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A psychic cat has correctly predicted the winning teams of all 19 World Cup matches.
One-year-old British shorthair Billy has predicted the winners of all the matches that did not end in a draw so far in the tournament, much to the delight of owners Linka Lin, 33, and Mark Kelly, 35.
Since the start of the tournament in America, Linka has been presenting Billy with flags for the two countries of each match, and Billy picks his winner with his paw.
So far, he is yet to get a prediction wrong – correctly predicting last night’s win for Argentina against Austria.
Linka, from Newry, County Down, Ireland, said, “As a cat he doesn’t seem to be bothered that he’s an online influencer.
“To us he’s still our cat, still Billy.
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“Of course people have different interpretations of the videos online but we’re very happy to give such a feeling and boost of confidence for people and a feeling of safety and comfort to see some of the results ahead of time.
“Of course, it’s going to be harder and harder to get it right with time and the level of expectation will be heavier but I’m pretty confident he can handle that.
“I guess he probably will find it surprising he has had more treats lately than ever.”
Linka adopted Billy when he was three months old from charity USPCA, nicknaming him Billy Heartnose because of the unique markings on his nose.
“I guess we realized he’s very vocal about communicating what he needs,” she said.
“He communicates with different body language and meows to let us know if he wants something.”
Billy will walk Linka to the door if he wants to go outside or wants a treat.
She said, “We know Billy is very very smart and we were thinking, ‘How can we capture his personality and smartness?’
“We started with Billy doing the ‘this and that’ quiz – asking if he prefers Pepsi or Coke, or rice or noodles.
“And then also I came home from an event with lots of little flags with me and I was trying to play with him and the different flags.
“It just so happened the World Cup had started so we thought, ‘Why not?’
“We didn’t expect some of the videos to get picked up by people online.”
Linka says Billy can sometimes make his predictions very quickly, whereas others he takes some time to think.
“There was one incident where the whole thing was interrupted as there was a fly in the house and he couldn’t concentrate,” she said.
“It’s very positive and encouraging reactions online and we’ve had a lot of really kind messages.
“Sometimes Billy will pick a country people don’t want and they will comment saying, ‘I forgive you, you’re really cute.’
“There were some borderline threatening comments like, ‘You better [not] be right,’ but overwhelmingly it’s been very good.
“We find there are sweet interactions followed by chatting amongst themselves especially between Scottish and English fans.”
Billy shares his predictions @billy_heartnose on Instagram and tunes in to watch the action.
Billy’s correct predictions so far:
Mexico vs South Africa
Winner: Mexico
South Korea vs Czech Republic
Winner: South Korea
USA vs Paraguay
Winner: USA
Scotland vs Haiti
Winner: Scotland
Sweden vs Tunisia
Winner: Sweden
England vs Croatia
Winner: England
USA vs Australia
Winner: USA
France vs Senegal
Winner: France
Norway vs Iraq
Winner: Norway
Colombia vs Uzbekistan
Winner: Colombia
Germany vs Ivory Coast
Winner: Germany
Japan vs Tunisia
Winner: Japan
Argentina vs Austria
Winner: Argentina
English (US)