Scrappy book for world famous cat

Scrappy made headlines around the world when he began turning white after being born jet black.

It resulted in hundreds of thousands of people following the animal on his own social media pages.

It was thought that the tom cat suffered from vitiligo - a condition which affects around one percent of humans and is even rarer in cats.

After Scrappy passed away last year aged 19, owner David Platt wanted to use Scrappy to help raise awareness of the disease.

The 47-year-old builder, who recently moved from Morley to Castleford, explained: “My mother always said that when Scrappy passed away she would have loved to see have seen him in a book because he was that popular.

“I set about finding an author and I put some feelers out on Facebook and an American woman said she wanted to write the book because she has a family member with vitiligo.”

Named ‘The Adventures of Scrappy’, the picture book is to be made available from Amazon on April 3, the anniversary of Scrappy’s death.

Although written for children, Mr Platt says there is also a serious message behind the story about vitiligo.

Although not life threatening, it is caused by a lack of melanin, a pigment in the skin, that leads to a change in skin colour, often in blotches. Mr Platt added: “There’s a bit about vitiligo and how it can affect kids and maybe give them some kind of hope because they can get bullied and have a really tough time with it.

“It will give parents a chance to explain through the book what vitiligo is all about, it’s what Michael Jackson had.”

Scrappy’s fur began to change colour at the age of seven to a marble-like white colour, which baffled vets who initially thought he’d had a stroke.

After his pictures were posted the internet they attracted attention from across the globe with several national newspapers taking an interest.

He still has over 325,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram which continues to grow.