By Eve Tawfick For Mailonline

Published: 05:21 EDT, 24 August 2022 | Updated: 06:09 EDT, 24 August 2022

A paralyzed 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'. 

Sabrina, a fitness and wellness coach, has to manually empty the cat's bladder and bowels twice a day but hopes her videos show that a disabled cat can have a good quality of life despite not having use of her back legs. 

The adorable cat has to wear a nappy and have her bowels expelled manually every day something her owner Sabrina says she 'doesn't feel' due to her paralysis 

Critics have asked why the owners keep Aoife alive, calling it 'cruel' but Sabrina insists that she has an amazing quality of life 

Sabrina, who lives in Los Angeles, USA, with her husband, James, 40, also a fitness and wellness coach have six cats after finding a passion for rescuing strays and cats in need

She has to manually expel Aoife's excrement, which she says 'doesn't hurt the cat at all,' by pushing gently on her tummy until it comes out. 

Sabrina, who lives with her husband, James, 40, also a fitness and wellness coach, and their six cats, said: 'Through the videos, people have been able to see just how loved and well looked after Aoife is. 

'There are some people who say that it's cruel to keep her alive but to that I argue why? Because she is disabled? 

'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 playing mother to five other cats, Sabrina says Aoife has settled in well at home. 

Sabrina said: 'Aoife has a hilarious, fun and feisty personality and she is definitely the boss of the house. She has a very loving home and life.' 

The tabby cat has settled in with Sabrina's five other moggies, as shown in this picture abive with another rescue cat called Sofia

Aoife uses her front paws to crawl around the couple's home in Los Angeles, and has to have her bladder and bowels manually expelled

Sabrina and James are the proud owners of six cats, including Aoife they have Pebbles, Sofia,Ellie Mae, Kevin and Peter

For Sabrina, who has always been a cat lover, adopting felines in need became a habit she could not break. 

James and Sabrina have also adopted Pebbles, a five-year-old tortoiseshell, Kevin, a four-year-old black cat, Sofia, a three-year-old calico, Ellie Mae, a white three-year-old, and Peter, a two-year-old long grey hair. 

She said: 'We already had two cats, Pebbles and Kevin, but we found Sofia on an animal shelter's webpage in May 2019 and just fell in love.

'She was a calico cat with a suspected broken leg who needed a home, so we brought her in. Then, Ellie Mae was found in the hood of a car and brought into a shelter, and we fell in love with her too, bringing her home in November 2019. 

'She was so dirty that the shelter workers thought she was grey until they washed her, and it turned out she was white.' 

After that, the couple adopted Peter, a grey long haired cat, during the pandemic. Sabrina said: 'My husband and I were stuck at home like the rest of the world. We found Peter on Instagram. 

In November 2020, James and Sabrina's heartstrings were pulled again when she came across another cat in need on an animal rescue's Instagram page. Aoife was a tabby cat, just a couple of weeks old when she was found as a stray.

Determined to give Aoife her forever home, Sabrina and James spent two months working with Aoife's foster mum to learn how to properly take care of the disabled cat. She said: 'We put in a lot of work to make sure we were fully capable of taking good care of her. Because of her paralysis, she is unable to use the litter box so she wears a diaper and we have to manually express her bowels and bladder twice a day.'

Sabrina admitted: 'I never expected that so many people would see the videos of Aoife that I started making after bringing her home. Seeing the nice comments from people who love watching her makes my day.'

'We just thought he was really cute and he became a Covid baby.' 

But in November 2020, James and Sabrina's heartstrings were pulled again when she came across another cat in need on an animal rescue's Instagram page. 

Aoife was a tabby cat, just a couple of weeks old when she was found as a stray.

Sabrina said: 'Her lower half is completely paralysed which means she can't use her back legs. We don't know how she became paralysed but we hope she was born that way. 

'She was two weeks old when she was first found and it's a miracle she'd survived that long without help.' 

Determined to give Aoife her forever home, Sabrina and James spent two months working with Aoife's foster mum to learn how to properly take care of the disabled cat.

She said: 'We put in a lot of work to make sure we were fully capable of taking good care of her. Because of her paralysis, she is unable to use the litter box so she wears a diaper and we have to manually express her bowels and bladder twice a day. 

Kit-mas! Sabrina and James in a festive  card with all of their cats at Christmas, complete with cat sized Santa costumes

'At first, I didn't think I'd be able to do it but, with practice, it's second nature and only takes a few seconds at a time to do. We just fell in love with that little kitten and were willing to do what it took to bring her home with us.' 

Once in the morning and once in the evening, Sabrina lays food out on a specially built changing table to distract Aoife while she presses down on her belly. 

She said: 'Aoife has no feeling in her belly so it doesn't hurt her. You can actually feel where the poop is and you just press down to push it out. It's not as gross as you may think, it's no more gross than another cat using a litter tray. It's just a routine task we need to do for her.' 

But Sabrina says she felt the weight of responsibility when Aoife was first brought home. 

She said: 'Her foster mum already had a following on social media and there were people who were following along with Aoife's journey. Some of them were annoyed that Aoife had even been allowed to be adopted as they were skeptical as to whether James and I were capable- I felt like we had to prove ourselves.'

Setting up Aoife's own Instagram, @purrfectlyaoife, Sabrina started to document the cat's life at home. 

Now, Aoife's Instagram has 59k followers with her most viewed video reaching 73 million views.

'It's incredible that so many people are getting to be part of Aoife's journey,' said Sabrina. 'She's a very special cat and we could not imagine life without her now. 'Not only has she stolen our hearts but also the hearts of millions of people.' 

She admitted: 'I never expected that so many people would see the videos of Aoife that I started making after bringing her home. Seeing the nice comments from people who love watching her makes my day.'

The comments below have not been moderated.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.

Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?

Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group