Published Oct 11, 2026
Gelato got a custom makeshift wheelchair built from simple supplies, including rulers, cardboard, zip ties, and toy cars. Cincinnati Animal CARE / Facebook.com
The story about a Cincinnati shelter kitten named Gelato, whose clever contraption a veterinary technician made for him became famous online, has shown how love and creativity can combine to transform even the tiniest lives.
The brown tabby arrived at Cincinnati Animal CARE with four other kittens during the summer, and the baby apparently had a spinal injury and was unable to stand or walk on his own. The shelter had some cat wheelchairs available for felines with disabilities, but this kitten they named Gelato was too small for them.
But Mallory Smith, the shelter’s lead veterinary technician, put on her thinking cap and pulled a “MacGyver!” This is a phrase that originated from the 1980s TV series MacGyver about a secret agent who did not use traditional weapons, and used everyday items like duct tape, paper clips, and chewing gum to solve problems and escape dangerous situations.
Smith gathered up some items – including 99-cent rulers, cardboard, zip-ties and two Hot Wheels cars – and she made a custom, makeshift wheelchair just for Gelato! The toy cars served as support for his hind legs, and Gelato rolled around on his wheels, attached to the contraption with a harness. Cat lovers fell in love with the photo of Gelato and his wheelchair on Cincinnati Animal CARE’s Facebook page, where the shelter introduced him.
“Shout out to our Veterinary Assistant Lead, Mallory, and our medical team for always using their creativity to help the animals who need it most!” the shelter staff shared in the Facebook post. “When a tiny kitten comes in who needs extra help getting around, you use what’s available to make it happen. Nothing a few rulers, zip-ties and Hot Wheels can’t solve!”
The comments on the July 20 post with nearly 34K likes are adorable, including one from a Facebook user who urged the shelter to change the kitten’s name to Hot Wheels. Several admirers compared Gelato to a Transformer, from the sci-fi film series.
“He now looks like a Transformeow,” one user wrote.
“Look at that engineering project,” another user wrote.
“It ain’t pretty, but it works!” another user commented. “Well done, MacGyver.”
You can see an adorable reel here showing Gelato walking in the wheelchair, posted on the shelter’s Facebook page. He is so cute! Seeing him walk reminds me of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer walking in his harness for Santa’s sleigh.
Gelato shows off his adorable wheelchair-assisted walk in a reel shared by the shelter. Cincinnati Animal CARE / Facebook.com
“Shelter medicine in and of itself is … working with what you have, to do what you can for the animals,” Smith tells the camera as she explains her wheelchair. “I’m very happy with it. And it seems to have brought a lot of joy to the people at the shelter, and hopefully to some other people as well.”
After getting fitted with his clever wheelchair, Gelato went home with Smith for foster care. We do not have an update on the kitten, as the shelter didn’t respond to a request for an interview. But, we do see Gelato on the cat adoption page, and he is said to still be in foster care, and he is estimated to be about 4 months old now. The pictures of Gelato include one with a different metal wheelchair – a 3D-printed wheelchair that was donated.
A news story from WKRC, the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, from late September announced that Gelato is indeed available for adoption! He can be adopted from his foster home, where his litter box training is a work in progress, and he needs help urinating. The kitten will need an ongoing therapy plan from a veterinarian.
If you are as enamored by this adorable fellow as much as we are and you live near Cincinnati, please apply to adopt Gelato! You can e-mail [email protected]. So many cat lovers with big hearts have shown how fully special-needs felines can live with accommodations for their disabilities.
Gelato is one of countless examples of felines with disabilities who, with some practical help and a loving home, can live their best lives. We have written about many of these cats who are thriving despite physical challenges.
Gelato shows how cats with disabilities can thrive with practical support and a loving home. Cincinnati Animal CARE / Facebook.com
One cat named Mr. Toe Beans, a play on the fact that he was born with no feet, is happily living with his family in Nashville – the same family that fostered him for a shelter. They love him so much and make accommodations in their home to help Mr. Toe Beans, who has the mysterious leg deformity with no feet, along with impaired vision and high blood pressure.
Mr. Toe Beans wasn’t a good fit for a prosthetic, so he has just learned to manage with no feet and uneven legs by pushing off his hip and clunking around on only soft surfaces. You can follow Mr. Toe Beans at The Footless Cat pages on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube.
Another sweet story started with a kitten born at a construction site, whose stray mother accidentally dropped him as a newborn 15 feet above ground. Dawn Firestone, whose husband worked at the construction site, retrieved the injured kitten, took him home, and named him Rocky. Sadly, the fall caused a spinal injury that led to some paralysis in his hind legs.
Firestone was determined not to give up on Rocky, so she kept him and the cat is “joined at the hip” with his mom. He gets around with a cat wheelchair and uses diapers, but Rocky is purrfectly happy. Like Gelato’s rescuer, Firestone got creative and first tried using an American Girl Doll wheelchair to help the kitten move!
We wish Gelato a long, happy life with the lucky person who gets to adopt him!
