There’s something undeniably heartwarming about a housecat encountering a new part of the world for the first time. For a black cat named Kikko, that moment came when she laid eyes on an unfamiliar, vertical expanse—stairs. Not a toy, not a cat tree, not even a scary vacuum. Just stairs. And yet, to Kikko, they might as well have been an alien landscape.

It all unfolded after Kikko and her mom, Kaitlynn, moved into a two-story townhouse. Kikko had never lived with stairs before. What followed was an unexpected mix of confusion, joy, and the internet’s new favorite phrase: voiceless screams.

Kikko the black cat had never seen stairs before.

The Staircase Turns Into a Stage

In an Instagram clip shared by Kaitlynn at the end of March, Kikko doesn’t just walk on the stairs. She acts them out. She crouches, pounces, freezes. Her mouth opens in what looks like a scream, but no sound comes out—something viewers have dubbed her signature move. The now-viral video has earned thousands of amused comments, with fans joking that the staircase has become her personal cat tower or 10-foot scratching post.

One commenter declared, “She thinks they are for play,” to which Kaitlynn replied, “RIP my security deposit” PetHelpful reports.

The carpeted steps seemed to offer endless inspiration. Kikko’s claws clicked and caught as she paused dramatically mid-zoom. Every moment carried the weight of a feline trying to interpret what these new levels meant. Was it a climb? A trap? A game? Even Kaitlynn admitted she wasn’t sure what was happening—and that seemed to be part of the charm.

She opened her mouth to scream—but no sound came out.

Overstimulation or Just Pure Joy?

Some viewers offered a different perspective. “She’s stimming,” one TikTok user noted. And while stimming is a term more often associated with human behavior, it’s not out of place here. According to EnviroLiteracy, cats sometimes repeat certain behaviors—running in circles, attacking shadows, vocalizing without sound—to self-regulate when they’re overstimulated.

For indoor cats especially, novel environments can trigger a mix of excitement and uncertainty. Kikko's wide-eyed theatrics might have been her way of exploring safely in a moment of sensory overload. Or maybe she was just having the time of her life.

Some believe Kikko was overstimulated by the new environment.

The Internet Has a New Darling

Whatever the explanation, the reactions have been pure gold. Viewers flooded the video with jokes, theories, and relatable anecdotes. Some compared the stairs to a zoomies racetrack. Others shared that their own cats had similar responses the first time they encountered multiple floors.

Kaitlynn, to her credit, leaned into the absurdity. From filming Kikko’s reactions to replying to viewers’ jokes, she seems just as baffled and entertained as the rest of us. As PetHelpful put it, Kikko didn’t seem to have “the slightest idea what to use the steps for.”

@kaitlynn_stone It’s the voiceless screams for me 🫨 #help #isthisnormal #newhouse #townhome #blackcat #stairs ♬ original sound - Kaitlynn Stone 🩵

From Confusion to Confidence

For many pets, big changes like moving can be stressful. But they also bring chances to grow—yes, even for cats. Watching Kikko inch her way up the stairs, burst into a zoomie, or freeze in mock horror reminds us that discovery is always possible, even in the most ordinary places.

And now, somewhere in that two-story townhouse, a black cat named Kikko has likely mastered those stairs. Maybe she walks them like a pro. Maybe she still sprints and flails for the fun of it. Either way, it’s her stairway now.