The 10-week-old Persian cat is a handful of persona
When Dominique Amerosa, president of the Rags to Riches Animal Rescue, got a call about a stray Persian cat in her Tampa, Florida, neighborhood, she thought it was business as usual with a neutered male. The veterinarian even confirmed the sex of the cat at a vaccination appointment. But then three weeks later, the cat — now known as Gertrude — “had a little Wisp.”
Wisp, a nearly 10-week-old Persian cat who is known for her unique appearance and chatty personality, has gained almost 800,000 followers and over 50 million likes on TikTok.
Some have referred to her as “scrungly.” Others, a used napkin. “She looks like she just woke up or like she’s a mad scientist,” Amerosa provides. “Which is pretty typical of Persians around that age.”
However, Wisp’s adorably matted look will get some assist from her weight loss program. “She’s only able to have a watered down slurry, so she’s constantly shoving her face in food,” Amerosa tells PEOPLE, leading to Wisp’s white fur being stained orange round her mouth.
Wisp spends her days having fun with bottled water and enjoyable in Amerosa’s care on the Rags to Riches Animal Rescue alongside six foster dogs and some fostered kittens (In whole the rescue oversees over 60 cats and near 30 dogs).
While Gertrude “doesn’t socialize too much with Wisp,” Lilac, a cat the rescue saved from an interstate, who normally “hates cats,” has taken a liking to Wisp. “I catch her going into Wisp’s little enclosure and grooming her.”
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Amerosa recalled that others at the rescue encouraged her to make a TikTok dedicated to the organization. “I made it, and then I posted Wisp screaming for food, and I went to sleep,” she tells PEOPLE. “I woke up and I had, like, over 200,000 followers. All these comments, all these new followers on Instagram.”
“All of our animals are very cute, but she is hilarious,” Amerosa says of the talkative kitten. “I’m joyful to share how she is. How spunky and sassy.”
Wisp’s huge persona helps her within the face of challenges, like an intestinal stricture which “closes the proper way to poop, so she has a really hard time getting poop out of her.”
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While she struggles with this medical condition, the Rags to Riches Animal Rescue takes Wisp to veterinarians to help care for the kitten.
Amerosa tells PEOPLE she’s obtained a ballooning, a process which stretches out the colon, and can most likely proceed to wish a couple of extra all through her life. Amerosa provides that she’s going to doubtless not want larger medical interventions, corresponding to surgical procedure.
“A lot of people don’t understand disabled animals,” Amerosa tells PEOPLE. “If you’re in it for the long haul and you feel passionate about saving an animal, there’s plenty of resources to get the care you need.”
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“We’ll fight when they want to fight and when they’re done, we’ll throw the towel in with them,” Amerosa provides, citing calls from social media critics to euthanize Wisp. “We’ll never put them through anything they could not go through.”
Wisp, she provides, “was positively a fighter.”
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