We were also curious to know what inspired Maggie to start sharing photos of Luhu on Instagram, and if she ever anticipated that he would gain such a large following.

She wrote: “Oh, I have never anticipated Luhu will be loved by so many people around this world. I shared his pics on Instagram just because his personality and face always make me, my family and friends enjoy, so maybe he can make other people smile when they see his face, I think?

You know, sometimes we like to share nice things with others, especially when I get private messages from people on the internet about whether they said Luhu makes them happy or cured them sometimes or they watch Luhu’s videos when they feel bad, I think I did the right thing by sharing Luhu on Instagram.”

After Luhu became famous and started to earn money, his mom Maggie Liu decided that all the funds should help other cats in need

Maggie also commented on what has changed since the last post. “It was pretty long ago and I can’t remember it very clearly but I’m sure your last post made more people fall in love with Luhu and follow him!” wrote Maggie.

With Luhu’s sad expression bringing joy to so many people online, we asked how it feels to know that Maggie’s photos have such a positive impact on her followers.

“I feel so happy absolutely, Luhu cures me every day when I’m down or tired or emotional, so it’s really meaningful to me that some people can feel the same way about it as me,” shared Maggie.

“After Luhu became famous, he published a photo album in Japan and sold a desk calendar every year in China. All the proceeds were used to rescue stray cats, like buying cat food, treating stray cats who are close to humans and neutering operations, and then finding adoptions.

His fame surprised me, but I realized that he could use it to help other cats do something meaningful, the living environment for stray cats is still very bad in this world so far… I have never thought of using Luhu for my own benefit, and I have always believed that Luhu is a cat, so the money Luhu earned should be spent all on cats,” wrote Maggie.

Despite all the challenges, Luhu continues to bring light to his owner, people online and even other pets

Lastly, Maggie shared touching feedback that she got from followers: “Some comments and private messages are really touching me. I got a private message from a United States girl maybe in 2017.

She suffered from depression for 3 years and thought of ending her life sometimes, but after she followed Luhu and found such an unhealthy little kitten suffering pain and illness every day but never stopped fighting with them and still being positive and sunshine attitude, even making humans laugh all the time, she feels there is no reason to keep down!

More responses are about people starting to love cats from Luhu, and then they have their own cats. I’m so happy more people have the life experience with cats and feel more love from different family members.”