Cat becomes employee of the year after being adopted by Home Depot store

A cat named Leo has gone viral on TikTok after it was revealed he’d been adopted by a Home Depot store in New Jersey which now serves as his new home. Here’s everything you need to know.

Leo is a domesticated shop cat who’s made a home out of Home Depot in Burlington, New Jersey. He’s become quite the star on TikTok where a man called Jeff tells viewers all about how he’d been adopted to live in the Home Depot store permanently.

It’s now been revealed that Leo has been named employee of the year at the store as he constantly entertains customers with his presence while also hunting mice and birds that find their way into the store.

Viewers love the story and are constantly asking more questions about the cat and his unique living situation.

Here’s everything we know about Leo, the Home Depot cat, and how he ended up being a permanent resident in a New Jersey Home Depot.

Who is Leo the cat?

Leo rose to fame after a man named Jeff (@cat_dad_2020) first posted about him on TikTok. Being no stranger to sharing posts about his own cats as well as others, Jeff began sharing several videos about Leo, who has appropriately been dubbed the Home Depot Cat.

Jeff told his 378,000 followers that Leo was rescued from an animal shelter and had been a barn cat before arriving at the shelter.

Leo can typically be spotted wandering the store and holing up in some of his favorite spots across the show floor. These spots include the top shelves, on top of a worker’s drawer between aisles, and even amongst the succulents in the plant section. He also loves getting attention from shoppers.

Leo even has a whole routine set up. Every night, he is placed in the garden center part of the store by whoever is on duty at the time. He gets locked in there with everything he needs, including fresh water and food. Some workers are even responsible for cleaning his litter box every day.

Though everyone in the store is happy to care for him, his “primary caregiver” is a worker named Donna. According to another one of Jeff’s TikToks, Donna takes Leo to vet appointments and keeps track of his health. Donna also picks out Leo’s food and gets him water.

Unfortunately, he may have proven to be too popular. In one TikTok, Jeff revealed that Leo has nearly been cat-napped on multiple occasions. Luckily, they’ve been stopped at practically every turn.

He now has an AirTag on his collar which prevents him from being kidnapped or from escaping. Although, according to Jeff, Leo has too much to focus on with the sleeping and keeping the store in check from having any interest in leaving.