‘Meowzart’ the piano-playing Wicklow cat lands major TV role

Kit playing the piano for Laura and one of her dogs. Picture: Laura Murphy

A piano-playing rescue cat from Wicklow is heading for stardom after landing a major role in a new TV series.

The feline Liberace was a whisker away from death after being abandoned by his mother at just one day old, but he was taken in and hand-reared by Laura Murphy, who quickly realised he was no ordinary moggy.

He began learning tricks within five weeks and discovered an unusual talent when he was placed behind a tiny piano, earning him the nickname Meowzart.

Now two years old and named Kit, the precocious cat regularly performs concerts for Laura and her dogs at their home in Wicklow, and he is now set to take his talents to an even bigger stage.

Kit — who has already starred in the Obituary dark comedy on RTÉ, as well as the Dead and Buried BBC drama — has just finished filming a new project in which he will play a more prominent role.

His impressive repertoire of tricks and talents has been carefully nurtured by Laura, a professional dog trainer who found many of the same training principles can be applied to cats.

“I love all animals but my whole life was set up around dogs and dog training,” she recalled. “I wasn’t really sure where a cat was going to fit in, but he did.”

Kit was one of three kittens born in a farm building before their mother was disturbed and fled. She later returned for two of them, but Kit was left behind and his chances of survival were slim until Laura intervened.

“Kittens are deaf and blind when they’re born, so Kit has never seen or heard another cat,” explained Laura. “All he really knows is me and the dogs. I don’t know if he thinks he’s a dog – he thinks he’s better than all of the dogs.”

By five weeks old, he could ring a bell, go to a mark on command, and jump into Laura’s arms when prompted.

“Now, he can do a few cool things,” she said. “He can do spins, fist bumps, and a cute one that I call a scrape, where he scrapes the air. He also jumps onto my shoulders. And then, of course, he can play his little piano as well.”

Kit’s acting career began with a macabre role in Obituary, in which he was seen gnawing on a dead body before vomiting up a human nose in front of a jogger. He subsequently landed a part in season two of Dead and Buried.

He has now secured a bigger role in his latest TV project, and filming has just finished. However, neither Kit nor Laura are allowed to talk about it at this stage. The show is expected to air later this year.

With stardom just a whisker away, it seems there is little this talented cat cannot do. However, Laura said they ran into problems when she tried to train him to use a human toilet.

“I inadvertently taught him to go to the toilet in the bath,” she recalled. “So, I was, like, just go back to the litter box.”

In any case, having reflected on the idea, Laura could foresee even bigger problems had the toilet training gone to plan.

“He travels with me so much. It made me think, is he going to have to use a public toilet? Am I going to look like the biggest weirdo, bringing my cat into a public toilet?” she asked.

For now, he will stick to the piano — where, as ever, practice makes purr-fect.