- When Daria and her husband, Colin noticed a cat still hadn’t been adopted from the foster home, they decided to take him in.
- The ginger moggy, which they renamed Phineas, struggled with with a neurological disorder which affected his balance and movement.
- Daria set up an Instagram account to post videos of Phin’s wonky walk and it gained millions of followers, with many calling the cat ‘drunk’ because he was unsteady on his paws.
- Phin’s fans began sending artworks they’d made of him and companies paid to put his face on beer bottles and other merchandise.
- Daria Anderson, from Sydney, NSW, tells the story of Phin’s rise to fame.
Swiping through Instagram videos, I came across a post featuring a litter of five kittens that had been born in a foster home.
Cute, I thought, watching the tiny balls of fluff bounce around together on the floor.
Then, I noticed two of them couldn’t walk straight. They wobbled from side to side with each step, struggling to maintain balance.
The caption explained their names were Goblin and Ghost and they’d been diagnosed with cerebellar hypoplasia, a neurological disorder which affects walking, balance and movement. Goblin was
more severely impacted.
I hope he does well and finds a good home, I commented on the post.
Read more: Woman’s disabled pup thinks he’s a roo!
Later, I showed my husband, Collin, who, like me, was a biomedical engineer. I was studying movement disorders and he was researching the cerebellum, so these wonky kitties were fascinating to us.
When I checked the foster home’s page a month later, I was sad to see Goblin still hadn’t been adopted.
“Could his forever home be here with us?” I asked Collin and he nodded.
When we took him in, we renamed him Phineas, after a character named Finn in a Star Wars film.
We set up an Instagram page to document his life.
Sometimes, we’d post videos of him wobbling down the hallway or toppling onto his side. Because he had movement issues, he’d also peck at his food rather than keep his head down at his bowl to eat.
Is he in pain? many followers asked us.
Not at all, I’d reply. He’s perfectly happy and healthy in his own way.
In late 2018, two years after adopting Phin, some popular cat pages on Instagram posted clips of our unsteady kitty and within a month, we had 100,000 followers. Half a year later, it had grown to 500,000.
It was mind-blowing.
He is the only thing that gets me through the day, one man commented.
Stories about him went viral and headlines across the world called him a drunken sailor.
Soon, people were sending artworks they’d made of our ‘drunk’ cat and companies offered to put his face on beer bottles, T-shirts and caps.
We agreed and donated the profits to charity.
In January 2023, we moved to Sydney to take up jobs at Sydney University.
When Collin’s giving a lecture on cerebellum disorders, he uses slides from Phin’s life.
“Everyone loves cat videos,” he says.
Phin, our ‘drunk’ cat now has 2.2 million social media followers and we’ve donated $46,000 to charity, all thanks to his wonky walk.
He’s the most wonderful thing to come into our lives. It’d be pretty boring – and straight – without him.
Follow Phin on Instagram, @orangeisthenewblackandtan
