You know him as an Internet celibricat and TikTok star, but Keith the Cat-Cow is also an Autism Advo-cat.

KATNISS: Keith, we both live with teenagers on the autism spectrum. So while it’s still Autism Awareness Month, I thought we could cat-chat about that.

KEITH: Sure! As you know, cats don’t care if our humans are diffurent. People are people. Love is love. And I love Charlie – to me, she’s purrfect.

KATNISS: Tell me about when you furst met Charlie, who was just ten years old at the time.

KEITH: From the meowment I set eyes on Charlie in the rescue centre, we fell in love. The family already had cats and no plans for meowr, but I can be very purrsasive. I knew I belonged with Charlie and she with me.

KATNISS: You were just a sick, skinny little thing back then. You’re very furtunate they took you home.

KEITH: No kitten! I was so sick I had to stay isolated in Charlie’s room for two weeks. Every night, she slept on the floor with me. She rinsed my eyes and made sure I could breathe. I am furever grrrateful. She saved me…

KEITH: …And I, in turn, have saved her. Charlie was so lonely – she had to attend a special school and had no furiends, so I became her best furiend. That was seven years ago.

KATNISS: The kids are even lonelier these days – my Max has been home fur a year doing school online, which gives me meowr time with him, but clearly he’d pre-fur to be going to school in purrson.

KEITH: My Charlie has struggled so much with online work and Zoom meetings. I help by sitting on the table with her fur every class, sometimes fur hours. I feel like it’s my purrpose to make her smile on the saddest of days.

KATNISS: From my purrspective, you seem like two peas in a pawd.

KEITH: Yes, we share a purrfound connection. Charlie is a very emotional purrson who becomes overwhelmed quickly. I know when she needs me and I will be there instantly by her side to help her through it. When she was younger, she had a quiet, dark place under a high sleeper bed to retreat to when it all became too much.

KATNISS: I hide under the bed when the vacuum cleaner becomes too much.

KEITH: Yes, exactly! So when she was seeking comfurt under the bed, I was meowr than happy to join her in there with the fairy lights and lavender smells, until she was ready to come out.

KATNISS: You are a very good furiend to her.

KEITH: Charlie has the most genuine, pure and caring heart I have ever known. Without her I would’ve died at six months old. I try to show her everyday how I appurrciate her. She’s truly special.

KATNISS: What would you say to the people who look at our teens and only see their diffurences?

KEITH: I would tell them how clever and talented Charlie is. That she’s a creative purrson with an exceptional talent fur furtography and various furms of art. That she loves mewsic and has a beautiful voice. I would tell people it’s ok to be diffurent and not fit in that box. I know there’s a lot of boxes I don’t fit into.