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

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

Her owner, Sabrina de Matteo from Los Angeles, California, said the cat has “stolen the hearts of millions of people.”

The tabby cat can’t use her back legs.

“We don’t know how she became paralyzed, but we hope she was born that way,” de Matteo said. The 45-year-old fitness and wellness coach has to manually empty the cat’s bladder and bowels twice a day, which she says “doesn’t hurt the cat at all.”

A post shared by Aoife- Disabled Animal Account 💕 (@purrfectlyaoife)

A post shared by Aoife- Disabled Animal Account 💕 (@purrfectlyaoife)

“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,” de Matteo said. “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.”

de Matteo lays food out for Aoife on a specially built changing table to distract the cat while she presses down on her stomach.

“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,” she said. “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.”

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

De Matteo wants her videos to show that a disabled cat can still live a quality life without having to use her back legs.

“Through the videos, people have been able to see just how loved and well looked after Aoife is,” she said.

However, not everyone who comes across Aoife is so nice — some people argue that it’s “cruel” to keep the cat alive.

“Aoife is not in pain – she is very happy. You just have to look at the videos to see that,” de Matteo argued. “Her needs may be different than other cats but her life has worth.”

A post shared by Aoife- Disabled Animal Account 💕 (@purrfectlyaoife)

De Matteo and James have five other cats in their home, but say Aoife’s personality trumps all the others.

“Aoife has a hilarious, fun and feisty personality, and she is definitely the boss of the house,” she said, admitting that adopting cats in need has become a habit that she can’t break.

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

“We already had two cats, Pebbles and Kevin, but we found Sofia on an animal shelter’s web page in May 2019 and just fell in love,” de Matteo said. “She was a calico cat with a suspected broken leg who needed a home, so we brought her in.”

They brought Ellie Mae home in November 2019 after the cat was found in the hood of a car and brought into a shelter. De Matteo and James adopted Peter during the pandemic. 

“My husband and I were stuck at home like the rest of the world,” de Matteo said. “We found Peter on Instagram. We just thought he was really cute, and he became a COVID baby.”

In November 2020, the two came across Aoife on an animal rescue’s Instagram page, and they fell in love. 

“She was 2 weeks old when she was first found, and it’s a miracle she’d survived that long without help,” de Matteo said.

De Matteo and James worked with Aoife’s foster mom to learn how to properly take care of her and give her a loving home. 

“We put in a lot of work to make sure we were fully capable of taking good care of her,” de Matteo said. “We just fell in love with that little kitten and were willing to do what it took to bring her home with us.”

When the couple first brought Aoife home, de Matteo said she felt a weight of responsibility to let people follow along with Aoife’s life since her foster mom already had a social media presence.

“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,” de Matteo shared. “I felt like we had to prove ourselves.”

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

“It’s incredible that so many people are getting to be part of Aoife’s journey,” de Matteo said. “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.”