We sometimes hear about cats that were rescued from the streets and it can be a very difficult life for them as they get accustomed to being around humans. Unfortunately, many of those feral cats are never able to fully understand what it is like to be loved and it is sad when you think about the lives that they lead from that point forward. Fortunately, not every feral cat experiences that lifestyle.
Cotton was a cat that was also living life on the street. He was malnourished, riddled with disease and was very close to dying. He had mange so bad and had been eaten up by mites to the point where his eyes were scabbed over and he couldn’t open them. He would scrounge around to find any food that he could but it was almost impossible to do so. Fortunately, Carmen Weinberg of Animal Friends Project Inc. took him into her home and cared for him.
“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.”
Carmen cleaned Cotton up and helped him to get his strength back. She fed him healthy meals and helped him with his mange by using a mixture of coconut oil, antibiotics, and creams.
“We could just see his tense body start to relax as the days passed,” she said. “He was finally able to rest without scratching so much.”
“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.”
Finally, Cotton opened his eyes
Cotton still couldn’t see but he could sense that he was being taken care of. Carmen was able to watch the transformation as she nourished and helped to heal the cat. When he was able to finally open his eyes, it was a beautiful moment indeed. “We thought he was blind, and that he would be blind forever, “Carmen explained. “The vet thought that even when his eyes recovered they might be damaged, but they weren’t. It was such a wonderful surprise. His eyes were just beautiful.”
One of his eyes is a beautiful color of blue and the other is Hazel. Cotton started out as a bag of bones, close to death and now he is a beautiful and healthy tomcat. He was even surprised to get his vision back and he came to life as he was finally adopted by Carmen.
“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.”
Carmen helps many cats in South Florida because there is such an overpopulation problem.
“I decided to start Animal Friends Project after I saw the huge amount of homeless cats in South Florida,” she told Bored Panda. “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. I imagined that by bringing awareness to this problem, people would become friends of the animals and would want to help them.”
“My husband, son, daughter and sister help a lot and I have a few volunteers and fosters but I do most of the coordinating and work myself since I am the one that visits the low-income areas where most cats live. Problem is that I find sick animals every time I visit these communities and it is hard to do things like educating and fundraising while I am tending to the sick cats. Lots of driving around to vet visits.”
“My advice is to please not ignore them. 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.”
Her nonprofit has helped many many felines with various community services that help everyone, including the humans in the area. You can see some beautiful transformation videos of Cotton below:
