“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.”
In the two months since Nugent and Sweet Potato arrived, the cat and her dad have become inseparable and do everything together.
“So my dad has a recliner that he sits in and he’ll put his arm on the recliner, and every single time, without fail, Sweet Potato will jump up and sit in the little cove in his arm and cuddle with him,” Nugent said. “He’ll sleep in his bed or in his room. Whenever my dad’s computer, [Sweet Potato will] jump on his keyboard. Whenever my dad is sitting at the table to do some of his paperwork, Sweet Potato will sit on the paperwork. He just has to be on top of him.”
Nugent started posting videos of Sweet Potato and her dad on TikTok, and the sweet films have found a large audience. “When I read him all the comments, it was so cool to him that so many random people were rooting for him,” Nugent said.
But Nugent and her dad’s favorite joke is that he and Sweet Potato are basically twins. “My favorite part is that so many people say they look alike,” Nugent said. “Sweet Potato has a little white mustache, and my dad has a white mustache … and it makes us laugh so hard.”
@french75vintage Update on my dad and cat becoming best friends. #catsoftiktok #catlover #besties #bestfriends
♬ Just the Two of Us – Grover Washington, Jr.
Since nurse Sweet Potato took over, Nugent’s dad’s health has greatly improved. And she can’t help but think her cat has had something to do with it.
“I really think the emotional support of Sweet Potato and the cuddles and just being there — it’s had a huge impact on him,” she said.