Nobody likes to recover from a major surgery.
Let’s face it, the entire process is pretty unpleasant. First, there’s you learning that something is wrong with you and that you’ll need to get surgery to fix it. After that, there’s the anticipation of going under the knife, waiting around and then finally going in and going through it. Still, even when it’s all done and you’ve paid your insurance company, after that you still have to sit around at home and recover—and depending on how serious the surgery was, that can take a long time. For those reasons and others, it’s nice to have a little support.
Fortunately, one man got his support from an unexpected source.
The whole story came from Andrew Falloon, a member of Parliament for Rangitata in New Zealand.
As it turns out, Falloon’s dad was at home recovering from a surgery when he was joined by an unexpected furry friend. An adorable cat had cuddled up next to Falloon’s dad and was keeping him company while he was sleeping. Still, there was only one catch to this wholesome story.
Falloon’s parents didn’t own a cat!
Somebody had left the door open while Falloon’s dad was asleep, and the cat had crept in.
Although Falloon’s Twitter feed is typically dedicated to political posts and comments about other current events, he still chose to tweet out this picture of his dad. As it turns out, that was a great choice—because it now has nearly half a million likes! Needless to say, the adorable story was picked up by all kinds of digital outlets including The Dodo, Mashable, MSN and others.
Still, the story got perhaps the biggest reaction on Twitter itself.
Some people compared the cat’s arrival to the assignment of a public defender.
Someone else commented that the dad in the photo had reversed roles with the cat as well.
One of the funniest things of all is that Chris Barron of ’90s band Spin Doctors even got in some commentary on the tweet as well:
For his part, Falloon said that the entire thing was surprising to the whole family.
“My dad hasn’t been the biggest cat person,” Falloon said, “so I think he was as surprised as anyone when Mum woke him up.” As it turns out, the cat actually didn’t stick around for very long after Falloon’s dad woke up but instead scampered off. Still, the cat’s emotional support was obviously helpful. “Dad is well and truly on the mend now after his operation,” Falloon said.
Looks like we could all use a recovery cat when we’re on the mend.
For anyone who thinks that cats can be a little bit cold or distant, this tweet should prove otherwise.
The fact of the matter is that cats have had a bad reputation for a long time. As anybody who has had a loyal kitty knows, that reputation is unfairly earned. If you have a good cat at home, they will cuddle you, love you and generally show you the emotional support you need—just like a good dog will as well. If this story can bring any more awareness to that fact, then we’re all for it.
Congratulations to Andrew on his enormously viral tweet and we hope his dad is feeling better now!
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