Cornelius Cornbread is a 4-year-old feline from Nashville, Tennessee who became popular for his fashionable eyebrows. Thanks to these white marks on his forehead, he has conquered the internet with his sophisticated look. According to his owner, Karen Mellette, Cornelius has had these “eyebrows” since he was a kitten due to a lack of fur in the area between his ears and eyes. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with his owner Karen Mellette!
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
This cat has an Instagram account with over 6,801 followers as his fans say that “many humans would pay for eyebrows like yours.” His sassy, concerned look (which one day he can certainly trademark) makes him appear as a classic gentleman. Especially in the photos where he’s wearing a bow tie! However, Cornelius not only has good looks, but also a charming and loving personality. “A loving, highly intelligent, inquisitive, confident, sassy daredevil who expects to be the center of attention and is completely unrelenting if his demands are not immediately complied with. If we pay attention to another cat, he is on the scene immediately demanding attention. He also picks up on emotions. If we are worried—he gets worried. If one of the other cats hacks up a fur ball, he will go check on them and sit with them. When Duke starts barking at a squirrel or delivery people, he runs to Duke and meows worriedly,” says Karen to Bored Panda.
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
It’s not a secret that Cornelius has brought a lot of happiness to Karen’s family. Karen says that at the time she got him, she was devastated by the loss of her other cat and injured and disabled shortly after that. “Our cat Inky passed away in his sleep from suspected cardiomyopathy. We were devastated and our cat Bea was as well. My husband has such a big heart. He found a litter of Bombay kittens and two of them looked so much like our Inky. They were all named country dinner names: Cornbread, Beans, and Coleslaw. We came for Beans because he looked so sweet and seemed to be just what we needed to heal our hearts, but when we got there, Beans hid under a piece of furniture! Meanwhile, Cornbread pranced right up to me, proceeded to show off, and he let me hold him—that sealed the deal and he has been my little buddy ever since. He is very sassy and most definitely rules our house, but mostly, he’s just a clingy snuggler that sleeps curled up on me or next to me.”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
When asked what was her first impression of Cornelius, Karen says: “He was a happy, confident little rascal—a dynamic bundle of energy with a BIG personality. He was such a show-off; he wasn’t afraid of us at all. He marched right up to me and was immediately affectionate. I would say his Cornelius Cornbread persona was fully formed as a kitten.” It seems like Cornelius knew that they were going to be a family so he tried to impress them. “He was immediately curious and drawn to us. As soon as we opened the door to the kitten room, he made his escape, ran around, and then came back all within a few seconds. He was such a SHOW-OFF and a bundle of energy zooming from one place to another in a circuit in and out of the cat tunnel, performing flying leaps over the litter box, knocking toys around, and then prancing back to me. He would stop and stare up at us intently each time he showed off as if to make sure we were watching, and to gauge our reaction to his amazing feats! We have always joked that he took one look at us and just instinctively knew he had to work the room in order to win us over.”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
“Cornbread is very important to me as he was such a comfort during a difficult time in my life. His hilarious antics and love helped me heal from the loss of our cat Inky and he helped to give me a focus while I was recovering from tendon injuries and a resulting spread of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) to my feet and legs. He and Bea and our dog Duke all slept with me and snuggled up on me during the day while I was on doctor-ordered bed rest and recovering from Spinal Cord Stimulator surgery to help manage the RSD.”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Karen says that Cornelius got really attached to her and couldn’t bear being alone. So he was lucky because Karen hasn’t worked since she got him. “I had to take early disability retirement from teaching, so he has always been home with me. Because of this, he would get anxious and stressed when I would leave.”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
“My husband Tommy cares for a feral cat colony and feral cats near his work. He has a partner that works with him to feed them and they have TNR all of the cats there but one now! We even found homes for a couple of them. We ended up adopting 3 of the feral cats ourselves: Nellie, her mother Sassy, and Polly Patches. Bea was older and not interested in playing with Cornbread, but now he has 3 younger sisters. He is so happy and absolutely loves them. They play constantly. Now, he is much less anxious when we leave because he has them!”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
“Cornbread loves to jump up on our shoulders. When we have visitors, he will sit on them and purr. He will even attempt to leap on their shoulders sometimes. He is very vocal. He meows to himself a lot while wandering around. He meows to tell on himself when he’s up to no good and he does sassy meows when he gets in trouble. He almost lost his left eye! It was very serious. He had two surgeries and was under the care of an eye specialist to remove a corneal sequestrum from his eye. It left a scar that you can see sometimes in the right light.”
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles
Image credits: corneliuscornbreadchronicles