Cotton the white cat was discovered in a bad way. The poor stray was hungry and in a lot of pain. He had come down with a serious case of mange, which had spread to his whole body and even began to affect his eyes.
It was incredibly lucky that a woman named Carmen Weinberg spotted him at just the right time.
Carmen was the founder of Animal Friends Project Inc, a cat rescue and fostering organization which she had formed after she noticed the huge amount of homeless cats in her hometown of South Florida.
“Most of these cats needed to be spayed and neutered and many were sick and injured and people and organizations did not seem to be doing much to help them,” Carmen told Bored Panda. “I imagined that by bringing awareness to this problem, people would become friends of the animals and would want to help them.”
Carmen has fostered dozens of sick rescue cats over the years, so decided to create a quarantine ward for Cotton in her bathroom while he got better. Here, she fed him lots of tasty meals and treated his mange with a round of antibiotics.
“He couldn’t even see or open his eyes because the mites were so bad,” Carmen told The Dodo. “It must have been so scary for him out there not being able to see. He was all alone and so skinny because he couldn’t find food.”
“Cats like Cotton depend on people to heal, because they cannot always ask for help … I’m sure so many people passed him by because of how sick he looked, but he was just waiting for someone to give him a chance.”
It was horrible seeing Cotton so uncomfortable, but thankfully, after a couple of weeks of treatment, the sweet cat began to heal.
Then one day, something amazing happened. Cotton opened his eyes for the first-ever time — and they were beautiful!
Cotton and Carmen had also formed a special bond over that time, and while he was a little hesitant of other people, the sweet cat wouldn’t leave Carmen’s side.
When Cotton became healthy enough for adoption, many people expressed their interest — but Carmen had already let her heart make her decision. She was keeping Cotton for herself so that their special bond could continue to grow.
“We got so many applications for him due to his looks, but in the end, I saw how attached to me he had become,” she said. “I didn’t have the heart to put him through another big change. He had already been through so much.”
“My advice is to please not ignore them,” she told Bored Panda. “Anyone can help animals. Many sick stray cats are friendly and it is very easy to put them in a crate and take them to a vet. People can fundraise to pay for medical care. At least take photos and start asking for help.”
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