Soft Kitty

Soft Kitty

"Soft Kitty" is a song that Sheldon's mother used to sing to him when he was sick as a child.

The song has been sung by six characters on The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon, Penny, Mary Cooper, Leonard, and Amy. It has also been featured in the The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon.

The lyrics for "Soft Kitty", written by executive producer and co-creator Bill Prady, are: "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Little Ball of Fur. Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, Purr Purr Purr".

The song was first introduced in Season 1, Episode 11, "The Pancake Batter Anomaly", where a sick Sheldon asks Penny to sing it to him. Its final appearance was in Season 12, Episode 19, "The Inspiration Deprivation", where Sheldon sang the song to comfort Amy.

Young Sheldon

Soft Kitty has been featured in multiple episodes of Young Sheldon. It first appeared in Season 1, Episode "A Sneeze, Detention, and Sissy Spacek", where Mary sings “Soft Kitty” to a feverish Sheldon, whose extreme measures to avoid the flu ultimately failed. In a Season 2 episode, “A Tummy Ache and a Whale of a Metaphor”, Sheldon asked a hospital nurse, played by TBBT guest star Vernee Watson, if she knew the song.

When Sheldon feigned illness to get out of swim practice in the Season 3 episode, “Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib”, a guilt-ridden Sheldon heard the altered lyrics “Soft liar, warm liar Little ball of fib Happy liar, sleepy liar Fib, fib, fib” as Mary sang the song to him. In a Season 4 episode, “Training Wheels and an Unleashed Chicken”, Sheldon, whose arm was in a cast, sang the song to himself after Missy suggested he was being a baby for wanting Mary to sing it to him.

This page has been updated to episode 1224. The Stockholm Syndrome

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Soft Kitty - Featured in these episodes:

  • Season 1, Episode 11 - The Pancake Batter Anomaly

    This episode features the first mention of "Soft Kitty". When Leonard, Howard and Raj abandon Sheldon after he catches a cold ("code milky green"), Penny is left to take care of him. Sheldon asks her to sing him Soft Kitty, as his mother used to when he was sick, and so he teachers Penny the words.

  • Season 2, Episode 21 - The Vegas Renormalization

    After Sheldon is locked out of his apartment and forced to the spend the night at Penny's, he asks her to sing "Soft Kitty" to him. Penny says that's only for when he's sick, but Sheldon points out that homesick is a type of sick, so Penny relents and sings the song.

  • Season 3, Episode 8 - The Adhesive Duck Deficiency

    The roles are reserved in this episode as Sheldon must take care of an injured Penny. Following a trip to the hospital, a medicated Penny asks Sheldon to sing "Soft Kitty" to her. Sheldon initially refuses as Penny isn't sick, but she counters that injured and drugged is a kind of sick. After Sheldon relents and starts singing the song, Penny suggests they sing it as a round.

  • Season 4, Episode 2 - The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification

    After Sheldon injures himself running down the stairs with his vintage 1977 Apple Two, Sheldon sends his virtual presence device, which Penny nicknames Shel-Bot, over to her apartment. He asks her to sing "Soft Kitty" to the computer monitor. When Penny starts singing, Sheldon begins to play the tune on the recorder.

  • Season 5, Episode 6 - The Rhinitis Revelation

    After Sheldon catches a cold, Mary sings "Soft Kitty" to him as she applies VapoRub to his chest and puts him to bed.

  • Season 5, Episode 18 - The Werewolf Transformation

    As Penny tries to convince Sheldon to let her cut his hair, she points out all the things she does for him, including singing "Soft Kitty".

  • Season 6, Episode 22 - The Proton Resurgence

    In a hospital room following his health scare, Sheldon sings "Soft Kitty" to Professor Proton. When Sheldon offers to sing it for him again, Arthur tells him the fourth time was the charm.

  • Season 8, Episode 13 - The Anxiety Optimization

    After Sheldon drives himself crazy by staying up for days on end, Leonard and Penny try to put him to bed. When Sheldon tells them they can't make him go to sleep, Leonard and Penny sing "Soft Kitty" to him, at which point he falls right asleep.

  • Season 10, Episode 20 - The Recollection Dissipation

    When Sheldon finally admits he is sick and lets Amy take care of him, he gets her to sing "Soft Kitty" to him in three different languages (English, German and Mandarin) while playing an autoharp. Sheldon then asks Amy to sing the song in the Navajo language, though the episode ends before we see Amy do that.

  • Season 12, Episode 9 - The Citation Negation

    When Sheldon was feeling down about their paper being disproved, Amy offered to sing "Soft Kitty" to him.

  • Season 12, Episode 19 - The Inspiration Deprivation

    As Sheldon tries to comfort Amy after she admitted feeling like she was letting everyone down, he sings "Soft Kitty" to her.