How to Make the La Calabaza Dancing Pet Video From One Photo
The La Calabaza dancing cats trend step by step: which pet photo to use, what happens in the 14 seconds, the hat and glasses, the sound and the price.
Three tiny kittens sit by a road at night, stand up on their hind legs and dance in perfect sync to "La Calabaza" ("The Pumpkin"), one in a little cowboy hat, one in round glasses. It is the dancing-cats meme of autumn 2026, and with Halloween on 31 October the pumpkin song is everywhere. Here is how to turn all three dancers into your own cat or dog from one photo, without a prompt or an editing app.
1Upload a photo of your pet
JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC · under 20 MB0/1 photos
Photos that work best
- Clear, whole body
- Screenshots, stickers
- Head only
- Too dark or blurry
- 14 s video
- 9:16, like the original
- Original song available
- No watermark
2Version
By making a video, you confirm you own these photos or have permission from everyone in them, and they don't show celebrities or anyone under 18.
Renders in about 5–10 minutes. We email you the link. Automatic refund if the photo is rejected or the render fails.
What is the La Calabaza trend?
The kittens in the original are AI-made. An AI kitten account posted a trio of kittens dancing by a road on 28 June 2026, and on 27 August 2026 posted them again in a cowboy hat and round glasses, dancing to "La Calabaza". A green-screen copy went up the next day, and its sound is the one most videos now use. Then everyone joined: people pasted the kittens over their own dance videos, did the dance themselves, and turned the trio into their own pets with AI; a dachshund version posted on 9 September 2026 is one of the best known. The La Calabaza Dance template follows the original clip, so the stand-up, the sync dance and the turn land on the same beats, and all three dancers become your pet.
How to make it
- Open the La Calabaza Dance template.
- Add one pet photo: one cat or dog, whole body if you can, face clearly visible, in good light.
- Pick a version and generate. Every version renders the whole 14-second clip.
- Download the MP4 or share it to TikTok, Reels or Shorts. The trend sound is already on it.
What happens in the video
- 0–2.5 s: three of your pet sit hunched by the curb, heads down, as the camera creeps in.
- 2.5–4 s: they look up, stand on their hind legs and lift their front paws. The middle one lets out a little meow.
- 4–9 s: the sync dance, a side-to-side sway with paws held out, in step with each other, as the camera moves closer.
- 9–14 s: all three turn their backs, turn round again and keep dancing; the clip ends close on the one in the hat.
The video is 14 seconds long, a vertical 9:16 MP4 with the trend sound, ready for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
The hat and the glasses
Like the original, the middle dancer wears the little black cowboy hat, the one on the right wears round glasses and the one on the left wears nothing. All three keep your pet's fur, markings and face, and their paws stay paws.
Photos that work best
- Show the whole body. A photo of your pet standing or sitting, whole body in frame, gives the dance the right shape.
- Face sharp and forward. Eyes and nose clearly visible, so all three copies look like your pet.
- Bright, even light. Daylight or a well-lit room keeps fur colour and markings right under the street lamps.
- One animal per photo. Crop group shots to the one pet you mean; two animals in one photo can blend.
- Pets only. Cats, dogs and other animals work; a photo of a person would look odd as a small dancer on its hind legs.
What does it cost?
Balanced is 10 credits at 480p and 25 at 720p. Premium is 25 credits at 480p, 55 at 720p and 95 at 1080p, and your account's first full 480p video costs just 20 credits. Without an account, one video starts at $7.99. No watermark, and failed renders are refunded automatically. Your photo is deleted 30 days after the video is made.
More on La Calabaza: La Calabaza CapCut template vs AI · can you make it for free?