Originally published 2019-02-27.
Cotton is a white street cat from South Florida who was found in September 2016 starving, dehydrated and so badly affected by mange that crusts had sealed his eyes shut. Carmen Morales Weinberg, who runs the cat rescue Animal Friends Project, took him straight to a vet and nursed him in a spare bathroom at home. Within days he began to open his eyes, and within weeks the crusts had gone, revealing a healthy white coat and two different coloured eyes, one blue and one amber. Carmen ended up keeping him.
According to Carmen's own account, Cotton turned up on 12 September 2016 in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, when he walked out of nowhere and started eating from a bowl a man named Joe had put out for his own cat. Joe got the hungry stray into a carrier and posted online for help. Carmen collected him the next morning. The vet found severe mange, dehydration, anaemia and extreme thinness, but also a very friendly cat who purred during his examination.
The photos below follow Cotton from that first day to his new life indoors. They show crusted skin and inflamed ears in the early stages, but no open wounds.
Rescue day: a hungry stray in a carrier
Cotton on his first night, safe inside a pet carrier. It was too late in the evening for anyone to collect him, so he waited there until the morning, fed and out of danger for the first time in a long while.
The carrier on a tiled floor with Cotton curled on a towel inside. Even at this stage, his crusted face and ears show how far the skin disease had spread.
A close view inside the carrier. Thick grey crusts cover Cotton's forehead, eyelids and nose, and the edges of his ears are pink and inflamed, typical of the itchy mite infestation that causes mange in cats.
At the vet: diagnosis and first treatment
Cotton lies on a towel on the examination table while a vet team member in blue gloves strokes him. Despite his condition he was relaxed and affectionate, which told his rescuer he had probably known people before.
A close-up from the same visit shows heavy crusting along both ears and across the face. According to Carmen, the vet gave him the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, fluids for dehydration, an antibiotic and ointment for his eyes, and recommended several small meals a day.
Seen from above, the crusts on Cotton's head and ears look almost like tree bark, with raw pink skin showing where pieces had lifted. Cats with this degree of mange are usually intensely itchy, and constant scratching can lead to infections.
The first days of recovery at home
Back home, Cotton was quarantined in a bathroom that had just been freed up when a foster mother cat was adopted. Mange in cats spreads easily between animals, so keeping him apart from Carmen's other cats was essential.
Cotton eats from a bowl of dry food while a gloved hand rests on his head. His forehead is already looking cleaner, and the skin underneath is pink and healing. Regular small meals helped rebuild his strength without upsetting a starved stomach.
Resting on the bathroom floor, Cotton still has crusts on his ears and face. Carmen described softening them with coconut oil and giving him a bath with medicated shampoo prescribed for the skin condition.
A close-up of his head in the early days of treatment. The crusts around his eyes kept them closed, which is why he could barely find food on the street.
Cotton curled up asleep in a round brown cat bed in the corner of his quarantine room. Rest, warmth and a quiet space are an important part of recovery for an exhausted stray.
Walking over to his food and water bowls with a gloved hand on his back. Within days he was moving around confidently, a sign that his energy was returning along with his appetite.
Carmen's original Facebook post telling Cotton's story. It records the dates, the vet's findings and his early progress, including a second round of fluids, wet food every two to three hours and the moment he began to open his eyes. She noted that his ears were sore when the scabs came off, but soon turned light pink and started growing fine hair.
Eyes open: the transformation
Cotton eats beside his bowls with most of the crust gone from his face. His eyes are opening and the white fur around them is beginning to grow back.
The moment the story became famous: a clean-faced Cotton looking straight at the camera with one pale blue eye and one amber eye. Odd-coloured eyes like these, known as heterochromia, are especially common in white cats.
Fully recovered, Cotton stretches out on a patterned rug with a thick, clean white coat. It is hard to recognise him as the same cat from the carrier.
Sitting up on a leather sofa while someone strokes his back, Cotton shows off his healed ears and bright, open eyes.
Cotton peers out from between the leaves of a potted ivy, alert and curious. He settled into home life so well that Carmen decided to adopt him herself.
Leaning into a scratch behind the ear, Cotton gazes up at his rescuer. His friendly nature, noticed at the first vet visit, never changed.
Cotton playing with a black cat from the household. Once his treatment was finished and he was no longer contagious, he could finally meet the other cats.
A portrait of Cotton lying on a towel, his pale blue and green-gold eyes wide open and his once-crusted ears now clean and pink. The cat who could not see when he was found had become the picture of good health.
Two short videos tell Cotton's rescue story in motion.
Mange in cats: what Cotton's story shows
Mange is a skin disease caused by microscopic mites. In cats, the form that most often looks like Cotton's is notoedric mange, sometimes called feline scabies, caused by the mite Notoedres cati. According to Texas A&M's veterinary school, it spreads easily between cats and causes intense itching, crusty skin and hair loss on the ears, head and face. Left untreated it can lead to wounds from scratching, secondary infections, weight loss and lethargy, which fits the state Cotton was in.
The mites are too small to see, so a vet confirms the diagnosis by examining a skin scraping under a microscope and ruling out look-alikes such as ringworm or allergies. Most effective treatments are prescription medicines given as spot-ons, tablets or injections. Some anti-parasitic drugs and home remedies that are safe for dogs or people can be dangerous for cats, so if you find a cat with crusty skin or eye problems, take it to a vet rather than trying to treat it yourself. People can occasionally get itchy skin after long contact with an affected cat; anyone worried about a rash should talk to a doctor.
Cotton's eyes did not change colour during his recovery; they were simply hidden. White cats with one blue eye are worth having checked for hearing, because deafness is more common in them. Studies summarised by Wikipedia put it at around 40 percent of odd-eyed white cats, usually on the blue-eyed side. Cotton's original account does not mention his hearing.
Community cats in South Florida and how to help
Carmen's group, Animal Friends Project, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose motto is "Trap, Neuter, Heal ... Love". It feeds several colonies of community cats, pays for medical care for sick and injured strays, and finds homes for friendly cats through fostering and adoption. Like many groups in Florida, it uses trap-neuter-vaccinate-return, in which free-roaming cats are caught, sterilised, vaccinated, ear-tipped and returned.
TNR is popular with animal welfare charities such as the ASPCA but remains debated. Wildlife organisations point out that outdoor cats kill large numbers of birds and small animals, and reviews of the research find that colonies shrink only when sterilisation rates are high and many cats are adopted out. Most experts agree on one point: fewer unwanted kittens and more cats in real homes means fewer cases like Cotton's.
If you want to help, you can donate to Animal Friends Project, volunteer to foster or browse its adoptable cats. Updates appear on its Instagram and on Carmen's Facebook page. Wherever you live, getting your own cats neutered and supporting a local rescue makes a real difference.
Sources: Photos and account: Carmen Morales Weinberg / Animal Friends Project; Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine: Exploring Common Types of Feline Mange; Wikipedia: Deaf white cat; Wikipedia: Trap–neuter–return.
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