Owner nearly abandons vacation after spotting heartbreaking footage on his pet cam

Unlike unruly teenagers, you may not have to worry about your feline or dog throwing a party when you're gone, but you may have to deal with the guilt you feel after spotting them in the pet camera.

Being a dog or cat mom is no easy feat. Sure, they may not answer back or host ragers in your house when you're away, but you can't exactly drop them off at daycare or get a breather from them, your animal's whole world revolving completely around you.

Granted, this is amazing and the love compares to no other, but it does make it even more heart-wrenching when you do part ways and go away for a while, particularly if you dare catch a glimpse of how they're doing in your absence like this cat dad did when he went on vacation.

Prepare to never think about buying a pet camera again - or ever going on holiday again, it could go either way.

Introducing Pawl the Cat, the star of a TikTok account called @acatnamedpawl following his many exploits for viewers on social media.

Last year, Pawl's owners went away on vacation and left him largely alone in the house - although they made sure that people were dropping in every day to check on him.

They also installed pet cams in the house so they could keep an eye on what he was up to while they were away and one clip of Pawl holding a fish toy and meowing forlornly ended up racking up some 12.1 million views - and you can see why.

Owner Jonah told Newsweek: "I found Pawl about four years ago. I had been living in an apartment on the ground floor for about a week and then a kitten showed up and started scratching at my window. We've been best friends ever since.

"When we go on vacation we have babysitters to watch Pawl, but also always set up cameras to make sure he's doing okay.

"Typically it's a lot of him just laying around, or looking out the window looking at birds.

"This time when we checked the cameras it was Pawl roaming around the apartment with his fish making the saddest meows we've ever heard."

Jonah added: "We're going to start practicing going in the car with Pawl to see how he handles road trips. He does already go for stroller rides and walks.

"Most mornings I actually wake up the fish in front of my bedroom door because Pawls brings it to me every night. I like to think it's his way of showing he's thinking about me."

Viewers were left devastated by just how cute and adorable Pawl was, and took to the comments to share their views.

One wrote: "My cat does the same thing carrying out his stuffed fish! We call it his emotional support fish."

Another said that they should get a friend for Pawl, writing: "See this is why I got my cat and friend and she had the nerve to hate him."

And a third simply wrote: "I literally would’ve turned around."