Mandan, North Dakota - The longer his rescuers spent with Chip the cat, the more they became aware of his strangely adorable appearance.
Having been rescued from an abandoned house in North Dakota along with numerous other cats, the feline ended up at the Central Dakota Humane Society in Mandan at the end of last month, where his carers were increasingly amazed.
The reason? Chip looked – in the best sense of the word – kind of silly, like the smiling "Cheshire cat" from Alice in Wonderland.
His caretakers were so thrilled by this fact that they took photos and posted them on Facebook.
The many reactions to the posts soon showed that they were not alone in their opinion.
"People couldn’t get enough of looking at Chip’s derpy grin," said Cameo Skager, communications and development director for the Central Dakota Humane Society, in an interview with The Dodo.
"It just makes you smile … His social media posts have reached more than 3 million viewers," she added.
But has Chip been able to benefit from this in the form of a new family?
Chip the cat, aka Waffle, now has his own Instagram account
"We’ve had comments from New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, many other states, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand," said Skager.
Among them was at least one family who wanted more than just to leave warm words.
Meanwhile, the cat lives there and has already got his own Insta account.
"We also did one follow-up post to let everyone know that he was going to be adopted," said Skaga.
In the meantime, Chip, who is called Waffle by his new family, has settled in wonderfully.
"Smooth brain, just a smooth brain. No ridges or lumps or valleys or bumps. All the thoughts slide right off," joked one user, as others echoed the sentiment that little Chip had a single brain cell.
"His one brain cell is working overtime," joked one user, while another said, "Of course he’s orange. Poor boy had the brain cell for a second but he thought it was a snack and ate it."
Other users wrote that they thought the cat was an AI creation! Luckily for all of us, this sweet little dude is the real deal.