Something fishy was going on.
Meet Zowy the dog and her feline sibling, Maverick the cat.
Though there’s more than enough of it to go around at home with their mom, Alicia Lázaro, the two pets are in endless competition for her time, treats and affection.
And in that pursuit, apparently, there are no rules against trickery.
One day, after a walk, Lázaro noticed that something appeared to be wrong with Zowy. Rather than run around the house with a wagging tail as she normally does, the poor pup was limping.
Maverick, evidently, noticed too.
Lázaro called Zowy over and gently examined her affected paw. Turns out, she’d stepped on a little thorn.
“We removed it right away,” Lázaro told The Dodo. “She was fine.”
That’s when Lázaro suddenly realized Maverick had inexplicably developed a limp as well:
Perplexed, Lázaro stepped away from Zowy to check on the seemingly injured cat.
“I looked at his paw and saw there was nothing wrong with him,” Lázaro said. “He was putting on a show.”
Zowy hasn’t limped again since the thorn was removed. Maverick, meanwhile, still puts on the act to this day when he’s looking for attention. Or food.
Here he is before and after scoring a treat:
Lázaro is onto her cat’s little ploy — but indulges him anyway.
“He thinks he’s smarter than everyone else,” she said.
Fortunately, though the competition for affection may be heated at times between Zowy and Maverick, they can always still find it with one another.
“I love them very much,” Lázaro said. “I don’t know what I would do without them.”
