Houston shelter cat 'Quilty' goes viral after repeatedly letting his cat comrades loose

Quilty is a clever (albeit criminal) Houston-area shelter cat that has caught the eyes and hearts of thousands of people after a Facebook post about his antics went viral. Quilty is a clever (albeit criminal) Houston-area shelter cat that has caught the eyes and hearts of thousands of people after a Facebook post about his antics went viral. Photo: Friends For Life Animal Rescue And Adoption Organization Photo: Friends For Life Animal Rescue And Adoption Organization Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Houston shelter cat 'Quilty' goes viral after repeatedly letting his cat comrades loose 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Houston's own rebellious shelter cat Quilty is officially social media famous after a post about the feisty cat letting his friends loose went viral last week.

Named after the characters in Vladimir Nabokov's book, "Lolita," Quilty is a 7-year-old cat currently available for adoption at the Friends For Life Animal Rescue and Adoption Organization in Houston. He was originally born in the shelter but was returned a few months ago after his adopter had to move and could not take him along, according to Jennifer Hopkins with Friends for Life.

Quilty quickly made a name for himself at the shelter after repeatedly letting his other cat roommates out of their rooms and into the shelter lobby. Volunteers at the nonprofit animal shelter shared Quilty's antics with the world in a Oct. 29 Facebook post that quickly went viral on multiple social media platforms.

"Quilty will not be contained. And he has no shame," the shelter wrote in the light-hearted post. "Quilty loves to let cats out of the senior room. Repeatedly. Several times a day."

The photos of Quilty ruminating in the lobby he was "banished" to after being caught erupted on Twitter, reaching more than 135,000 people. Despite his seemingly bad behavior, the criminal cat has caught the hearts of people across the world.

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"We're pretty floored and excited about the response we've received on Quilty's antics," Hopkins told Chron.com. "He's an awesome cat. Our cats live in free roam cat rooms (the rooms that Quilty opens the doors in) and people are welcome to come visit with the cats whenever we're open."

Hopkins said the organization's tongue-in-cheek Facebook posts like the one that went viral are one example of how it tries to connect with the public and promote adoptions.

"We don't want to 'Sarah McLachlan' anyone with our communications; bringing a new family member into your home should be a joyful experience," Hopkins said. "We want to create more of that in the world, and if it means calling a cat a 'spicy a-hole,' then we're your people."

Since Quilty's rise to fame, the shelter has posted multiple times about his continuous escapades from crashing company meetings to trying to escape through windows.

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"Quilty now believes he can definitely escape through the windows," the shelter posted on Facebook. "While we doubt it, he's surprised us before."

Quilty may have already found his forever home after the shelter was inundated with applications for him, according to Hopkins. The shelter still has plenty of spicy and sassy cats that need forever homes though, she said.

For more on how to adopt from the organization, click here. The shelter is located at 107 E. 22nd Street, Houston and is open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com