A one-pound Cincinnati kitten named Gelato couldn't walk or stand when he arrived at the county shelter this summer with a spinal injury, but he's getting around just fine these days — thanks first to a wheelchair built from Hot Wheels toy ambulances that made him an internet sensation, and now to a custom, 3D-printed model built just for him.
How Gelato Ended Up in Cincinnati Animal CARE's Hands
Cincinnati resident Sayre Morgan first spotted one kitten wandering along a hillside while driving home in mid-July, then discovered four more littermates nearby next to a discarded bag of cat food, according to The Washington Post. Morgan delivered the entire litter of five to Cincinnati Animal CARE, the county's open-intake shelter and dog warden agency.
Gelato, the injured kitten among the litter, weighed just over a pound and stood four inches tall at the time — too small for any standard animal wheelchair the shelter had on hand, the newspaper's report noted. The makeshift fix shelter staff came up with soon went viral, as reported by The Independent.
From Toy Ambulances to a Custom-Built Wheelchair
Shelter veterinary assistant lead Mallory Smith built the first cart in mid-July using cardboard cut from a shipping box, wooden rulers, zip ties, tape, and two Hot Wheels toy ambulances a friend provided, whose axles turned out to be just the right width and low-friction enough for a kitten his size, per the same report. Cincinnati Animal CARE shared video of Gelato rolling around on the contraption on July 20, and it quickly spread online.
After the video took off, Smith worked with an engineer friend to design and 3D-print a custom, adjustable black wheelchair built to expand as Gelato grows, the outlet reported — a permanent upgrade from the toy-car cart that first caught the internet's attention.
A Hopeful Recovery Amid a Shelter in Crisis
X-rays and medical evaluations found a lower-back spinal injury, but Gelato retained deep-pain sensation, bowel and bladder control, and some hind-leg movement, according to Local 12 WKRC — signs shelter veterinarians say give him a strong chance of eventually walking on his own. Smith has since taken Gelato into her own home as a foster caretaker, administering daily physical therapy, mobility training, and nursing care, the station reported last week.
Even as staff nursed Gelato back toward mobility, Cincinnati Animal CARE was contending with a severe capacity crunch, having declared a "Code Red" emergency in June with 878 animals in its care and only 15 open dog kennels remaining, according to Cincinnati Animal CARE. In July alone, the agency's Colerain Avenue and Dane Avenue facilities took in 824 stray and surrendered animals, and the shelter — which took over Hamilton County's municipal shelter and dog warden services on August 1, 2020 as the county's first no-kill operator — has completed more than 28,000 adoptions and served 50,000 animals in six years.
Adopting a Kitten Like Gelato
Hoodline has tracked the shelter's overcrowding all summer, from the June Code Red at Cincinnati Shelter declaration to reports of abandoned litters turning up around the county. Standard adoption fees at the shelter run $60 for a single kitten or $30 each when two are adopted together, a package that covers spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, and microchipping.
