Two months ago, Kelly Nugent traveled from Florida to New York to care for her dad. And she brought someone along with her to help — her cat, Sweet Potato.
Nugent’s father was receiving treatment for bone marrow cancer, and she wanted to be close to him. “He started having a really hard time getting around and doing things and pretty much needed 24-hour care while he was healing,” Nugent told The Dodo. “My dad is my best friend, and I realized I just had to be there with him.”
Her 2-year-old cat isn’t a licensed therapy animal — but he’s the next best thing.
“He’s the sweetest cat on the earth,” Nugent said. “He just loves everybody and wants to be around people. He has that dog-like personality.”
While Nugent’s dad loves animals, he considers himself more of a dog person. He’d never owned a cat and didn’t think of them as particularly loving or supportive animals. But Sweet Potato made sure to change all that.
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♬ Home – Edith Whiskers
“As soon as we got there and Sweet Potato acclimated, he became a madman for my dad,” Nugent said. “He would not leave his side, and still, to this day, they’re just attached at the hip.”
“It’s just the sweetest thing you could ever see because I know [Sweet Potato] can sense something’s wrong and that he’s needed,” Nugent added. “So he kind of just stepped up to the plate and was like, ‘This is my job now. I’m gonna help heal you.’ It’s like he knew.”
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