One Hong Kong family’s annual tradition has become quite the hit online after they shared a heartwarming collection of photos taken over the span of 10 years.
It all began in 2008 when Wong Ting-man was sitting on a sofa, holding his baby daughter Tiffany with one hand and petting their cat with another as the dog rested upon his legs.
“I was very tired. I had probably just changed my daughter’s nappy, and was taking rest on the sofa. She was just sleeping by my side,” Wong, a documentary producer, told the Daily Mail, adding, “and all of a sudden, my pets came up to the sofa and I couldn’t move an inch.”
Grace, his wife, who had just gotten out of the shower at the time, found his predicament to be quite “funny” so she decided to take a picture of it.
However, for reasons unknown, there was a hiatus between 2009 and 2012 before the family fully committed to doing the annual photo shoot.
In 2013, Tiffany, who was age 5, saw the picture and thought that it would be cute to all do the same pose and take pictures again. The rest, as they say, is history.
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“It’s not something special, but they will be good memories when we looked back in 10 or 20 years,” Wong said.
While the photo collection is adorable, the family is also helping open up the issue of pets’ hygiene when near a pregnant woman.
“It would be better if they also understand the meaning behind these pictures,” Wong said, pointing out the notion that people often give up their pet to animal rescue centers, veterinary clinics, or abandon them for fear of fur or feces posing health issues to pregnant women.
“We have at least two pets throughout my wife’s pregnancy and 10 years past, my daughter has never been admitted into hospital once,” he added.
“My father-in-law and my mother told me that I should think about how to handle these animals, but I just ignored them,” Wong said about the family’s pets, a dachshund and a cat, who were both rescued from a local veterinary clinic and were kept even when his 38-year-old wife was pregnant.
The family’s dog, a 13-year-old long-haired dachshund, would often jump and rest on his legs like a “worm” whenever Wong rests them on a stool.
Their 14-year-old cat named “left thigh” is very special as it always comes to one side of the sofa for the father to pet whenever he sits down. The feline’s left back limb was also amputated due to a past injury.
“Because of its disabilities, it often sits at the sofa ledge and asks me to scratch his back on the left,” Wong said.
With these series of photos, Wong hopes that families, especially those with pregnant women, will feel encouraged to keep their pets around.
Images via Facebook / CGTN
