Meet Kansas City’s cutest cat of 2025, a 3-year-old Dwarf cat
Note: You can now vote for Mike TV in a national contest through Thursday, Nov. 13.
Kansas City-area couple Mandy Morris and Phil Newman have built their lives around loving and supporting animals. And they have a particular soft spot for fostering and caring for special needs kitties.
That’s why when they got a call earlier this year asking them to pick up a Dwarf cat in need, they didn’t hesitate to help.
He could barely stand, and he hardly had any whiskers when they first met him.
“He was on death’s door,” Morris said.
So they did what they thought best: gave him a loving home and hoped he would make it. And he did. Now Mike TV, who’s 3 years old and named after the Willy Wonka character Mike Teavee, is a lively little guy who’s climbing, jumping and trying to run the household in Liberty, to the dismay of the couple’s other cats.
“We say he has short king syndrome. He just does not care that he’s the smallest in the house,” Morris said.
He’s also the winner of The Star’s 2025 cutest cat contest. He received more than 7,000 votes in the final round, capturing 44% of the total vote. Now, Mike TV will move on to compete in a national competition. Voting is not open through Thursday at bit.ly/KCCatVoting.
Mike TV has hypothyroidism, Morris said, a rare disorder in cats that doesn’t allow him to produce thyroid hormone and has stunted his growth. He weighs about 5 pounds. His back legs are fully developed, but his front legs are short, causing him to “hop like a rabbit,” Morris said. “Yeah, he’s ridiculous.”
He’s not the first cat The Star has featured from the couple, who also run Riverside vegan restaurant Tree Hugger. The Star’s Lisa Guttierrez interviewed them about their first special needs cat, Willy Wonky, in 2023 — a tiny black kitty they thought had wobbly cat syndrome.
He was spotlighted because the couple had been documenting his journey on social media. Their account now has 1.5 million followers on TikTok and over 380,000 on Instagram.
But when Willy Wonky’s condition worsened, the couple realized he had a different illness that gradually caused his body to stop working. He passed away shortly after his 4th birthday this past summer.
Today, the couple use the platforms to spotlight all the other cats in their care, including Mike TV.
Mandy Morris has many favorite memories with Mike TV, but her favorite might be watching his habit she calls “plooping.”
“So he’ll just be standing there and just ploop to his side,” Morris said. “He just falls to his side, and he just looks like he fades, but he doesn’t.”
The couple has had Mike TV for a little over 6 months now, and Morris said it’s been amazing to see him thriving in their care.
Besides taking care of their own cats, Mandy Morris and Phil Newman are deeply ingrained in fostering and advocating for cats around Kansas City.
The couple helps foster cats through The Rescue Project and run the Willy Wonky Foundation to help more special needs animals in the Kansas City area.
They say they want to continue using their social media presence to bring awareness to cats with special needs.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 10:00 AM.