Cat eats cheese and faints – an $800 vet bill shows the surprise reason why!

Nashville, Tennessee - Joan the cat was known on TikTok for her love of cheese, until one day she passed out mid-chew! What happened, and will the kitty be cheesing again?

Joan the cat loves cheese, but maybe the cheese doesn't love her.
Joan the cat loves cheese, but maybe the cheese doesn't love her.  © Collage: Screenshot/TikTok/averyandkeith

Joan the cat loves cheese, but maybe the cheese doesn't love her...

Avery Muether, who lives in Nashville with her cat Joan, another cat, and her husband, has been feeding her kitty small strips of cheese for a while now.

The reason? Joan regularly begged for the snack.

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In a recent interview with Newsweek, the pet owner explained: "One day she begged for the cheese I was eating, she jumped up on my leg and crawled up my back to my shoulder."

"I immediately thought, 'Here is our moment to go viral, how cute!'" she added.

But disaster soon struck when one day, the cat simply fainted mid-bite.

According to Muether, Joan was unconscious for two to three seconds, before she woke up.

"She looked a little spooked for a couple of seconds and then went on begging for more cheese."

But why exactly did the cat faint, and what happened next?

Can cats eat cheese? Cat gets vet check and goes viral on TikTok

Joan will have to leave her love of cheese behind.
Joan will have to leave her love of cheese behind.  © TikTok/Screenshot/averyandkeith

Muether had the cat checked by the vet, just to be sure nothing was seriously wrong.

But one $800 vet bill later, they were surprised at their pet's diagnosis.

"We waited 30 minutes and the cardiologist brought her back praising her on being a good patient," said the owner.

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Fortunately, there was nothing physically wrong with Joan, but of course everyone wanted to know why she had fainted after eating cheese.

"Our thoughts are the rhythmic sucking and the overall excitement of the cheese makes her not breathe normally causing her to faint."

Luckily, the cat parents ended up laughing at the story, and after Muether shared her experience on TikTok, so did viewers.

"Cardiologist said no more string cheese for Joan haha at least her little heart is healthy!" they captioned the clip, which has now been viewed over 1.2 million times.

Cover photo: Collage: Screenshot/TikTok/averyandkeith

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