Cat McAuliffe
When Diana realized one of the homeless cats she’d been feeding was pregnant, she rescued the expectant mother, bringing her back to her house in Jakarta, Indonesia, and naming her Bebe. On September 21, 2016, Bebe gave birth to three kittens, one of which Diana named Kuku, an homage to a dog her vet had rescued.
Diana intended to help Bebe raise her kittens and eventually find the three young cats homes, but on November 22, 2016, tragedy struck. Diana left Kuku and her siblings — who were two months old at the time — in a cage in her bedroom while she went to the kitchen. “I heard a cat screaming from my room,” remembers Diana. “That was Bebe’s voice.”
Alarmed, Diana rushed back into her bedroom, and to her shock and horror, she discovered a monkey– who she believes was a neighbor’s escaped pet — had made its way into her house and attacked the kittens. “Sadly, two of them were already dead when I tried to save them,” says Diana, “but Kuku was still alive when I came to rescue her.”
Kuku was barely clinging to life, but Diana was determined to do everything she could to save the little tabby and white kitten, so she grabbed the two-month-old cat and made the 30 minute journey to her vet’s office. “There were a lot of wounds on her body,” remembers Diana. “Her front legs were torn apart; I could even see her bone.”
In addition to the injuries to her front limbs, the attack had left Kuku with a broken tail, a torn ear, and serious damage to one of her hind legs. “There was a lot of blood everywhere,” says Diana. “I wasn’t even sure that Kuku would survive.”
When Diana arrived at the animal hospital, the vet immediately gave Kuku an injection to prevent her from getting an infection from the many bite wounds she’d sustained. After examining the eight-week-old kitten, the doctor determined her front legs had been injured beyond repair, and Kuku had emergency surgery to amputate two of her limbs.
Following the surgery, Diana brought Kuku back to her home to recover from the trauma she’d experienced, as well as to adjust to her new life as a two-legged cat. “It took only a little while for her to regain her balance after surgery,” says Diana, “but at first Kuku found it hard to pee or poo in the litter box.”
When Diana tried to help the young kitten go to the bathroom, she discovered that after the attack, Kuku no longer liked to be touched. “What happened to Kuku made her insecure,” explains Diana, making it hard for her mom and the staff at the vet’s office to medicate the little two-legged cat or assist her with her daily routine.
“She gets mad when I try to help her,” says Diana. Thankfully, it didn’t take Kuku long to learn how to do pretty much everything on her own, so this adorable special needs cat rarely needs her mom’s help, although she still allows Diana to spoon-feed her.
“Kuku is so independent,” says Diana, “she likes doing things by herself. She’s not a spoiled cat.” In fact, Kuku is as active today as she was before she lost her front legs, and this cute two-legged kitty has no trouble getting around Diana’s home. “Kuku is a professional runner,” says Diana. “She can run so fast, especially when it comes to food!”
In addition to running and eating, Kuku enjoys games of hide and seek and playing with the other cats who live in her home. Despite having just two legs, this tabby and white young cat — who celebrated her first birthday last September — is extremely agile, and she loves chasing after bugs and lizards.
Even though Kuku — who no longer likes to be touched — has been left with some emotional and psychological following the brutal attack she endured as a kitten, Diana is confident she’s a very happy cat, and she’s thankful this two-legged girl got a second chance after she sustained life-threatening injuries. “Animals are so smart,” says Diana. “They have the ability to adapt to their condition, they just need unconditional love from us.”
Thankfully, Kuku — who was still in utero when her mother was rescued from the streets of Jakarta — gets plenty of unconditional love from Diana, as well as the care and assistance she needs to thrive. In return, this gorgeous tabby and white feline provides her mom with important lessons Diana uses to help her navigate her own life. “She teaches me a lot of things: kindness, unconditional love, patience, and especially her strong will to live,” says Diana. “She means everything to me.”
If you want to learn more about this incredible cat, you can follow Kuku on Instagram.
