A Russian breeder has created her own litter of Jellicle cats, complete with eerily human faces that’d give the musical’s cast a run for their money.
Tatyana Rastorgueva, a 44-year-old felinologist and animal lover, has been breeding cats since 2002.
At first glance, she’s got a bunch of adorable, everyday furballs. But look again – they look like people.
Check out a video of the strange, brilliant cats below:
Through a painstaking breeding process, Rastorgueva has managed to create the supremely unusual (nonetheless lovable) felines – the Maine Coons are the result of breeding father cat Vatican and mother cat Lucien.
Rastorgueva, from Moscow, explained:
I really love animals, cats have always been a part of my life. But I began to professionally breed cats in 2002, I have been working directly with Maine Coons since 2004. I like what I do, I can say that cats are my calling.
Each breeder has his own vision of the breed and selects individuals for further selection according to those traits that are important to him.
The Russian’s unique cats have caused quite the stir online, as people flock to catch a look at their piercing eyes and distinctly human facial features. She manages an Instagram account – @catsvill_county – packed with snaps of the cats, with more than 83,000 followers.
Rastorgueva added:
I can say that while working with the breed, I focused on the type of Maine Coon that I like, that’s why I now have a recognizable ‘face’ type of kittens in my nursery. This is just a long painstaking work of the breeder. I love all animals, especially cats. Maine Coons captured my heart completely.
Just looking at the funny pets triggers flashbacks to the recent Cats trailer – which is more in the region of being absolutely terrifying.
Based on T. S. Eliot’s collection of poetry and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical, this fully-fledged, live-action feature looks ready to arm the world’s sleep paralysis nightmares for years to come.
What is Cats about, I hear you ask? That’s a bloody good question, one that I wish I could answer firmly with some authority. But I can’t, because it doesn’t really make sense.
Here’s the synopsis:
A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
The film has an all-star cast: Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, as well as newcomer Francesca Hayward in the lead role.
If Cats looks like your ideal night at the pictures, it hits UK cinemas on December 20.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.