If adopting is an act of love, taking home an animal with special needs is something that transcends this feeling.
A pᴀʀᴀʟʏᴢᴇᴅ cat who wears a nappy and uses her front paws to get around has become a viral sensation with 73 million video views after she was rescued at two weeks old.
Aoife, a two-year-old tabby cat, boasts 59,0000 followers on Instagram and her owner, Sabrina de Matteo, 45, from Los Angeles, California, said the feline has ‘stolen the hearts of millions of people. The kitten was spotted on Instagram by two incredible humans, Sabrina and James. They immediately fell in love with the animal and decided to bring her into their family. However, Aoife is not a usual cat. She was born with a ᴍᴀɴɢʟᴇᴅ ᴘᴇʟᴠɪs and has severe hip dysplasia. Due to her spinal ᴅᴇꜰᴏʀᴍɪᴛɪᴇs, she is also incontinent and has to wear a diaper.
Sabrina, a fitness and wellness coach, has to manually empty the cat’s ʙʟᴀᴅᴅᴇʀ and bowels twice a day but hopes her videos show that a ᴅᴇꜰᴏʀᴍɪᴛɪᴇs cat can have a good quality of life despite not having use of her back legs.
‘There are some people who say that it’s cruel to keep her alive but to that, I argue why? Because she is ᴅɪsᴀʙʟᴇᴅ?
‘Aoife is not in pain – she is very happy. You just have to look at the videos to see that. Her needs may be different than other cats but her life has worth.’
Despite her pᴀʀᴀʟʏ, Aoife has a good quality of life and has already become a viral sensation with more than 60k followers on Instagram!
