The life of a stray cat is rife with challenges. They usually have no access to the care they sometimes need. This was the case for Mau Mau, a cartoon-like feline with numerous issues. Fortunately, an animal association intervened to help her and a veterinary assistant later adopted the kitten.
Prior to her rescue, Mau Mau lived in a colony of stray cats close to a factory in Norfolk, England. The moggy was saved from a life of squalor by the association Feline Care Cat Rescue.
Mau Mau had quirky features and malformations, which gave her a cartoon-like appearance. For example, as the feline lacked front teeth, her tongue subsequently hung out of her mouth.
Besides, she was unable to close her eyelids due to an issue with her eyes. She could only blink because of a nictitating membrane. The nictitating membrane is some animals’ transparent or translucent third eyelid.
Feline Care Cat Rescue thought the cat would struggle outdoors and was better off living in a home for all those reasons.
Off the streets
Mau Mau needed some time to adapt to her new life. The kitten was not accustomed to being indoors, surrounded by strangers. But Mau Mau eventually emerged from her cocoon thanks to the kindness and persistence of the shelter’s staff. They were all enamored with her anime face.
 A shelter employee told Love Meow:
“Every time I see a picture of Mau Mau, I wonder if she’s half cat and half cartoon.”
While in the shelter, Mau Mau captured the attention of veterinary assistant Amelia. As someone who had owned kittens her entire life and worked in a vet’s clinic, Amelia couldn’t wait to meet the cartoon cat. The vet assistant said to Love meow:
“I went and met her the next week and fell in love with her. She looked even tinier as she sat in her room and meowed at me before I went in,”
Mau Mau, the cartoon cat thrives
If Mau Mau was hiding under her owner’s bed at first, it didn’t take long for her to start exploring her new home from top to bottom. Furthermore, the feline displayed playful and cuddly traits, but only when she felt like it. Amelia admitted:
“She is a little cat with a huge personality, very headstrong, and will happily ignore me.”
Nowadays, three-year-old Mau Mau enjoys her life as an indoor cat and all the resulting benefits. Despite her lack of coordination, Mau Mau oozes confidence and goes about her day without worrying about the world.
Amelia, for her part, is ecstatic to have her in the house. Moreover, Mau Mau has amassed quite the following online. Her Instagram account boasts more than 125,000 followers.
Fans even give the black-and-white puss personal drawings. Thus, the cat has become an authentic feline influencer. Her internet handle? The cartoon cat, of course.