14-Year-Old Dog’s Sweet Daily Request to Cat Sibling Melts Hearts

While dogs and cats can get along, it’s rare they will be best friends. But the bond between one senior dog and his feline sibling has brought the internet to tears.

Fourteen-year-old pitbull mix Tiger lives in the United States with his owner, Jean, who also owns an eight-year-old tabby cat, Akaiba.

And with both pets in their senior years, they’ve settled into a sweet routine, as one heartwarming moment shared to TikTok on May 6 shows. In the video, which has been viewed more than a million times, Jean writes: “My 14 year old dog demands a bath from my cat every evening.”

It shows Akaiba sitting on the sofa with Tiger at her feet, before the old dog nudges the kitty with his nose — and Akaiba immediately begins bathing Tiger’s face with sweet little licks. Tiger sits patiently while getting her bath, and even gives Akaiba some grateful licks of his own.

The Animal Humane Society (AHS) writes in an online publication that “despite the stereotype, many dogs and cats learn to live together peacefully.”

For anyone preparing to introduce a dog and cat in their home for the first time, the organization urges patience, as “the goal is to allow the pets to get used to each other’s presence without face-to-face contact.”

But regardless of how well you do the introductory process, the AHS says “whether or not your pets get along will also depend on their individual personalities.”

It’s clear that Tiger and Akaiba’s personalities mesh incredibly well together, and the video captured the hearts of TikTok users, who flocked to the video to comment on the pair’s clear bond.

“He asks for love the same way dogs request love from humans. That’s a very genuine bond,” one user wrote.

“Your dog reciprocating two little licks on the cat melts my heart,” another said, with one writing alongside a crying emoji: “I love how she happily bathes him.”

“They love each other so much. I hope they find each other in every life after this one,” one commenter said, and as one put it simply: “I cry every day on this app.”

While Tiger and Akaiba’s adoring relationship is unusual, it’s not completely unique: TikTok users recently fell head over heels for a Samoyed dog and a tabby cat who got along so well their owner asked: “Is this normal?”

An enormous dog also instantly had a bond with a five-week-old kitten her owners found, appearing to treat it like a mother would her puppy.

And one woman captured the moment her enormous guardian dog’s instincts kicked in to “protect” a litter of newborn kittens, standing over them and giving them protective licks and sniffs.

Newsweek has reached out to @jtwohawks via TikTok for comment. This video hasn’t been independently verified.

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