kobe’s first steps on TikTok
Courtesy of boscoandkoby / TikTok
This little kitten has just earned its “big boy” bikes. Meet Koby, a Nova Scotia special needs cat living with cerebellar hypoplasia. Thanks to the help of his 241,000+ TikTok followers who donate through a GoFundMe campaign, Koby now has a wheelchair that helps him move around more easily.
Cerebellar hypoplasia is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to produce coordinated movements. It is also appropriately nicknamed “Wobble Cat Syndrome,” which perfectly describes how Koby would walk in front of the wheelchair. His loving owner, Kirstin Gogan, who also runs his TikTok site, often held her stomach to keep him from falling over while trying to move around. She also wrote on GoFundMe that Koby loves chasing his brother Bosco and playing with his favorite toys, but he’d go round in circles and couldn’t keep up.
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In a viral TikTok with over 11 million views posted last week, Gogan and her husband are shown guiding Koby into his brand new wheelchair. You put his paws gently through the holster so that he can stand up with the help of the device. Koby looks great as he walks slowly over her wooden floors. Meanwhile, a touching audio track encourages the kitten and says, “Wow, I’m so proud of you. You’re doing great!”
Gogan originally set Koby’s GoFundMe goal at $ 400, but people found his story so touching that they have raised over $ 1,300 since it opened in early July. The wheelchair now helps Koby do his therapeutic exercises and do all the things he loves – while staying upright.
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“He lives a loved, pain-free, adventurous, and shaky life,” Gogan said on the GoFundMe page. Now we hope that he can do all of this with his new wheelchair without wobbling too much.