Does a viral clip of a cat riding a leopard show a real encounter recorded by a security camera? No, that's not true: The clip contained a logo of a video-generating tool. The video in question includes inconsistencies that point to AI origins, too.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on X on July 22, 2025. It opened:
Cat can handle everything.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the x.com/catsareblessing account)
The 12-second video dated July 17, 2025, purported to show a leopard approaching the cat on the porch. At the 00:06 mark, we see a cut after which the cat returns into the frame, riding the leopard. A higher-definition version of it can be seen here (archived here).
The bottom right corner of the video showed a watermark: Veo. It is the name of a Google product that makes AI generated videos (archived here).
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the x.com/catsareblessing account)
In the final moments, as we see a close-up of the cat on the leopard's back, the cat appears to have whiskers only on one side of its face:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the x.com/catsareblessing account)
Furthermore, in the second part of the clip, we see that some frames show a uniquely shaped, long, dark stripe on the cat's fur, while in other frames it's missing:
Additionally, the two shots in the video show two different porch backgrounds. While that alone is not necessarily indicative of AI, it's another inconsistency that raises questions about the authenticity of the footage:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the x.com/catsareblessing account via InVid)
A closer look shows that in the second shot, the stairs don't lead to the entrance door, and what seemed to be a porch is inaccessible from the house, as that part of the building only has a window.
