With more than 4 million followers on Instagram, Nala Cat holds the Guinness World Record for being the most famous cat on Instagram. So even if you’re not a cat person, you might as well follow her.
A former shelter cat, Nala’s rise to fame is quite remarkable: “The story of one kitten, Nala, starts off at a home where the owners could no longer take care of the cats and kittens because there were too many,” explained her owner Varisiri (Pookie) Methachittiphan on Nala’s personal website.
“Nala was then taken away to the shelter where she was separated from her original family. Sadly we don’t know what happened to the rest of the cats or kittens, but when adopted, Nala was the only one left.”
According to her cat mum, it was love at first sight… or rather, at first lick. “She licked my face and knew she was the one that we were going to take home”, writes Methachittiphan.
“I went to my friend’s cousin’s house and we just wanted to go see some animals at the animal shelter and so I just went there without thinking that I was going to adopt a cat that day. Then, I saw her and I just couldn’t leave her, I had to take her home. She was around five months old at the time.”
These days, amongst her accolades, Nala has won Tik Toker of the Year at the 11th annual Shorty Awards, which also saw her be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey herself. Quite a change from her humble beginnings.
Her fame also came by surprise to her owner. “At the time Instagram had just started, so my sister said that I should start an account for Nala so that I could share her photo with everyone because she looks so cute with her big blue eyes,” she recalled. “I just started Instagram without actually thinking that she was going to be so famous.”
While she hoped to reach some 500 followers, people certainly took notice of her unique features. You’d want to join the hype!
