Shelter takes in orange boy who looks like 'if AI tried to make a cat'

After several cats were left behind in an abandoned home, Central Dakota Humane Society stepped up to take them in. As the rescuers got to know these new cats, they watched their personalities emerge, and that's when they noticed that one of the cats was a little bit special.

At first, Chip seemed just like all the other cats rescued from the abandoned house. The more time they spent with him, though, the more they noticed something about his face: It was very, very derpy.

Chip doesn’t always have a derpy look on his face, but when he does, it’s very noticeable. One of the shelter's social media volunteers posted about Chip on Facebook and Instagram, and overnight, Chip and the tiny North Dakota shelter became a sensation.

“People couldn’t get enough of looking at Chip’s derpy grin,” Cameo Skager, communications and development director at Central Dakota Humane Society, told The Dodo. “It just makes you smile … His social media posts have reached more than 3 million viewers.”

Everyone at the shelter was shocked by the world’s reaction to Chip, but it also made sense. His silly faces and joyful reactions made everyone happy, and the funny comments about him just kept coming.

“We’ve had some amazing comments on his posts, like: ‘Bro can see the 5th dimension,’ ‘Chip's brain: *dial up noises on a loop,*’ ‘This is like if AI tried to make a cat,’ ‘He looks like the Cheshire Cat.’ ‘Why does he look like a medieval drawing of a cat by someone who has never seen a real cat?’” Skager said.

All of the attention Chip received was wonderful — and eventually, he received it from the most important people of all: his future family.

“We also did one follow-up post to let everyone know that he was going to be adopted,” Skager said. “We’ve had comments from New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, many other states, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand.”

Now Chip is thriving in his new home. He loves playing with both his cat and human siblings. Of course, he’s still very derpy, and his family wouldn’t have him any other way.