The Cyprus cat that went viral!

One of the most famous animals on the internet is a rescued Cypriot cat. But what is her full story?

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. Your home is located in one of the quiet mountain villages of Cyprus: Lefkara.

Gracie, better known as the “HUH?” cat, is a cross-eyed bundle of fluff who has become a global phenomenon over the past six months. In a short, viral video, we hear her owner ask a question. And little Gracie, barely bigger than the palm of your hand, responds with an oversized “Huh?”

The original video was liked, shared and autotuned by hundreds of thousands of people in countries as far apart 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 a huge hit in the Philippines! And even though this jet-black kitten with her comically squinty eyes is barely a year old, she's already an established meme.

But Gracie herself is completely unaware of her fame…

“I mean, she's a bit like a princess,” says owner Aylin Myumyunova. “She only cuddles when she wants to, and she often tries to knock the phone out of my hand. But that's the way it is with cats – they have their own rules, don't they?”

Aylin has lived in Lefkara for six years and is a volunteer for animal welfare. She was born in Bulgaria and lived in England for ten years before moving to Cyprus. But wherever she was, the artist always helped animals. Gracie was one of her rescued animals…

“At the end of August last year, I was at Governor's Beach,” explains Aylin. “There were a lot of stray cats there – skinny, emaciated-looking animals that probably wouldn't survive out of season. And among them was a small black ball of fluff fighting for scraps of food.”

Gracie (named for her natural elegance) was infested with fleas and suffering from cat flu and immediately attracted attention.

“She poured out my heart to me,” says Aylin. “I knew she wouldn’t survive the winter. So I picked her up and brought her home…”

Aylin helps run the Lefkara Rescue Shelter, which treats and rehomes dogs and cats in partnership with British charity STAR. She has seen it all in her life: deliberate poisoning, mutilation and abandonment. She speaks with horror of the region's “inn centre”, which was summarily closed in 2018 after the Animal Party discovered that dogs were being deliberately starved. And she spends every free minute rehoming and raising funds for the island's strays.

“Our Lefkara shelter is full at all times,” she reveals, “and that means I always have a few cats at home. Gracie was one of them – she was taken to the vet who treated her many ailments and said that as her condition did not affect her health or wellbeing, eye surgery would be risky.

“So I did what I always do when I have a cat that needs a home,” explains Aylin, who also runs the registered adoption organization “Lin's Hearts 4 Paws.” “I took a video of Gracie and posted it on social media…”

The video shows Gracie meowing loudly and sitting on Aylin.

“I shook a box of cat treats to get her to sit still,” smiles Aylin. “And she was completely focused. She made three squeaky meows and that was the video. Just a few seconds. I posted it on the charity's TikTok page one night in December and then went to bed…”

When Aylin woke up the next morning, she found, as she describes it, “a tsunami of messages and hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.”

“I was shocked!” she exclaims. “This little cat in Lefkara had literally become a worldwide sensation overnight!”

Gracie's fame increased even further when another TikTok user added the “Huh?” sound.

“That wasn't the sound she originally made,” Aylin reveals. “It's actually a sound a baby made in another viral video and someone superimposed it over Gracie's meow. But that doesn't bother me at all because it just increased the reach of the video – and the charity. Anything we can do to involve those who can help us in our rescue efforts is crucial and Gracie's viral fame can do just that.”

Since, Aylin has received thousands of adoption offers for Gracie. She politely declined them all…

“People from the US, the UK, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Spain – they all wanted to adopt her. But I knew that many of them were content creators who would not put Gracie's welfare first, and that they certainly would not pass the home assessment required of potential adopters.

“And so Gracie stays with me. Here in Lefkara. And her following continues to grow every day.

“This is a good thing,” adds Aylin, “because every person who clicks on the Huh Cat video could donate to the shelter or charity or adopt one of our animals.

“We in Cyprus know only too well that our animal shelters are overcrowded – that our volunteers are overstretched and working tirelessly to care for and find homes for countless animals in need. We know that animal welfare is not a well-regulated issue on the island. We know there are laws, but they are rarely enforced. And we know that things cannot continue like this.

“I think,” she concludes, “if Gracie could speak, she would ask herself why the island is not doing more for its animal rescues. Because when it comes to animal welfare in Cyprus, Gracie can only say 'Huh?' at the moment.”

You can find Gracie on Instagram @huh.cat.gracie and on TikTok @gracie.cat.official. To help Gracie and other cats in Cyprus, visit a registered charity linshearts4paws.org