Meet the North Tyneside feline who is up for a National Cat Award

The four-year-old was adopted by Paul Richardson, 42, and Helen Aitchison, 42, in May 2020 after they spotted a post on Facebook saying that he was looking for a forever home.

Eric was found living on the streets of Howden as a kitten before he was taken in by the Wallsend-based charity, Strictly Strays.

He was given medicine and food; however, he nearly died from cat flu following his ordeal and it is something that he is still vulnerable of catching to this day.

Since being adopted by Paul and Helen, who live in Hadrian Park in North Tyneside, Eric has been living his best life and has gathered more than 10,000 followers across Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

Paul said: “Eric is a really photogenic cat and he is always smiling on his photos, plus he seems quite happy to be filmed, so we just decided to post about his daily life after Helen saw some other pet accounts on social media.

“I was very surprised at the start of it all as I think he got more than 500 Twitter followers within the first 24 hours of me creating the account.

“Since then it has been a bit of a media frenzy for him but he is doing really well which is all we want for him.

“Our old cat, Holly, passed away eight years ago and said we wouldn’t get another one but when Helen saw Eric on Facebook, she just fell in love with him.

“We wanted to offer a cat a home and really wanted to give him a chance at life - he is a lush little cat with small legs but a big heart.”

The couple use the Cat Protection website as a resource tool for tips on how to give the best care to Eric and they came across the National Cat Awards last year.

Paul submitted an application for Eric to be featured in 2023 edition of the event and has told NewcastleWorld of his surprise when Eric was shortlisted for the ‘Social Star’ category.

He added: “I remember putting a picture of Eric on his social media accounts last year of the laptop in front of him with the winners of the 2022 awards so I submitted an application for him and then forgot about it.

“It was amazing when I got a call to say that Eric had been shortlisted and is competing against two other cats in his category.

“Out of the 12 finalists, he is the only one from the North East so we are taking great pride in representing the region and hopefully we can bring it home.

“The local support that we’ve had from the various Cat Protection places in the North East has been fantastic so we are looking forward to the ceremony in London, it will be like the Oscars for cats.”

People can vote for the Cat Protection’s National Cat Awards 2023 until June 30, and you can cast your vote for Eric in the ‘Social Star’ category by clicking here.

You can also follow Eric on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

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