Cat's Unusual Fur Compared to 'Phantom of the Opera' Online: 'Beautiful'

Most cats are born with some sort of pattern or marking, but one cat's unusual markings have impressed the internet where the feline has been compared to The Phantom of the Opera.

Erin—who uses the TikTok handle phantomoftheopurra—first shared footage of her unusual cat in 2021, but this week found viral fame after one video received millions of views.

The cat with unusual markings is named Ashfur and lives with owner Erin in California.

First premiered in October 1986 in London's West End and later on Broadway in New York in 1988, the musical The Phantom of the Opera was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is based on the 1910 novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux.

The musical tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the streets of Paris in the famous catacombs, terrorizing the inhabitants of the Paris Opera House above.

Ashfur has delighted viewers on TikTok who have viewed the video featuring the 1-year-old feline almost 2 million times and left thousands of comments.

"Omg that's an awesome-looking cat," said one TikToker, while another commenter joked: "I need them to sing Meowsic of the Night."

"Beautiful," wrote a different commenter on the viral TikTok post: "I have never seen a cat like this."

"If Andrew Lloyd Webber combined Cats and Phantom of the Opera into one musical," said another viewer.

Domestic cats are known to have fur in varying colors and patterns. Cat Fanciers' Association Allbreed Judge and editor of Cat Talk magazine, Teresa Keiger told Newsweek: "Cats have two foundation colors: black [melanin] and red [phenomelanin]. When the pigment is distributed more thinly down the hair shaft, it is "diluted" and we get the colors blue [commonly called gray; the dilute of black] and cream [the dilute of red]. Melanin gives us the brown/black color that we see in brown tabby cats.

"Genetics give us the various patterns, including the four tabby patterns [classic, mackerel, spotted and ticked]; solid [no pattern, just color], pointed [color only on the face, paws, and tails—the cat is born white and the color forms where the body is coldest. Pointed pattern cats always have blue eyes]. And these are just the most common patterns."

Keiger says that the brown tabby is one of the most common cat markings—attributing it to the fact it was the original pattern our housecats' ancestors had when they began moving out of the African grasslands: "It provided great camouflage in those grassy areas," she explained: "But as they moved and interacted with other lands, cats and people, their colors and patterns also mutated."

It turns out Ashfur's markings are as a result of something else too. Erin told Newsweek: "He looked completely different when we got him. He had a fever coat and then developed vitiligo."

Vitiligo is a condition that causes skin to lose its natural pigment. Like humans, cats and dogs can develop vitiligo and the depigmentation of the skin can cause hair to turn white too.

While it may look unusual, vitiligo causes no discomfort and pets can live long and happy lives with their new-found markings. However, PetMD says that it is always worth reaching out to your veterinarian if there are significant changes in your pet's appearance.

Ashfur is not the only cat to capture hearts online recently, as only last week a kitten crossing her paws just like her mother melted hearts, with viewers dubbing the picture "too precious."