It’s a mog-gle! Meet Dobby the hairless selfie-loving cat who looks like the house elf from Harry Potter
- Mr Dobbs, otherwise known as Dobby, is a one-year-old Ukrainian Levkoy cat who lives in New York
- Owner Nicole, 30, decided to name the kitten after the Harry Potter character because he has no hair
- She also discovered that he loves having his picture taken and dresses him in outfits to take snaps
- Nicole said she decided to adopt Mr Dobbs because she wanted a cat that wouldn’t trigger her allergies
Meet Mr Dobbs – otherwise known as Dobby – the selfie-loving cat who looks like the house elf from Harry Potter.
Owner Nicole, 30, from Upper West Side, New York, USA, became besotted with him after searching for a cat that wouldn’t affect her allergies.
She adopted the one-year-old Ukrainian Levkoy in October last year, when he was so small that nurses were keeping him inside old socks to warm him up – another similarity he shared with his fictional counterpart.
Nicole also realized that Dobby loves having his picture taken – mostly because her camera has a strap on it that he likes to play with – and dresses him up to take amusing snaps.
Mr Dobbs, or Dobby as he is otherwise known, is a one-year-old Ukrainian Levkoy cat that lives with owner Nicole in her Upper West Side apartment in New York
Nicole said she decided to adopt a hairless cat after finding out she was allergic to regular cat hair before falling in love with Mr Dobbs last October
She decided to name him Dobby for his similarity to the house elf from Harry Potter and because he was kept warm as a kitten using old socks, which is the gift that Harry uses to free Dobby from servitude in the books
Nicole says that Dobby loves to take selfies – although that is mostly because her camera has a strap attached to it that he likes to play with while she photographs him
She said: ‘I chose the name Dobby because I thought he looked like the character from Harry Potter.
‘When I held him, he was very affectionate and more interested in human interaction than jumping around or playing with the other kittens.
‘I post what comes to mind, I posted a picture of him doing strange things in my lap and tried to work out what yoga pose he was trying to do.
‘I get a very positive response online, people think he is adorable and funny.
-
A split second from safety: Bull runner is fatally gored…
Haven’t I seen ooh-ooh-ooh before somewhere? Monkey checks…
Too late to escape: Ferocious jaguar snatches a vulture out…
Share this article
‘While he was growing up, he would wear old socks making his name even more appropriate.
‘My phone has a wrist-strap so that my phone won’t fall off, when he sses that string he instantly tries to grab it.
‘Taking pictures for him is like a game, he definitely likes taking photos.
‘If I attach a feather he will go crazy, sometimes he event tries to eat the phone.
‘It’s him being who is naturally is, at home he is normally watching New York City from the window.
‘He looks out and then wonders what I’m doing and starts attacking my phone.’
Nicole started to consider adopting a cats in 2016, after she ‘felt something was missing’ having grown-up with pets for most of her life.
Like all photogenic pets these days, Mr Dobbs has his own profiles on social media where Nicole posts the best of his snaps
Left, Dobby plays with the strap attached to Nicole’s phone, while right he is shown reaching for the same strap, giving the impression that he is taking a selfie
Nicole wants to have Mr Dobbs trained as a therapy pet so that he can go to libraries where children will read to him and strengthen their reading skills
Mr Dobbs plays around with Nicole’s camera (left) and looks at pictures of himself online while still a kitten (right)
But after discovering she had allergies to the furry felines, she started researching breeds that wouldn’t leave her suffering from reactions.
Nicole said: ‘After getting tested, learning I did in fact have an allergy, I became determined that there had to be a way to have a cat.
‘What I found was several types of breeds – sphynx, peterbalds, donskoys, and one type of very hairy cat that puts out low dander in it’s saliva – claiming to be good for allergy sufferers.
‘The Disclaimer of my research is that the owner has to be very diligent about grooming and some people could still have allergies with these types of cats despite giving them weekly baths not to mention that some breeds are known to have certain heart conditions.’
Through visiting a breeder to test that she wouldn’t have an allergic reaction to cats she was breeding, she would go onto meet Mr. Dobbs.
Nicole said: ‘I had no frame of reference for him, I didn’t even know this breed, a Ukrainian Levkoy, existed.
‘She even admitted that he was a newer breed – early 2000 – only recognized in Europe.
‘By late October 2017, we were finally able to take him home with us, and I had lucky
‘My friends, also animal lovers, were excited to meet Mr.Dobbs, this strange little kitten I had been telling them about who was more dog than cat.’
Since adopting Mr. Dobbs, she believes she has been more outgoing, often taking the cat out to find safe spaces and exploring her city.
Nicole hopes to have him trained as a therapy pet in the future.
She said: ‘He’s started practice, so he can become a professional therapy pet.
‘He will be able to go to libraries where children will read aloud to him and strengthen their reading skills that way.’
Source: Read Full Article