Ruby the cat wore a pink dress for prom photographs with Maryland teenager Sam Steingard. The pictures went viral, but the cat did not actually accompany him to the dance.
That distinction comes from Inside Edition’s 2016 interview with his sister Caroline.
A family joke became a photo session
Sam, from Germantown, had not planned to take a date to his 2015 prom. His mother suggested pictures with Ruby instead and supplied an outfit for the cat.
The photographs show Sam holding Ruby in formal clothes. Caroline shared the images online the following year, bringing a private family moment to a much larger audience.
The family had taken Ruby in after Caroline found her as a stray near a Ruby Tuesday restaurant, which inspired her name.
What the photographs show
The appeal came from the coordinated pink outfits and Ruby looking toward Sam. Descriptions of a devoted “prom date” were affectionate shorthand.
Some headlines went further and said he brought the cat to prom. The family interview explicitly says he did not.
The fuller story is just as charming: a student agreed to an unconventional family photograph, a rescued cat became its unexpected star and a year later the internet discovered the pictures.