When Pixel was around a year old, his mom began to notice that he was a bit more expressive than most cats. He always seemed to have a smile on his face, and that adorable smile was pretty contagious. He also seemed to love to be photographed, and that, paired with his smile, proved to be the best combination ever.

“[He] would smile and make other hilarious faces whenever I tried to take photos of him,” Alyson Kalhagen, Pixel’s mom, told The Dodo. “At first, I wanted to sort of showcase his more elegant, ‘fancy’ side, so I wasn’t going for the funny expressions at all, but I decided that I may as well start sharing his silly photos too, and that sort of got us to where we are now.”

As soon as Kalhagen started sharing photos of Pixel’s adorable smile, everyone quickly fell in love with him, and rightfully so. Now, Pixel is known across the internet for his goofy smile, which just means he gets to do more photoshoots, which he absolutely loves.

While the general consensus is that Pixel is perfect, everyone has a slightly different reaction to him and his smile, and his mom loves seeing the joy, and sometimes confusion, he brings to people across the world.

“People have a variety of reactions to Pixel, but most commonly they say things like, ‘He’s so ugly he’s cute!’ or ‘He looks like a bat!’ Overall, the reactions are positive, although some people see his expressions as an unsettling or creepy thing,” Kalhagen said. “A few people have mentioned thinking that he was evil or possessed, but in reality, he is just a very expressive kitty who wants a bite of chicken!”

Pixel, of course, has no idea about any of this. He doesn’t know that people love his smile or think he looks like an adorable little bat. All he knows is that he loves to pose for the camera, get treats and flash his smile at the people he loves, and that’s really all he needs.