It was a spokesperson from Sanrio who said it. Somebody was writing down information for an exhibit on Hello Kitty and sent it to Sanrio to fact check it. Shockingly, Sanrio is adamant that Hello Kitty is not a cat, she's a little girl who lives in England. And she's a cartoon. But she is not a cat. No explanation for the fur, paws, whiskers, pointy ears.... But the person who did the image of Kitty as a girl is a genius.