Real-life cats are watching ​​"Flow"​​and they’re obsessed

Movies, television shows, 8-hour bird bonanza videos on YouTube: Do cats comprehend the images they see on screen? With a new thread going viral on X, the answer seems to be a resounding yes! On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Flow director Gints Zilbalodis posted a video of his cat watching his latest movie with the caption “Flow target audience.

Cinema is the universal language!” (No spoilers, of course, but Flow is a new animated movie about a cat who endures a great flood and has to find its way back home.) Zilbalodis’ film was made in Latvia and won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, winning over movies like Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot. It’s also nominated for an Oscar in the same category; NPRcalledFlow, “the most breathtaking cat video in history.”

In the video, Zilbalodis’ cat watches his feature film with rapt attention. During a particularly distressing scene—again, no spoilers!—in which a cat becomes surrounded by a pool of water, the Latvian director’s cat, concerned, begins meowing at the screen, even jumping onto the console and lightly pawing at the TV in what seems like an attempt to either warn or save the onscreen feline.

It’s kind of a movement 😳

On X, not only has Zilbalodis’ video gone viral, amassing over 1 million views in less than a week, but in the replies, a wonderful thread of other owners posting their cats watching Flow has taken place. It all started with @jubilescent quote-tweeting the director's post with the caption “obsessed with this thread of cats watching Flow." And much like the water central to the film’s plot, the replies have flooded in.

User @JaviOr posted, “Watching this amazing movie with my cats was a truly magical experience. Thank you for this masterpiece,” along with a touching photo of a black cat with white paws sharing a moment with the cat onscreen.

Another user, @AdiradaAcacu, wrote, “The same reaction here! What a joy it was to watch her so hypnotized!” with a picture of their cat, transfixed, staring at the screen. User @Nicwithak responded, “Lil’ Chief loved it!” and user @emmanuelcasas__ chimed in with, “Lenora, a Mexican fan 🇲🇽♥️”

But that’s not all—beyond X, the “cats watching Flow” trend has turned into a movement, with users from TikTok and Reddit joining in on the fun.

On the subreddit r/aww, user @Kinisonkhan posted a heartwarming, albeit slightly blurry, photo with the caption “My black cat watching the movie ‘Flow’ (a movie about a black cat.) It’s like ‘Life of Pi’ meets ‘Stray’ (a video game) and it’s [an] absolutely charming movie, but one with no dialogue. My cat was drawn to the main characters meowing; sat there for the entire movie.” Then, an important disclaimer. “NOTE: No animals die in this movie, it’s absolutely safe for kids and pet owners to watch.”

The Straymentioned by @Kinisonkhan is a beautifully designed puzzle and adventure video game that was released in 2022. It became Internet famous, due to the reactions it elicited from cats. According to Mashable, Stray “absolutely nails the act of being a cat. From the sound effects to [the] cats’ general obsession with knocking objects to the floor to napping a lot, the game just really gets cats. And the real cats are here for it.” The game ended up becoming so well-known, that fans even created a dedicated subreddit, @r/CatswatchingStray, to document the phenomenon. That subreddit recently posted about Flow, with one user writing “Can we post cats watching ‘Flow’ here or do we make a new sub?”

Over on TikTok, even more adorable cat videos are to be found, with users like @Tobydinorfigaroandfriends posting content like “POV: this is your sign to watch Flow with your cat” or “POV: you were a street cat 2 months ago and are now watching Flow at home” from user @Sputnikonearth.

Although the videos are largely repetitive—it’s always a cat watching snippets of the movie, usually at an emotional high point—like each feline, each video is unique and special. Reactions range from concentrated interest to amused movie-watching to full on distress. Owners watch on, bemused, enjoying their beloved pet’s reactions: sometimes, more than the film itself. To share a moment with a pet like this is every owner's dream. But do cats actually understand what they’re seeing?

Cats watching TV: do they understand what’s happening onscreen?

On Reddit’s r/CatAdvice, user @Nthepromise land posed the following question: “My dogs have never watched TV in the past, however, my new cat (Honey Mustard) loves to watch TV. Anything that is on, she seems to be enthralled with! Is this typical among cats?”

Throughout the thread, other users and various pet owners were quick to agree, with one person writing “One of mine does, too. Nature documentaries are her favorite, especially if they involve other felines. She’ll even go into a stalking position when she sees them do it and stalk after the prey they’re hunting when it pops up on screen.” User @Jojo444111 responded similarly: “Once, about 10 years ago, I was woken up by the TV playing really loudly… I slowly came out of the bedroom to see my two cats happily loafing on the sofa watching TV, like it was a normal thing.”

So, what’s going on here? Short answer: it’s complicated.

Not much research has been done on cats and their relationship to images on screen. While we do know that our feline friends can distinguish between outlines, patterns, and textures, we’re not quite sure what exactly they perceive these images to be, explains Cats.org. Cats, more than humans, rely on their other non-visual senses to understand the world around them, like smell and hearing. Perhaps the movies and TV shows they see on screen are nothing but a flurry of noises and fast motions, piquing their interest.

For example, with the movie Flow, cats could be recognizing that the pixels onscreen are meant to resemble a cat like them. However, according to Cats.org, without scent or other non-visual cues, "even if they can identify other cats on television," the "majority of cats" are unlikely to perceive them as real or as threats. "It could also be that owners are more likely to pick up on their cats watching other cats on television because of their own associations," they explain. Or, in other words, we find real-life cats watching onscreen cats to be cute. Thus, we pay extra attention to it—while simultaneously ignoring all other cat/TV interactions.

But…the cats really are watching Flow, right?

Maybe! It's not impossible. In a post on her blog, Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado, a scientist and an established cat expert at Feline Minds, explores a study conducted by Dr. Sarah L.H. Ellis and Dr. Deborah L. Wells—the only study to date that specifically looks at how cats respond to visual stimulation in the form of moving images. In the study, they examined the behavior of 125 shelter cats and their responses to various types of videos (ex. videos of humans, videos of rats and birds, videos of balls moving across a table, etc.)

They found that many cats enjoy videos…but only for a limited amount of time.

Beyond quick movements, cats are also likely to be “most interested in the movement of animals that resemble what they would naturally hunt” (like small birds and rodents) and are more likely to be attracted to videos with blue and green tones (the colors they see best.) High-pitched squeaking and chirping sounds are sure to get their attention, as they are the noises most similar to those made by birds and mice.

In the video posted by Flow director Gints Zilbalodis, it does seem like many of the criteria outlined in the study are met: the Flow cat reacts quickly, with many small, sudden movements. The screen is filled with lovely green and blue hues as the water pools around the cat. And in an interview with Variety, Zilbalodis revealed how his team achieved such a realistic feel, saying, “Our animators were watching cat videos. For work! They claimed it was important research.”

So, what do you think? Are we humans looking for meaning when there isn’t any? Or are cats really loving the movie Flow?