Curious Cat Learns to Turn on Sink Faucet. Owner Wakes Up to House Flood, Falling Ceiling (Exclusive)
The "usually low-key" cat took his owners by surprise with a timely (and costly) accident
A pregnant woman and her husband discovered their cat figured out how to turn on their sink to help himself to a drink of water
The fun trick took a turn when the cat sat in the sink for his drink, causing water to flood out of the sink
The quiet cat ended up causing quite a stir when the damage led to a ceiling needing to be replaced, just as his owners welcomed twin daughters
A pregnant mom was in for the surprise of her life when her cat caused some hijinks in her home.
Alanna Matson, known as @ajmagnifica18 on TikTok, asked for some "pet destruction stories" as she recalled a time her cat Sam made a huge mess in her home.
Alanna goes on to detail the time Sam learned how to use the couple's bathroom sink, leading to complete chaos when he left the water flowing one night.
"Sam is normally a really low-key cat. He is an indoor cat, so typically, he's just lounging or tucked under a blanket somewhere. He generally only makes his presence known when the terror of his food bowl being empty sets in, or he is looking for a pet," Alanna tells PEOPLE.
For the first few weeks the sink was left running, Alanna and her husband assumed their kids, 10 and 12 at the time, were the culprits.
"We thought someone was getting up during the night and leaving the sink on. They denied it completely. It wasn't until the video I included, where Sam demonstrated his sink turning-on skill, that we realized it had been him all along," she laughs.
"When we realized it was him, we started putting a rubber band around the handle to prevent him from turning it on out of fear that this exact scenario would happen."
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Sadly, it couldn't stop Sam from sitting in the sink to drink his water, flooding the bathroom in the process.
In her video, Alanna explains, "Little did I know that after I went to sleep that night, Sam the cat would venture into the bathroom and turn on the faucet and then sit on the drain to close it in the bottom of the sink, causing the Wet Bandits to come to my house and flood the bathroom into the kitchen."
"The morning it happened, my husband got up first and saw the flood in the upstairs bathroom. He cleaned it up and went downstairs, thinking the problem had been solved, but as soon as he went into the kitchen, he saw the water damage on the ceiling and it dripping on the floor," Alanna recalls to PEOPLE.
"He came upstairs and completely made light of the situation to me. I was extremely pregnant with twins, in August of 2020 in the midst of the hottest summer on record and a global pandemic, he knew telling me the house was flooded wouldn't be the best plan."
She continues, "He told me it had leaked and he could fix it with some paint and towels. I went downstairs, and that's when the ceiling started to buckle, and we knew there was no saving it."
The pregnant mom made moves to figure out what to do next. It was then she'd learn the "entire floorboard situation was flooded with water that caused that kitchen ceiling to cave in."
"I immediately knew we had to notify our insurance company and figure out what to do. They are the ones who had a service crew to our home within hours to begin demolition and the dreaded industrial fans," she tells PEOPLE.
While the crews worked on putting her house back together, Alanna went to the hospital and delivered her twin daughters.
"When I left, the kitchen floor and ceiling and the bathroom floor had been torn out, and three massive dryers were running nonstop. Due to the pandemic, I was only in the hospital for 36 hours, so the house was in the same state when we arrived home."
While it was certainly not ideal, Alanna was first and foremost concerned for the health and well-being of her babies.
"As I have mentioned, this was August of 2020 when Covid was still new and our state, New York, still had really strong restrictions in place. I was so terrified of having a construction crew in the house with two brand-new five-pound babies," she says.
"The girls and I just set up shop in my bedroom and I truly don't remember leaving that room until the construction was finished a few days later. Sam was blissfully unaware that he had caused the mayhem and even had the audacity to act miffed by the presence of the dryers and construction workers."
Jaromir Chalabala / EyeEm / Getty Images
Stock image of a cat being pet as it drinks from a water bowlThe couple eventually had to replace the sink because Sam couldn't be stopped.
"We tried keeping the door closed at night, but inevitably, it would be left open from time to time, and Sam would immediately go in and turn the water on. We realized that it was more proactive to replace the vessel sink with a traditional model with an overflow valve."
Alanna is happy she can look back and appreciation how "hilarious" it was now that it's behind her.
"It's so outrageous that I figured TikTok would be entertained by hearing it. The response has been hilarious," she says.
"Most people are just happy we got rid of the sink and not Sam. I have also gotten countless recommendations for a cat fountain, which Sam has had since before this incident even occurred; he just preferred the sink!"
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