Paralyzed diaper-wearing cat goes viral after adoption

Paralyzed diaper-wearing cat goes viral after adoption

A paralyzed cat who wears a diaper and crawls on her front paws has gone viral.

Aoife, a 2-yr-old tabby kitty, has 59,000 followers on Instagram, and her most-viewed online video has racked up 73.3 million pairs of eyes.

Her operator, Sabrina de Matteo from Los Angeles, California, explained the cat has “stolen the hearts of hundreds of thousands of folks.”

The tabby cat just can’t use her back again legs.

“We never know how she became paralyzed, but we hope she was born that way,” de Matteo claimed. The 45-year-aged exercise and wellness coach has to manually empty the cat’s bladder and bowels two times a working day, which she says “doesn’t hurt the cat at all.”

“Because of her paralysis, she is unable to use the litter box, so she wears a diaper, and we have to manually categorical her bowels and bladder two times a working day,” de Matteo claimed. “At first, I didn’t feel I’d be capable to do it but, with apply, it is second mother nature and only takes a couple seconds at a time to do.”

de Matteo lays foodstuff out for Aoife on a specially created shifting desk to distract the cat though she presses down on her abdomen.

“Aoife has no sensation in her stomach, so it doesn’t hurt her. You can basically come to feel where the poop is and you just press down to press it out,” she said. “It’s not as gross as you may perhaps imagine. It’s no a lot more gross than another cat utilizing a litter tray. It’s just a plan process we require to do for her.”

aoife paralyzed cat
The tabby cat’s lower 50 {95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} is totally paralyzed, and she simply cannot use her back legs.
Instagram/purrfectlyaoife

De Matteo and her husband James, 40, rescued Aoife at 2 weeks aged in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2020.

De Matteo needs her video clips to present that a disabled cat can still live a high quality daily life without having possessing to use her back again legs.

“Through the movies, persons have been capable to see just how cherished and effectively appeared just after Aoife is,” she reported.

However, not anyone who arrives throughout Aoife is so good — some people today argue that it’s “cruel” to keep the cat alive.

“Aoife is not in soreness – she is pretty delighted. You just have to appear at the films to see that,” de Matteo argued. “Her requirements could be diverse than other cats but her lifestyle has well worth.”

aoife
In November 2020, the pair came throughout Aoife on an animal rescue’s Instagram website page, and they fell in like. 
Instagram/purrfectlyaoife

De Matteo and James have 5 other cats in their dwelling, but say Aoife’s character trumps all the many others.

“Aoife has a hilarious, pleasurable and feisty identity, and she is undoubtedly the manager of the property,” she claimed, admitting that adopting cats in want has turn into a behavior that she cannot crack.

The couple also adopted Pebbles, a 5-yr-aged tortoiseshell, Kevin, a 4-calendar year-aged black cat, Sofia, a 3-year-previous calico, Ellie Mae, a white 3-yr-old, and Peter, a 2-calendar year-aged very long gray hair.

“We already had two cats, Pebbles and Kevin, but we identified Sofia on an animal shelter’s world wide web web page in Could 2019 and just fell in enjoy,” de Matteo said. “She was a calico cat with a suspected broken leg who essential a household, so we brought her in.”

They introduced Ellie Mae household in November 2019 following the cat was uncovered in the hood of a vehicle and brought into a shelter. De Matteo and James adopted Peter through the pandemic. 

aoife cat
De Matteo established up Aoife’s have Instagram account, which has a significant pursuing. 
Instagram/purrfectlyaoife

“My partner and I were being trapped at home like the rest of the world,” de Matteo claimed. “We discovered Peter on Instagram. We just imagined he was truly adorable, and he became a COVID child.”

In November 2020, the two came throughout Aoife on an animal rescue’s Instagram web site, and they fell in really like. 

“She was 2 months previous when she was 1st identified, and it’s a wonder she’d survived that lengthy devoid of aid,” de Matteo explained.

De Matteo and James worked with Aoife’s foster mother to find out how to correctly acquire care of her and give her a loving dwelling. 

“We put in a whole lot of do the job to make positive we were completely able of having good care of her,” de Matteo reported. “We just fell in really like with that small kitten and had been eager to do what it took to provide her household with us.”

When the couple to start with introduced Aoife dwelling, de Matteo stated she felt a bodyweight of duty to let men and women follow along with Aoife’s lifestyle since her foster mother now had a social media presence.

“Some of them had been annoyed that Aoife had even been permitted to be adopted as they were skeptical as to no matter if James and I were being capable,” de Matteo shared. “I felt like we had to prove ourselves.”

aoife cat
De Matteo and James worked with Aoife’s foster mom to understand how to thoroughly get treatment of her and give her a loving home. 
Instagram/purrfectlyaoife

De Matteo set up Aoife’s personal Instagram account — and the kitty’s profession as a social media influencer was born.

“It’s remarkable that so a lot of persons are obtaining to be part of Aoife’s journey,” de Matteo claimed. “She’s a pretty specific cat, and we could not consider life with no her now. Not only has she stolen our hearts but also the hearts of thousands and thousands of folks.”