Meet Gracie the cat. In the last week alone, she’s reached over 30 million people. She has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. But, unlike most influencers, she doesn’t live in Los Angeles or New York, London or Paris.
In fact, Gracie doesn’t live in a city at all. She makes her home in one of Cyprus’ quiet mountain villages. Lefkara.
Better known as the ‘HUH? cat’, Gracie is a cross-eyed bundle of fluff who has – over the last six months – become a global phenomenon. In a short viral video, we hear her owner ask a question. And little Gracie, hardly bigger than the palm of your hand, responds with an outsize ‘Huh?’
The original video was liked, shared and autotuned by hundreds of thousands of people in nations as far flung as the US, Sweden, Australia and Japan. Since then, we’ve seen more videos of the little Lefkara kitten; she’s now the most popular cat on Brazilian social media, and huge in the Philippines! And though barely a year old, this coal-black kitten with her comically crossed eyes is already an established meme.
But Gracie herself is utterly unaware of her fame…
“I mean, she is a bit of a princess,” says owner Aylin Myumyunova. “She’ll only cuddle if she wants to, and she’ll often try to swat the phone out of my hand. But that’s cats for you – they’re a law unto themselves, aren’t they?”
Aylin has lived in Lefkara for the last six years, and is an ardent animal welfare volunteer. Born in Bulgaria, she lived for a decade in England before moving to Cyprus. But wherever she’s been, this artist has always helped animals. Gracie was one of her rescues…
“Towards the end of August last year I was at Governor’s Beach,” explains Aylin. “There were lots of stray cats around – scrawny, skinny looking animals unlikely to survive off-season. And amongst those was a tiny ball of black fluff, fighting for scraps.”
Riddled with fleas, suffering from feline flu, Gracie (who was named for her natural elegance) instantly stood out.
“My heart went out to her,” says Aylin. “I knew she wouldn’t make it through the winter. So I picked her up, and brought her home…”
Aylin helps run the Lefkara Rescue Shelter, which works in collaboration with UK charity STAR to treat and rehome both dogs and cats. She’s seen it all in her time: deliberate poisoning, maiming and abandonment. She speaks with horror of the region’s ‘hospitality centre’ which, in 2018, was summarily closed after the Animal Party discovered dogs being deliberately starved to death. And she spends every spare minute helping to rehome and raise funds for the island’s strays.
“At any given time, our Lefkara Shelter is at capacity,” she reveals. “And that means I always have a few cats in my own home. Gracie was one of those – taken to the vet who treated her many ailments and suggested that, since her condition was affecting neither her health nor happiness, an eye operation would be risky.
“So I did what I always do when I have a cat who needs a home,” explains Aylin, who also runs registered adoption charity ‘Lin’s Hearts 4 Paws’. “I took a video of Gracie and posted it to social media…”
The video shows Gracie sitting on Aylin, meowing loudly.
“I was shaking a box of cat treats to get her to sit still,” Aylin smiles. “And she was utterly focused on those. She gave three squeaky meows, and that was the extent of the video. Just a few seconds. I posted it one evening in December on the charity’s TikTok page, and went to bed…”
The following morning, Aylin awoke to find what she describes as “a tsunami of messages, and hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.
“I was in shock!” she exclaims. “This little cat in Lefkara had quite literally become an overnight global sensation!”
Gracie’s fame escalated further when another TikTok user added the ‘Huh?’ noise.
“That wasn’t the noise she originally made,” Aylin reveals. “It’s actually a sound made by a baby in another viral video, and someone added it over Gracie’s meow. But I don’t mind at all, because it simply increased the reach of the video – and of the charity. Anything we can do to engage those who can help our rescues is crucial, and Gracie’s viral fame can do exactly that.”
Since then, Aylin has fielded thousands of adoption offers for Gracie. She’s politely declined them all…
“People from the US, the UK, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Spain – they all wanted to adopt her. But I knew many of them were content creators who would not put Gracie’s welfare first, that they certainly wouldn’t pass the home check required of potential adopters.
“And so Gracie remains with me. Here in Lefkara. And her following continues to grow by the day.
“It’s a good thing,” adds Aylin, “because every person who clicks on the Huh Cat video might donate to the shelter or the charity, or adopt one of our animals.
“Those of us in Cyprus know only too well that our shelters are overflowing – that our volunteers are stretched thin, working tirelessly to provide care and find homes for countless animals in need. We know that animal welfare is not a well-policed issue on the island. We know that laws exist but are rarely enforced. And we know that this cannot continue.
“I think,” she concludes, “that if Gracie could speak, she herself would be asking why the island isn’t doing more for its rescues. Because, when it comes to the state of animal welfare in Cyprus, all Gracie can say right now is ‘Huh?’”
You can find Gracie on Instagram @huh.cat.gracie and on TikTok @gracie.cat.official. To help Gracie and other Cyprus’ cats, visit registered charity linshearts4paws.org
