You assume that if you get a black kitty, it will stay that color forever. Why wouldn’t you want to? It’s a tough color to permeate since it’s so dark.
David Platt purchased a black kitten named Scrappy in 1997. However, little did he know, that one day his dark fur would turn marble-like.
Scrappy’s fur began to turn white seven years later, which David believes is due to vitiligo, a skin ailment that affects about 1% of people and is even rarer in cats.
A lack of melanin causes the disorder, which commonly manifests as white patches on the skin.
“Scrappy was as black as a cat,” said David, a Yorkshire bricklayer.
“However, when he was seven, my mother was caring for him and called to inform me that a white patch had appeared on his head.”
“We took him to the vet because we suspected he’d suffered a stroke.” The vet couldn’t explain what was causing it at the time.
Scrappy started to develop more and more white patches during the next few years, then slowed off. But it’s started up again in the last three or four years. Scrappy was just diagnosed with vitiligo by a veterinarian.
Scrappy may one day turn fully white, but no one knows for sure.
Scrappy is 19 years old — 92 in human years – and still as agile as ever, so his remarkable fur may be giving him some type of power.
He’s a senior cat, yet he’s as happy and healthy as any other kitty.
In reality, his name originates from the fact that he is constantly scrapping with neighborhood cats.
Aside from the cats, Scrappy has become a worldwide celebrity. Even their mailman takes photos of him, and his Instagram account, Senior Scrappy, has almost 96,000 followers who watch his every move.
