A video of an orange cat stretched across someone's lap has captured the hearts of many Internet viewers, and the story just gets cuter by the minute.

The clip on TikTok shows a cat lying relaxed on its owner's lap while the human types on his smartphone.

What looks like an everyday scene turns out to be a turning point in the kitty's life on closer inspection.

The video shows how the little cat's head tilts in sync with the movements on the cell phone, almost as if he is reading along attentively.

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The superimposed text explains the emotional background: "Him watching us tell the humane society that he's our foster fail."

The clip thus documents the moment of a so-called "foster fail" – an affectionate term used in the animal welfare scene to describe when people decide to permanently adopt a foster animal.

The video quickly became a viral success, garnering hundreds of thousands of views and likes within a short space of time. Many users were particularly moved by the cat's calm and concentrated gaze.

Viewers were also emotionally moved in the comments, with many users sharing their own experiences with foster animals and reporting successful placements.

Others reacted with humor and interpreted the cat's body language as if it were patiently monitoring whether the message was being sent correctly.

Whether the cat in the video actually understood what was happening at that moment remains to be seen, but for many users it is clear that the little animal knew very well that its life had just changed forever – and that it had now found a loving family.