stating, "I haven't seen him acting playfully in a long time, but he actually grabbed a ball and was trying to show them how he tosses it around and grabs it." Many other clips also show the adorable bond between the two kittens and Murray. In one recent video compilation, the owners talk about what "Murray has learned about the kittens so far," such as how cute they are when they play, how Murray has to be gentle around them, and how he must tolerate them even when they take his tail for a toy.

Countless users couldn't keep calm over the heart-melting interaction and expressed themselves in the comments section. @zoeygirl10 shared, "I’m a big believer that a broken heart can begin healing with a new companion. Doesn’t replace the one lost, but it will help." @floridacargirl wrote, "He’s so gentle." @echoxnight commented, "Now he gets to be the big brother." @knellwal shared, "When my dog passed away, my cat cried and cried. I got her another cat, but she wanted a dog!" 

For more wholesome animal content, follow @theveryguudbois on their TikTok account.