Last Updated on March 27, 2026 by admin
Brianna Terry checked her security camera one afternoon and watched a single orange paw reach up, hook the faucet handle, and pull. Water poured into the kitchen sink. The cat responsible sat back on his haunches, watched the stream for a few seconds, then hopped off the counter and disappeared around the corner.
He left the water running.
His name is Tofu. He is orange. He has three legs. And he has figured out exactly how to operate the kitchen faucet — a skill he deploys almost exclusively when nobody is home.
Nine Weeks Old, One Leg Short
Tofu arrived at an animal shelter at nine weeks old with wounds on both back legs. Infection had already set in. Veterinarians amputated one hind leg to save his life, and the scrawny orange kitten spent weeks recovering before anyone took a second look at him.
Terry adopted him anyway. She didn’t adopt him because he was missing a leg. She adopted him because he swatted a toy mouse off the shelf and stared at her like she owed him something.
“He really doesn’t have a lot of brain cells,” Terry told ABC News, “so for him to figure out how to do that, I’m like, ‘wow.'”
The Faucet Situation
It started small. Terry noticed the kitchen faucet dripping when she got home from work. Then it was on — full stream, no one in the room. She assumed she’d left it running. The second time, she blamed the roommate. The third time, she checked the camera.
There was Tofu. One front paw wrapped around the handle. A slow, deliberate pull. Water on. Then he walked away.
He didn’t drink from it. He didn’t play in it. He turned it on and left, like a cat who’d proven his point and had nothing more to say.
The videos hit TikTok and did what orange-cat content does best — they exploded. Tofu’s account now sits at 1.4 million followers with over 33 million likes. Comment sections read like support groups for people whose cats also have one inexplicable, unstoppable habit.
The Headband
Terry tried reasoning with him. She tried closing the kitchen door. She tried placing obstacles on the counter. Tofu is three-legged and unbothered by obstacles.
Her final move: wrapping the faucet handle in a headband to make it harder to grip.
If you have ever tried to outsmart a cat who has already decided what he wants, you already know how this ends. The headband slowed him down. It did not stop him. Terry has accepted that her water bill is part of the cost of living with Tofu.
The Part Where You Recognise Your Own Cat
Every orange cat owner reading this is nodding right now. Not because their cat turns on the faucet — although some of yours absolutely do — but because they know the look. The one where the cat does something so deliberately inconvenient that you can’t even be mad. You’re just standing there, watching the water run, thinking, “Well, he did that on purpose.”
Tofu doesn’t care about the water. Tofu cares about the handle. He cares about the motion, the click, the satisfaction of making something happen with one paw when the universe gave him only three legs to work with.
Thirty-three million people watched him do it and thought the same thing: that is absolutely my cat.
Does your cat have one weird, unstoppable habit? Tell us what it is in the comments. 🐱