We've all heard the heart-warming stories before, we don't choose cats, cats choose us. Recently, Andrew Falloon, Member of Parliament for Rangitata in New Zealand, shared a photo on Twitter of his father recovering from surgery being cuddled by a cat. Except Falloon's parents didn't own a cat and no one knew who the cat belonged to! It appeared that the cat had strolled in off the streets and cuddled up to Falloon's father, acutely aware that the man was in need of some purr-filled cat cuddles.
We cannot help but wonder if cats know their scientifically documented abilities to encourage healing based on this now viral encounter. According to Medium.com:
A cat’s purr frequency is exactly 26 Hertz. This frequency corresponds with the frequency that scientists use in vibrational therapies to promote tissue regeneration.
Not only that, but a cat's purr has been suggested to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, decrease the symptoms of dyspnoea (difficulty in breathing,) and heal infections, swelling, bone healing and growth, pain relief, muscle growth and repair, tendon repair and joint mobility!
Wow... cats are amazing! No wonder this wandering hero came to Mr. Falloon's aid!
In an interview with Bored Panda, Andrew Falloon said:
Mum arrived home and found them cuddled up together on the couch. She snapped the photo before waking Dad up. He was pretty surprised to find the cat curled up!
Later in the day, he visited his parents and when his mum showed him the photo he knew he had to share it on Twitter.
They loved every second of this post!
We agree!
We cannot argue with this logic.
Even though Andrew knew he had to share the photo, he definitely didn't expect it to blow up to the proportions it did:
After Mum sent me the photo I popped it up on Twitter, thinking it might make a few people smile, but I never expected it would go so far. When I went to bed on Sunday night (New Zealand time) it had a couple of thousand views, when I woke up it was in the millions. Now it’s in the tens of millions.
It could definitely work globally.
It is not!
If like us, you're wondering who the cat belongs to... Falloon doesn't know, but he is familiar with the cat:
He’s from somewhere in the neighborhood. It isn’t the first time he’s turned up to their house, but his first time he’s jumped up on Dad. Apparently, his name is Ziggy and it’s quite common for him to go wandering.
After his dad woke up, Ziggy only hung out for a little bit before wandering back out. He knew approximately how long his services were needed.
Perfect matches don't exis.... oh.
And he was obviously correct. Swoon.
Andrew admitted it's been a few years since his parents have had a cat. Why is that? Falloon said it's because, "up until now my Dad hasn’t really been much of a cat person, but I guess he is now.”
Should his folks adopt? Well, Falloon isn't so sure:
Ziggy seems to have adopted my Dad, so I’m not sure if they’ll get another cat. My parents are just happy to have him visit every so often.
We love when humans adopt ill cats, senior cats, and chronic health problem cats... so why wouldn't we love the shoe on the other foot?
The Falloon family has been a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, and admittedly, Andrew said his father had no clue what was going on for quite a bit:
It’s nice to have Dad on the mend after his operation, but he’s a bit blown away by all the coverage. I had to explain to him what Twitter was and how it’s been seen by so many people.
We like this update, lol!
Some Twitter users reminisced courtesy of the Falloon family, extending smiles even further.
Ziggy is a good cat.
But with hidden meaning.
We're so glad this Twitter user pointed that out. We swooned all over again.
Lovely indeed.
They know who their friends are!
That's a past tense issue now, pal.
We're so here for it.
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