In April 2019 a New Zealand family came home to a small mystery: a tabby cat none of them owned was curled up asleep on the father of the house, who was resting after an operation. His son, Andrew Falloon, then the National Party member of Parliament for Rangitata, shared the photo on Twitter with a short explanation, and within a day it had been seen millions of times.
The story is simple and true to life. The mother had popped out and left a door slightly open; a wandering neighbourhood cat let itself in, found a warm, quiet lap and settled down. She came back, found the pair asleep together on the couch, took a picture and only then woke her husband, who was astonished. The visitor turned out to be a local roamer called Ziggy.
Below are the original tweet, the family’s account of who Ziggy is, and a selection of the replies that poured in, with notes on what we actually know about why cats do this.
The photo and the tweet
This is the tweet that started it, posted on 14 April 2019. In three short lines Falloon explained that his dad was recovering from an operation, that his mum had gone out and left the door ajar, and that his parents did not own a cat. The screenshot shows it had passed 470,000 likes when it was captured, an enormous number for a backbench MP’s family snapshot.
Falloon later told Bored Panda he had posted it “thinking it might make a few people smile”. When he went to bed that Sunday night, New Zealand time, it had a couple of thousand views; by the morning it was in the millions, and later in the tens of millions.
So who is Ziggy?
According to Falloon, Ziggy lives somewhere in the neighbourhood and is known for wandering. He had turned up at the house before but had never climbed onto anyone. After his father woke up, the cat stayed for a while and then strolled back out the way he had come.
His parents had not kept a cat for several years, and his father had never been much of a cat person, until now. Falloon summed it up neatly: “Ziggy seems to have adopted my Dad,” so the family were in no hurry to get a pet of their own and were happy to have visits every so often. The attention left his father a little bewildered; Falloon said he had to explain to him what Twitter was.
The internet’s verdict: the cat owns them now
Thousands of people replied. A large share of them made the same affectionate joke that has followed cats for centuries: you do not choose a cat, the cat chooses you.
One of the earliest replies, within an hour of the tweet, called the scene sweet and declared that the cat now owned Falloon’s parents. It set the tone for much of the thread.
Answering that, another user offered the old saying that dogs have owners while cats have staff. The line is a long-running internet proverb rather than anything said by a known author.
This reply, apologising for being the bearer of bad news, told Falloon that his dad was now the property of the cat. With nearly 10,000 likes it was one of the most popular responses in the thread.
Here a commenter suggested the roles had been reversed and that it was the father who had been adopted. She added that both of them looked perfectly content.
A play on the language of animal shelters: according to this reply, the cat had gone out and found itself a rescue human. It earned several thousand likes.
Replying to the line about the parents not having a cat, this user answered in three words that they do now. Short and to the point, it was liked more than a thousand times.
In the same spirit, this reply rewrote the original tweet as a news-style update announcing that the parents now have a cat.
A grammar joke: one commenter “corrected” the tweet by moving it into the past tense, stressing that the parents did not have a cat. Since Ziggy, that statement is open to debate.
Comfort, therapy and what the cat really knew
Many people read the scene as proof that animals sense when someone is unwell. It is a lovely idea, and the photo is moving either way. But nothing in the family’s account shows that Ziggy knew anything about surgery. Cats generally prefer warmer temperatures than people do and often seek out a warm, still body to sleep on, and a man dozing quietly on a couch is ideal. Plenty of human comfort can come from that, whatever the cat’s reasons.
This reply rewrote a police-style warning as a playful “right” to cat comfort, promising that anyone without a cat would be issued one mysteriously and free of charge. It drew well over 2,000 likes.
Another user cast Ziggy as a travelling therapy cat reporting for duty. Therapy animals are a real thing, but they are specially assessed and work with handlers, unlike a neighbour’s wandering tabby.
A commenter from Northern Ireland repeated the idea that you never own a cat, only get claimed by one, and suggested the animal had realised the father needed some love.
This reply praised cats that seem to seek out people with chronic illnesses or recovering from operations. It reflects a common belief; research into pets and health suggests companionship can lift mood for some people, but evidence that cats detect illness is anecdotal.
Another simple, warm response: the cat just knew the dad needed some love. Variations on this line were among the most common replies.
Several people noticed a detail that makes the picture: the father’s hand and the cat’s paw are resting together, as if they are holding hands.
Here the cat is described as having seen someone who needed a cuddle. The thread is full of this kind of gentle reading of the moment.
A fellow New Zealander went further, calling cats mystical creatures that simply know. It is a fun thought, even if the science points to warmth and comfort.
If you are recovering from an operation yourself, a pet’s company can be welcome, but ask your doctor or surgical team about contact with animals, especially near wounds or drains.
Readers share their own cat stories
The thread also turned into a swap of stories about cats that arrived uninvited and never really left.
This reply placed a close-up of the dad’s hand and Ziggy’s paw beside the well-known “crying cat” meme, a playful way of saying the scene was almost too touching.
A user in England shared a photo of a white-and-tabby cat snuggled into a duvet, explaining that this was exactly how they had ended up with a permanent “lodger”.
Another person recalled that their first cat picked them out at the shelter, running straight to her husband and jumping into his arms.
A New Zealand reply imagined the cat’s reasoning: it was simply passing by and spotted an unattended lap. It is probably the most accurate explanation in the thread.
This commenter pointed out that cats make their own friends; theirs introduced itself to the neighbours years before the humans ever met them.
The obvious question: what is the new cat called? The answer, Ziggy, came later from Falloon himself.
Before the real name was known, one reply suggested “Myah”, short for “make yourself at home”, which is exactly what the cat did.
Why this small moment travelled so far
The photo has everything that tends to spread online: a tender scene, a twist explained in a single line, and no villain. It also matched a story many cat owners recognise, the stray or neighbour’s pet that slowly moves in on its own terms.
The family never claimed anything more than what they saw, and that is part of its charm. A door was left open, a warm couch was occupied, and a man recovering at home woke up to a new friend. For another animal story with a happy ending, read about Gregory the beagle’s rescue.
Sources: Andrew Falloon on Twitter/X (original post, 14 April 2019); Bored Panda interview with Andrew Falloon. Reply screenshots show public posts by Twitter users responding to the original tweet.
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