Dave Krantz's outlook on social media has improved dramatically after he accidentally became a cat influencer.
The Darwin father of two suddenly has a social media reach in the millions after posting about Finn, the abandoned kitten he found on Christmas Eve.
It was a perfect storm: Finn turned up in a palm clump in the garden on Christmas Eve when animal shelters were closed, and good-humoured Mr Krantz had the digital wherewithal to bring Finn to the world.
"Finn's fans will probably hurt me if I stop posting about him," he said.
Celebrities, namely actor Mark Hamill and comedian Kathy Griffin, have endorsed Finn the kitten in what Mr Krantz has jokingly described as a "hostile takeover" of his social media account, @weskrantz.
Before Finn, Mr Krantz's mundane middle-age, middle-class suburban posts attracted paltry "sympathy likes" from a few dozen digital passers-by.
But in the month since Finn turned up, Mr Krantz's influencer equity has exploded and each cat photo or video earns thousands of views and comments from people from all walks of life.
His online success has been attributed to more than just owning a cute cat.
Finn changed me
Mr Krantz said Finn's influence had changed his own social media habits, and he was no longer "looking for beefs, shitposting, making snarky comments, getting involved in internet drama".
"It's really restored my faith in the internet," he said.
While Mr Krantz is dismissive of his contribution to Finn's success, the narrative has gripped the public.
"The people that are following Finn are very interested in finding out his day-to-day activities in life."
The journey is the narrative
Mr Krantz, an environmental campaigner by day, has always been a cat owner, and Finn joins existing rescue cat Mia in the Krantz household, in Darwin's Rapid Creek.
"That's the journey that people like," he said.
"There's a lot of people who are very invested in the success of Mia and Finn's relationship."
Why has a kitten changed the man?
Cat owner and NSW University social psychologist Lisa Williams is a positive-emotion researcher.
She said cute cat videos could be explained by the Japanese phrase Kawaii, which is a culture of "cuteness".
"Researchers have identified that there is an actual emotion that we feel when we look at cute things," Dr Williams said.
"Positive emotions actually are really prone to spreading online. People like engaging and sharing positive content."
A package deal
But Dr Williams said it was not just the kitten that had caused the media storm.
"He's quite funny," she said.
"It's not just the cute cat.
"My guess is that some of what's capturing the public's view on this in a positive way is that it's nice blend of positivity and humour.
"It's become a narrative story and people are clued in to find out what happens next with this guy and his cat."
She said the kitten had humanised Mr Krantz.
"We elevate some folks to be relatively more human, and we deny humanness to other humans," Dr Williams said.
"His cat and this story have really humanised this person.
"That's a bit of a refresher from some of the other content going around that can often be quite negative."
It's the cortisol
Sue Cotton from youth mental health service Orygen is an advocate of animal therapy, and said cute online content could be therapeutic.
"We just love seeing and having unconditional love from a pet," Professor Cotton said.
"There's a lot of research to say that human-animal interactions and having a pet makes you feel less stressed.
"There's been research to show that it can decrease your levels of cortisol by looking at an animal, by petting an animal.
"Cortisol is often increased when we're really stressed. But when we're interacting with an animal, the levels of cortisol go down and make us feel better.
"Working with animals, you can also have lower blood pressure.
"Having animals around can reduce the sense of loneliness, increase your feelings of getting social support, and just boost your mood."
And what about the devastation to wildlife cased by cats?
Mr Krantz defends that his animals are indoor-only and are put on a leash outside.
Finn was named after Finn The Human from the animated series Adventure Time.
