Posted on 10/25/2020 9:14:09 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
If you are an animal lover, hearing rescue stories about them might be one of your favorite things. Well, this one will surely tug at your heartstrings, as the feline protagonist in this story surprised his rescuers with something they never imagined they would discover.
This is Cotton, a stray cat who had been living in the streets before Joe, the owner of the home where he was found, saw him wandering outside his house in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.
He said the lost kitten came out of nowhere and started eating from the bowl of food that he prepared for his cat. According to him, Cotton looked “very hungry, like if he had not eaten in days.”
After watching him for a while, he noticed that the cat was suffering from a severe case of mange, a type of inflammatory skin disease caused by mites. Cotton’s eyes were crusted shut because of this and he is unable to see. Feeling sorry for the cat, Joe went inside his home to find a carrier.
Luckily, he got one and he placed a bowl of food inside. He said Cotton immediately walked into it, still looking so hungry after eating from the first bowl.
Joe posted a plea for help on a local group on Facebook, but no one took notice. Until one day, Carmen Weinberg – who has been fostering stray cats and helping them find homes – came across the post through a friend. She knew right then that she had to help poor Cotton.
“Early the next morning, I drove to pick him up. I took him immediately to my vet, Justin Bartlett Animal Hospital, and they confirmed that he was suffering from mange, was very dehydrated and malnourished,” Carmen informed Love Meow.
The condition kept Cotton from opening his eyes, which means that he had been wandering the streets completely blind for quite some time. According to Carmen, the kitten was purring the whole time he was being examined in the veterinarian’s office.
He was then given antibiotics to treat his mange, a dose of Revolution, and fluids before he was sent home. Fortunately, Carmen had a spare bathroom in her house where she let Cotton stay.
Cotton was extremely skinny when he was found, but he ate well and loved being touched, said Carmen of the rescued cat. “My husband Don, son Carlos and daughter Elisa, are used to dealing with cats with many illnesses and we knew that if we took some precautions, that we could still touch and love Cotton to help him heal.”
Within a few days of staying at Carmen’s household, the cat began to show signs of healing. Through the application of coconut oil to soothe his skin, the crust in Cotton’s ears started coming off. The cat was also given an abundance of canned food and lots of water to keep him hydrated.
As expected, Cotton gradually began to look healthier as he gained more weight and his hair started growing again. But here was the real twist – for the first time since he was taken in, Carmen noticed that Cotton had one blue eye and one yellow eye. What a nice surprise!
Carmen says that Cotton’s personality has changed over time. From being impatient when being touched, the cat has grown to be much more affectionate now. In fact, the cat would not let her go anywhere alone, and would often give her kisses and ask for her attention.
“Cotton is doing very well. He is home. He loves me and follows me around the house all day. I don’t have the heart to put him through changes,” Carmen told Love Meow.
Cotton has totally transformed into a handsome and healthy feline. This cat’s story is proof that the lives of rescue animals can be saved with the just the right amount of patience, dedication and most importantly, love.
The eyes thing is called heterochromia. Cats with heterochromia tend to be deaf on the side with the blue eye. David Bowie also had heterochromia, as it occurs in humans as well.
CC
“Taming a feral kitten can be hit or miss.”
In 2011 we took in three ferals who were three months old (per the vet). We’d never done it before. We contacted a group, “Feral Friends”, and they said, “You’ll never tame them; they’re too old.” Well, they’re way more loving and clingy than the others.
A year later we brought in their mother (we had done TNR on her after bringing in the kittens). She loves being petted, and she snuggles up to you — but don’t even think about picking her up. When we moved to a new house in 2016 it was quite the circus trying to get her into a carrier.
” vomited often; it became worse and more frequent. She began losing weight; it obviously distressed her to feel so poorly.”
One of our ferals started doing this about a year after we rescued her. She’d vomit once or twice a day — each episode was preceded with a chilling shriek. She was scrawny, and you could tell she was in pain the way she sat hunched over with pain in her eyes.
We gave her prednisolone (compounded with a chicken flavor) every day in her canned food, and it helped for a while, then I guess she built up a tolerance and then it was start over.
Another vet tried a shot of Kenalog, and it was amazing. She stopped vomiting daily but at a certain point — about a month after the shot — it would happen again. So we’d take her for another shot, and she’d be good for a while. Time between visits grew longer.
She gained weight, her coat got gorgeous, and her personality totally changed. I checked the calendar, and her last shot was in FEBRUARY — so 8 months of healthy kitty! (Knock wood.)
Not true. I'm with you on that one.
I just finished feeding my six feral cats in the garage, 5 a.m. here and three below zero.
I haven't yet fed my biggest and (at 12 years) oldest feral, who lives in the house and out, and is my best pal.
The "garage kitties," as they are known, are more or less tame, depending on which one, and they all have distinct personalities and singular patterns and routines.
One of them wants desperately to live in the house--she is the queen of the ferals--but of course some of that pipe dream would go up in smoke after a week or two relative confinement. Plus she triggers the hell out of my allergies.
Some of my ferals are shy, not to say paranoid, but most will at least stand a petting. What is remarkable about all of them is just how they do, after some time of being treated well, grow into decent and friendly sentient creatures.
“after some time of being treated well, grow into decent and friendly sentient creatures.”
One of the ferals which we were told we never could tame is extremely sentient.
After hip replacement surgery I slept in the guest room for about six weeks. Maris decided she was my nurse. Around bed time, she’d sit upright on the bed waiting for me to maneuver with the walker and slither in to bed. When I lied down, she’d come up and lie by my head and purr in my ear until I was seconds away from dropping off. Then she’d move down to the bottom of the bed to sleep.
That re-played each time I’d get up to use the bathroom, take meds, etc. She’d sit up, wait for me, purr me to sleep, and move to the bottom. She really wouldn’t leave me.
Leave the poor old cat, remove the fat bitch and/or bastard from the roster.
Leave the poor old cat, remove the fat bitch and/or bastard from the roster.
Prrrrfect!
Dog and cats, living together.
Love is blind!
On the list, please. 😻🐾
You have too much hate in you to watch where you step.
Sorry Miss PETA I grew up in a farm environment,we chopped heads off chickens, killed beef cattle and the list goes on.
Our cats had a job as did the dogs and before engines so did the horses for my grandpa’s, the animals were tools.
Sorry to burst you bubble
Added. I haven’t posted a video lately, but there’s still a number of them on here to see. Pay no mind to the other idiots around here who post garbage on these threads.
One of our feral rescues had a puking problem. Did it every day after letting out a loud screech. Vet gave us prednisone that we mixed with wet food every day and it worked for a couple years. Then it stopped. I guess she built up a resistance or something. Now she gets Kenalog shots and it’s wonderful. Sometimes a shot will last for three or four months, and sometimes a year. She’s happy and chubby.
I can tell when it’s wearing off, as she’ll sit hunched up and uncomfortable looking. The day the screech comes she goes to the vet.
Sorry, but that’s the “grew up in the ghetto without a father” argument which does not entitle you to come over to a animal lovers’ thread and cr@p all over other peoples’ joy.
Go back to sixth grade. Learn grammar and punctuation. Re-post and maybe someone can make some sense of what you’re trying to say. (Skimming it, I take it your gist is nasty; maybe on second thought, don’t re-post.)
Beautiful.
We had a white cat named Bowie who had the same thing.
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