Cashnip is an office cat at GuRuStu, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company adopted Cashnip, and originally called him Sir Whines a Lot, from the Tulsa Animal Shelter when he was 6 months old. He quickly became a member of their family, but recently, office workers noticed a stash of dollar bills by the door, and they couldn’t figure out where it came from, until finally it clicked.
Passersby would dangle a dollar bill between the doors for Cashnip to play with, and Cashnip would snatch the money up. The leading theory is that young people on nights out started the trend by playing tug of war with the cat and their money. When other people saw the bills on the floor, they joined in.
So the team decided to put Cashnip’s talent to good use, and donate his earnings to the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless. They’ve even put a sign on the door to encourage people who walk by. The sign reads: Warning: Kitty will snatch your money if you slide it through the door slot. Kitty donates all funds to the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless. Kitty says, “Slide a dollar through the slot and great blessings will follow.”
He’s raised over $150 so far. Now that’s a charitable cat.
Cashnip’s charitable efforts have been appreciated online. On Facebook, a page that promotes his selflessness has gained over 17K follows. The page also has the rarest of things: a 5.0 score from people voting on the quality of the business. To date, over 344 people have given the page 5 stars, 7 people have given it 4 stars and 1 bizarre person has given it 2 stars. Videos on the page often go viral. For example, a 30 second video of Cashnip grappling over a $1 bill has been viewed over 361K times.
Cashnip is also becoming an established brand. On the cat’s website, people can buy a range of merchandise, including Cashnip hoodies, Cashnip mugs, Cashnip mouse pads, Cashnip tote bags and more. Additionally, if you’re not in the Tulsa area but want to help Cashnip’s cause anyway, there’s a page where you can make donations too.
Unsurprisingly, given that cats and selfless feats of giving always do well online, Cashnip has been featured in a range of media outlets. The Dodo, ABC News, Fox, Bored Panda and more have all profiled this incredible animal.
Usually, there’s nothing unusual about a cat going viral online, but in this instance, it’s incredible to see how this one is both having fun and helping those in need!
As crazy as it may seem, Cashnip isn’t the first instance of an animal being trained to use money in some form. In 2005, a study appeared in the New York Times that demonstrated that researchers were able to make seven capuchin monkeys understand and use money in exchange for goods and services. Sadly, the monkeys did not give their money to any noble causes; the study stated that instead the monkeys mostly used it to buy food and sex from each other.