Optical illusions can be quite mind-bending and fun to look at. That’s exactly what this Reddit user from Bavaria, Germany, i_spin_bubbles, captured while photographing his adorable cat. In the photo, it looks like his cat has lost its head in a basket. The illusion photo has gathered up over 10k upvotes and many comments are quite amusing, while others are just confused and wondering how this happened.

Apparently, the secret is that there is not one, but two cute cats in the photo: one named Koda, lying in the basket, and the other named Lilly, turned away. We talked with the owner and he told us more about the cats and their story.

More info: reddit.com

“One head in, one head out. Cat complete,” wrote the user i_spin_bubbles in his Reddit post

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

The Reddit user said that he didn’t realize that he’d captured an eye trick until he saw the interesting photo himself: “I just took pictures of both of them playing. When I saw the captured picture, I saw the illusion. I didn’t expect for the cat photo to become a meme and thus so widely known. I was just hoping for people on /r/aww to like it.”

Here’s what the community of Reddit had to say

Image credits: Data-Minor

Image credits: YYCchatterbox

Image credits: BunnyBunnyBunnyBoy

Image credits: Aliveleopard9

Image credits: Justsomebeigli

There were lots of memes created from this picture. The owner said that he really enjoys them: “I really liked the beheading history meme. Fun fact: The cats were born near the French border.”

This is Koda and Lilly, the two kitties responsible for the confusing photo

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

Koda was the one chilling in the basket and Lilly was turned away

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

“My parents always had cats so I really missed having cats of my own. I told my sister I wanted cats, and her cat (also Lilly) hadn’t been sterilized yet. However, she had a miscarriage, so my sister got these two for me from a nearby farm. They were 10 weeks old. The first week, they were with my sister and their new ‘mama’ Lilly. After that week, I had time to collect them. That Lilly was one of the reasons I wanted a third cat, and why I wanted her to be three-colored as well.”

The Reddit user always wanted to have cats, so decided to get three—Koda, Miez, and Lilly

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

The owner shared more information about the cats and their relationship: “Lilly and Koda get along really well, better than I expected. Miez accepts Lilly, though she’s still too active for her taste.” He said that he’s not planning on getting any more cats: “Three cats is enough, especially since they can’t roam outside. I live in a city center with cars all around, that would be way too risky to let them outside. That’s why I built a ton of cat trees.”

Lilly was the third cat the user got and she had a leg injury with a fever when he got her, but Lilly soon got better

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

“I set up an ad looking for a young female cat, and a few days later, I got a reply with a cat named Lilly, who didn’t get along well with their male cat. She had a leg injury and seemed to have gotten an infection (she had a fever). That’s why I went to the vet, where I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the immunization card: She was born on the same day as my brother, who died 20 years ago.”

Here’s the whole family taking a nap together

Image credits: i_spin_bubbles

The owner also wanted to share a message with our readers: “I would love for people not to get young cats just because they are cute or because they think they’re less work than a dog. Cats are very social animals despite their reputation and need all the attention they can get.”

If you want to see some more similar posts about animal optical illusions, click here, here, and here!

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