Thanks to Instagram, people around the world have fallen in love with the wobbly walk and mighty meow of Phineas, a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia (CH). The rare neurologic condition occurs when the cerebellum, the area of the brain that coordinates movement, doesn’t develop properly or is abnormally small, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Through posts on social media, Phineas, a 7-year-old orange tabby, has helped bring attention to CH.

It all started when Phineas’ owners—Daria Nesterovich Anderson, PhD, and Collin Anderson, PhD, both lecturers at the University of Sydney after recently moving from the United States to Australia—adopted him and set up an Instagram page, @OrangeIsTheNewBlackAndTan, where they share the antics of Phineas and their other cat, Tyrion.

The page had a small following for a couple years, Daria says, until one of Phineas’ videos went viral. “Then all of a sudden, it just exploded. He’s such a huge positive force and I think people really love him for that,” she says. Today, they have nearly 1 million followers worldwide.

That reach has helped increase awareness of CH and other neurologic disorders. “We do a lot of outreach from the page that we wouldn’t have done [otherwise],” Daria says. “It’s made us teach better too.” They’ve also raised more than $34,000 USD for charity.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Phineas and Tyrion 🇦🇺 (@orangeisthenewblackandtan)

At the end of 2023, they sold about 550 Phineas stuffed animals and will split the proceeds between a foster program for terminally ill and senior pets in Australia and Black Rainbow, an Australian organization focusing on LGBTQ people from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This year, Collin plans to run the Sydney marathon with a goal of raising money for the Shake It Up Australia Foundation, a Parkinson’s disease organization. “Without the page, even [with the] best intentions, we wouldn’t have the ability to generate that awareness,” Daria says. “It’s only possible because of Phineas.”

In addition to his work in biomedical engineering, Collin studies Christianson syndrome, a rare genetic condition that leads to intellectual disability, problems with balance, and seizures, among other neurologic symptoms. He says Phineas has enabled him and Daria, who studies epilepsy, to have a public dialogue about neuroscience. “If I’m teaching about the cerebellum and I want to describe the specific motor symptoms associated with cerebellar deformities, I can show videos of Phineas,” says Collin. “And the students absolutely love it.”

Phineas can walk—many cats with CH cannot—but he wobbles and almost always falls after a few steps. His other symptoms include constipation and poor teeth (Phineas has had several pulled). In humans, CH can cause developmental delays, balance and walking difficulties, and seizures. Treatment depends on the severity of those symptoms, according to the NINDS.

Thanks to Phineas, Collin has connected with more families in the Christianson Syndrome Association, which has fueled his interest in finding a gene therapy for the syndrome in partnership with the RTW Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic branch of RTW Investments, a firm based in New York.

Nesterovich encourages others to adopt cats like Phineas. “We weren’t experts in CH when we first saw Phineas, but we were open to learning how to care for him,” Daria says. “It was the best decision we made. He’s enriched our lives beyond being an awesome companion. He’s made us better people.”