Mia the ginger cat found her forever loving home nine months ago at the Tendercare of Westwood assisted living facility, is now bringing smiles and purrs to the people there this holiday.

When Kayla Wiggins, life enrichment director of the facility, was looking for the addition of a therapy cat, she never thought she’d get a kitten at all.

They took a trip to the SPCA of Southwest Michigan. "The whole way there we were saying: 'We are not getting a cat today, we are just going to look," she said to mLive.

The next thing they knew, they were leaving the shelter with Mia who was 6 months old at the time.

It was impossible for them to say no when Mia, a fearless charmer, leapt from a cat tower down to ride on Wiggins' shoulders.

The SPCA waived half of the adoption fee for them, and Mia was on her way to her new home.

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This is Mia's first Christmas, and she loves every bit of it from lying upside down in the tree to walking along parallel bars as patients do their physical therapy.

"Our admissions person lets people know right up front that we do have a cat, if that is a deal breaker," she added.

"Mia is the sweetest thing that you ever wanted to meet," said Sarah Farnsworth. "She loves it at therapy; she is down there whenever there are people. She walks the halls."

"We thought we were going to get a cat, thinking it would be calmer," Wiggins said. "We decided we wanted a kitty to grow up with us. It was our best decision ever."

Mia the ginger cat found her forever home at the Tendercare of Westwood assisted living facility is bringing a lot of smiles to people this holiday.

This is Mia’s first Christmas, and she loves every bit of it from lying upside down in the tree to walking along parallel bars as patients do their physical therapy.

“We decided we wanted a kitty to grow up with us. It was our best decision ever."

WATCH VIDEO: Mia the tendercat cat finds home at assisted living facility

Source: mLive.