She Started Out By Sharing Photos of The Tiny Disabled Kitten Named Tater Tot That She Was Fostering, And His Story of Resilience Inspired People Across The World
Have you been seeing that viral image of a small, adorable, yet disgruntled kitten wearing two brightly colored casts?
That would be none other than Tater Tot, the rescue kitten that stole the hearts of millions online.
Kitty CrusAIDe is a cat rescue and adoption organization based in Utah that rescues, rehabilitates, neuters and finds loving homes for cats all over the state. They’re very active on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok and recently went viral after documenting the journey of little Tater Tot.
Tater Tot was a tiny orange kitten who was found in the wild after being discovered by one of the organization’s volunteer dogs, Bebe, the Newfoundland mix. Bebe’s owner then took Tater Tot to his foster mom, Ash Houghton, one of the co-directors of Kitty CrusAIDe.
Immediately, Ash noticed that all four of Tater Tot’s legs were malformed, and he had a cleft palate, making it difficult to feed him milk.
No one at Kitty CrusAIDe had ever cared for a kitten with a cleft palate before, but after some trial and error, Ash discovered she could successfully feed Tater Tot using a small tube.
Then, she had to figure out what to do with his legs. When Tater Tot was taken to a veterinarian, they put teeny little braces that looked like casts on his front legs to straighten them out slowly. Ash cleverly calls the casts his ‘bonkers.’
That’s when Ash took the famous photo of Tater Tot looking grumpy with his tiny pink and blue casts, which went extremely viral and gained their organization a lot of followers who were desperate to get updates on his health.
Since the first photo of Tater Tot went viral, Ash and Kitty CrusAIDe continued posting awesome updates on his progress, even making action movie trailer-style videos portraying him as a superhero.
leungchopan – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Very sadly, on August 2nd, Ashley took to Instagram to announce that Tater Tot had sadly passed away.
“Today, our tiny spud, passed away suddenly in my hands,” Ashley explained. “His energy has been slowly decreasing over the last week or so, and with how sudden his passing was today, I truly think he had an enlarged heart, and it couldn’t keep up with him. One moment he was walking around, and the next, he was gone.”
Ashley mentioned that Tater Tot not only had an enormous impact on her but also on people across the globe.
“What started as me sharing some photos of the goofy new foster I had turned into an entire community focused on kindness, humor, and compassion,” she said.
“I am astounded at the reach Tater Tot’s story had, and I cannot express to you just how incredible it has been to see how he has impacted the world. I hope his resilience during his short time here continues to inspire people. He was dealt a really tough hand with multiple health concerns, but he didn’t let that slow him down.”
“He showed us that even if we have some struggles, there is always something to fight towards.”
Ashey continued to say that Tater Tot’s life has helped to illuminate the challenges that come with working in animal rescue and rehabilitating animals with disabilities.
Ashley would love it if you would like to donate to your local shelter in honor of Tater Tot.
“Please help his life continue to impact other animals in the world,” Ashley concluded.
If you’d like to donate to Kitty CrusAIDe or learn more about their organization, visit the link here.
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