Who is piggy dippin' in the piggy pond? The best TikTok video, explained.
As humiliating it is to say, my cat is the love of my life. He is also a menace not only to society as a whole, but to any open water he can dip his greedy little paws into.
That is to say, Colby Jack — the cat of the hour — loves to stick his dirty little foot into any and every cup of water available to him, whether it is filled with paint water or not. It is how he prefers to stay hydrated, so in every place I've lived in since owning him the floor has been scattered with cups or mugs of water atop a towel, to keep the mess at bay.
Colby is not original in his water cup path of destruction. Just ask @missus.weeb on TikTok, who posted a video of her cat Cleo dipping their paw into a water bowl has taken over my For You Page. The original video has 1.3 million likes and 6.6 million views. But with just under 2,000 videos, the audio itself isn't technically viral, which makes its constant placement on my for you page almost insulting (the algorithm knows me).
"Piggy dipping!" she screams, walking over to the water bowl before following the cat Cleo into another room. "Piggy dippin' at the piggy pond. No, you went sausage swimming in the water bowl, you dipped them fat little toes in there. Chubbah bun." Someone else — a roommate, perhaps — yells "piggy dipping!" in the background.
"I absolutely adore the fact that people are loving Cleo like this," @missus.weeb told Mashable over DM. "Cleo has been piggy dippin ever since I adopted her and now everyone else gets to join in on the happiness she brings me! Cleo is truly an icon so the fame suits her."
According to catbehaviorassociates.com, the reason Cleo and Colby piggy-dip their little paws into water and lick it off instead of drinking normally is to avoid discomfort from the "very sensitive tactile hairs" that are their facial whiskers. If the water bowl isn't the right size or shape, the whiskers can get squished.
Here is Colby Jack, piggy dippin hit little paws into a cup full of water and paint that he should not be drinking.
It's a little messy, but it's also incredibly cute. Good cat.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
