Matilda the ‘alien cat’ becomes Internet sensation

Meet Matilda, a cat with alien-like eyes who probably has more Instagram followers than you.

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The 2-year-old cat was rescued from a hoarder house and suffers from spontaneous lens luxation, which causes her eyes to take on an alien-like quality.

Matilda’s owners, who call themselves “The Lady” and “The Bearded Man” on their website, said her eyes were perfectly normal until around her first birthday, when  one pupil became enlarged and stayed that way for several minutes before going back to normal. Several days later, the same thing occurred.

The vet gave his diagnosis, and then the owners had to make the difficult decision about whether to put Matilda through surgery right away.

They explained on their website:

“After much discussion and consideration, The Lady and The Bearded Man decided with the veterinary [ophthalmologist’s] support that we would let Matilda’s eyes do what they naturally would, and would not intervene with a traumatic surgery that did not appear to be helpful. … As long as Matilda remained happy and healthy, that was the only thing that mattered.”

Her owners say Matilda is happily living her life, despite the fact that her eye condition has left her nearly blind.

A GoFundMe page was created to raise $2,500 to cover Matilda’s medical expenses, including medication to keep her larger-than-life eyes functioning the best they can and the cat’s eventual eye surgery.

Within five days, the campaign reached its goal. A quarter of the proceeds will go to animals in need, and the rest will be put away for Matilda.

“With your incredibly kind donation we can continue to take her to the eye specialist regularly, buy her [eye drops] to keep her eyes in the best condition they can be in, and have a good solid foundation fund for surgery when it’s necessary,” Matilda’s owners wrote on the page. “We are so touched and humbled by the generosity and kindness you have shown, and so quickly too. The world really is full of kind souls!”

To learn more about Matilda the alien-eyed cat, visit her website, Instagram or Facebook page.