Popular TikToker Rhegan Coursey is defending herself after other influencers accused her of malnourishing and ultimately “killing” her pet cat, Sevyn, due to neglect.
In 2023, beauty influencer Antonio Garza told a story on Larray’s podcast, ‘Put a Sock in It’, about a fellow creator who they claimed “killed their cat.”
“Neglected it,” Garza said. “And then her friends had to take it out of her house. …no one knows about that story at all.”
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The podcast went viral a year later in June 2024, leading netizens to believe the TikToker that Garza was talking about was possibly Rhegan Coursey.
Coursey has since responded to the speculation in a series of videos on TikTok, where she denied malnourishing her pet, a black cat named ‘Sevyn.’
In her first video on the subject, Coursey claimed that Sevyn got out of the ‘Go House’ content house where she was living while she was switching rooms — and as she lived in the Hollywood Hills, where there’s lots of wildlife and vegetation, Coursey assumed she’d lost her beloved pet forever.
“Keep in mind, I live with ten people,” she said. “So they would all know if I killed my cat, and none of them would hang out with me afterwards. That’s just such a big thing to say.”
Following Coursey’s video, an anonymous account on Reddit posted photos and screenshots of text messages allegedly showing Rhegan’s deceased cat, which was supposedly rescued by the influencer’s roommate at the time.
“She died loved and not alone,” one person wrote in the texts. “Maybe if we got her a week earlier, but I don’t know. I think she had something more serious.”
In another text, the roommate claimed that they “don’t think Rhegan even knows” they took the cat and that they had “left the back door open to make it seem like she ran away.” The roommate also stated that the cat was “having trouble walking” and its “hair was matted,” suggesting that the animal was sick and neglected.
“The vet said she was extremely malnourished and skinny and wasn’t fed well,” they wrote.
On June 16, Coursey posted yet another video addressing the matter, saying that during the time her cat was supposedly taken, it was ill — but not to the extent the videos and photos showed, arguing that the cat in those photos wasn’t Sevyn, at all.
“I did not malnourish Sevyn. I did not not take care of Sevyn. …people obviously didn’t like my cat being in the house, and I also obviously cared about her.
“At the end of the day, Sevyn was sick, but she wasn’t sick from me malnourishing her, and she was nowhere near the extent as to what the videos and pictures were online.”
She then uploaded another video with “evidence” that Sevyn was not the cat in the Reddit photos, showing a Snapchat of her ex-boyfriend holding the animal saying, “You gotta stop getting sick, man,” along with several other photos and videos of herself cuddling and taking care of her pet.
According to Rhegan, Sevyn simply had a cold, and she claimed she even spoke with the cat’s adoption agency about the matter, asking whether or not she should go to a vet — but the agency said the cat might just have a small cold.
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Other influencers have since spoken out about the drama, including Antonio Garza, who apologized for spreading rumors on a podcast but maintained her stance that she doesn’t believe she was lying about the situation.
“I didn’t make this up, and I don’t think I was lying,” she said. “…cats dying at such a young age, that just doesn’t happen unless something is wrong. And usually, you can tell if something is wrong with the cat way before things get that bad, and they should be taken to the vet.
“And I think, in my opinion, if that happened, that cat might still be alive today, but that didn’t happen. …I think it’s nasty.”
Another one of Rhegan’s roommates in the Go House, ‘Kauschdaddy,’ uploaded a video with his side of the story, saying that the cat didn’t “look good” during the time it went missing.
That’s not all; he also claimed that he was the one who supposedly took Sevyn from the content house.
“I did this because I knew that the cat had been sick before and was never taken to the vet,” he said. “I thought the only way for me to save it would be to take matters into my own hands and take it to the vet.”
Kausch explained that he hadn’t gone public with the information because he felt it was a situation that needed to be kept online, as well as feeling upset about having to witness the cat’s death, saying he wanted to “move on and forget about it.”
Rhegan stitched Kauch’s video with more photographs of Sevyn the night before she was allegedly taken from the house, arguing that the cat didn’t look as emaciated as he claimed and that she’d even gotten over her cold.
Rhegan also revealed that she’d been seeking legal counsel regarding the situation and lashed out at Kausch, Garza, and Hayley Sharpe, who’d also created — and then deleted — a video accusing Rhegan of malnourishing Sevyn.
“I am feeling every single negative emotion right now,” she said, fighting back tears. “Because I am finding out, just as y’all are finding out, all of this stuff about my cat. Not only that; that I was lied to, that I thought she was lost.”
Commenters are extremely divided on the situation, with some arguing in Rhegan’s favor while others refuse to believe the influencer.
“I believe her over the housemates because there’s no way this would come out years later if it was true,” one wrote.
“Why is everyone so quick to believe other photos/stories, but when Rhegan shows PROOF, it’s not valid? Makes absolutely no sense,” another said.
“I believed her at first but after seeing the pictures on Reddit, she was definitely lying,” yet another argued.
“The photos and videos are heartbreaking. Please don’t ever have another animal. You can barely take care of yourself,” another pleaded.
The situation is still ongoing, and it’s unclear if any legal ramifications will be pursued as a result of the latest information revealed by Kausch.