The comforting snuggles between a ginger cat and his canine sister have captured the hearts of pet lovers. Videos of the sweet relationship between Kelvin (cat) and Joule (dog) are posted on Instagram.
“I have never seen two animals love each other so much. Wonderful!” said one commenter.
“They ARE!!!! Just priceless!!! Such a joy for we far flung admirers to have them in our lives!!! Thank you for sharing them!!!” said another.
And “I would honestly keep a cuddle cam up during my whole workday just to catch these moments live.”
Joule: A Diamond Waiting to Shine
Eight-year-old Joule was adopted several years ago from a shelter near his mom’s New England home after being transported with multiple siblings from a facility in Tennessee.
“Joule was not the dog we went to see, but when we met her she decided that we were her people and made it clear she was going to go home with us,” said mom, Brenna.
“She was so excited to meet us that it triggered her to start doing zoomies,” she said. “We gave her some attention, and she got so excited that she started running circles around us. Then she ran back to us for more attention, and got so excited that she zoomed around us again. This continued for our entire visit with her. She was so joyful, and we knew that she needed to be a member of our family.”
But the transport from Tennessee was fairly traumatic for Joule.
“The long drive, in combination with being sick and being split up from her littermates, caused her to be a mess when we first got her home,” said Brenna.
Joule was reactive to any little noise or movement and would shut down physically and emotionally. A professional dog behaviorist helped build up her confidence, but she was still agitated when she sensed her people were about to leave the house.
Caught on Cuddle Cam
Kelvin, now 7, was adopted around the time Joule had started making progress in her training, and it seems that he entered Joule’s life at the right time to offer support during the day while the humans were at work.
Brenna set up the camera to record the whole room, and when she checked it she was surprised to see Kelvin and Joule together on the couch.
“The next day I moved the camera so it pointed directly at the couch where they had been,” she said. “And I was amazed that the two of them were not only sharing the couch together, but they were also having these remarkably sweet interactions with each other. I couldn’t believe it. We always knew the two of them got along well, but we did not realize how sweet they are to each other when we are not around.”
She posted a video on social media with the comment “This happens literally every weekday for the full 8 hours we’re gone.”
The video went viral and now nearly 80,000 fans follow the adventures of Joule and Kelvin.
Joule enjoys it when Kelvin is settled down, but she can get cranky when Kelvin is “making biscuits” as he is getting comfortable.
“When Kelvin’s biscuit-making gets too aggressive or painful due to his claws, Joule will either give him a soft warning growl or usually just put her head over his body. We keep Kelvin’s nails trimmed regularly to make things more comfortable for Joule,” said Brenna.
Sibling Revelry
Kelvin and Joule have two other “siblings,” nine-year-old black cat Nerien and five-year-old Tesla, who looks similar to Joule.
Based upon their appearance and mannerisms, it was assumed that Joule and Tesla were part Vizsla, which is where the Instagram handle @ginger_cat_and_vizslas came from.
“When we eventually gave them dog DNA tests, the results showed 0% Vizsla,” said Brenna.
Joule is part Rat Terrier, Lab, Miniature Pinscher, Golden Retriever and “supermutt.” Tesla is an “American Village Dog,” with DNA in common with American Pit Bull, Doberman, German Shepherd, Lab, Mountain Cur, and Russell-type terrier. The results from the DNA tests are linked on the pets’ Instagram profile page.
By the time the DNA tests were done the videos had already gone viral, so it was too late to change the Instagram name, Brenna said.
A Dynamic Duo
In addition to the cuddly couch videos, Brenna has posted videos of Joule and Tesla racing along a track cut out of the deep snow in their yard.
“The dogs love to do zoomies in the yard, and it is always hard for them in the winter when the deep snow prevents it,” said Brenna. “So last winter we used the snow blower to create paths for them in our backyard. We recorded them running on the paths with both a camera on the ground and a camera above mounted on a drone. The video was so popular last year that we recorded a new video this year.”