Three million views and 700,000 likes later, Serafina the cat has achieved stardom after rocking up to Central Library (if only it were that easy). A TikTok of the cat hiding in a handbag in Central Library was posted online, and has blown up with numbers Dunedin’s microinfluencer community could only dream of. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Serafina’s cat-mum, a neuroscience PhD student, to talk it over.
Serafina is an eight-month old kitten whose name is a reference to the cat featured in 2004 banger Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. She (her owner) explained to Critic that the “very curious” cat was bought on TradeMe just over a month ago. With a slightly dubious seller, there had initially been concerns Serafina was in fact a scam, as she was coming down from Auckland to begin her Ōtepoti era.
As evidenced by her travels around North-D, the Scottish-Straight-breed began to bless Dunedin with her huge eyes and playful nature. Beginning her life as a strictly indoors cat (don’t worry, their flat has another cat for her to be friends with), a desire to train Serafina for outdoor life eventually led to the iconic TikTok.
Serafina’s owner explained that Scottish Straights are not great outdoor cats, saying, “She’ll lose fights, and I don’t want her to get stolen.” Critic concurs, with the shut bedroom door being the only thing stopping the theft of a future office pet. But due to her constant state of zoomies, and thus hypothesised boredom, it was decided to introduce Serafina to the sights of Studentville.
Serafina’s first trip outdoors was in a carrier to the vet – with a Botans side quest, meeting dogs and ducks. They went on a much more ambitious trip the next day. “I put her on the carrier and just walked around and then I took her out,” she said. “And then I went to visit my flatmate in the library.”
If you’re wondering where the carrier is in the TikTok, it was explained that Serafina prefers tight spaces, taking a liking to her owner’s handbag over the carrier. The royal treatment. And there, contentedly snuggled in her handbag, was when Serafina’s cat-mum filmed a video of the obviously hilarious situation. Originally posted to her Instagram story, a flood of replies encouraged her to post it on TikTok.
Serafina’s owner said that her mates have recognised the TikTok, but (perhaps luckily) her relative anonymity in the video has relieved her of being the next campus celebrity. It could likely be a different story should Serafina return for a study sesh. When Critic asked if she had gotten caught or was concerned, she replied, after a nervous laugh, “No, the visit went fine. Next time I’d probably get caught.”
Out of curiosity, Critic Te Ārohi hit up the Uni about the rules of bringing pets to campus. A University of Otago spokesperson referred Critic to its animals on campus policy. The policy specifically states, “No animals are allowed in buildings (other than in certain circumstances which are specified in the policy). Permission is not required to bring an animal on to the Campus (i.e. outdoors) as per 8.2, but we do require such animals to be kept under proper control as per 8.3”. In short, no animals allowed. Critic isn’t a snitch though, so we left our questioning at that.
With the development that Princess Serafina may be a campus criminal, Critic cornered her under a desk to discuss potential consequences of the crime for her influencer career. Serafina refused to comment.
Until her stardom blows over, Serafina may have to stick to her other social media endeavours. Her matching outfits with her human-counterpart have proved to be popular, so don’t expect her to disappear from your screens any time soon.