Pictures of this white cat named Duchess went viral online because of her resemblance to the mother cat in the Disney film The Aristocats, also named Duchess.
Duchess was adopted by Shelby Sewell-Lopez from East Texas in 2018. At the time she was very frail and her hair was falling out. She also had a hernia and was completely covered in every parasite a cat could have.
In an interview with Bored Panda, Shelby said, “Through all of the rehabilitating, she kept her calm demeanor and a beautiful cat emerged. She is unbothered by everything except the vacuum cleaner!”
One day, Shelby found Duchess in a closet with something that at first she thought resembled a mouse.
Everyone was under the impression that Duchess had been spayed but on closer inspection Shelby realized the creature was in fact not a mouse but a new born kitten!
And she was swiftly followed by three more bundles of fur!
Shelby and her family soon realized that the kittens looked just like the characters from The Aristocats.
The “mouse” turned out to be Berlioz, then came Marie, and Toulouse and the fourth kitten they decided to name Blue.
“Although Blue is not an official Aristocat,” explains Shelby, “he is the most affectionate and definitely steals most of the attention.”
Despite her difficult past, Duchess is a loving mother who never leaves her kittens. Even when the kittens started to grow and explore the house, she was never far away keeping a watchful eye over them.
Shelby admits that the cat became quite spoiled because of her constantly bringing her meals and water directly to her.
Shelby decided there was no way that she was going to separate so had the task of persuading her husband that the family should keep keep them all.
And this is what they look like today:
Marie
Toulouse
Berlioz
