From Stray to Family: Coco Needs Your Help

Coco’s story: Coco was a stray I’d been feeding for two years, and trying to capture for one. He was initially very shy and nervous, not wanting to be touched or come within 20 feet of a person. He’d had a noticeably bad right eye and I worried about him constantly.

With time and persistence he began to trust me, eventually running to the back porch at the sound of my voice. He spent the last winter sleeping in a shelter I’d made under our porch, but consistently refused to come into the house to an open door and thwarted my attempts at capturing him.

He visited for the food but stayed for the pets. I was very surprised to find he enjoyed being pet while eating, and never attempted to scratch or bite me. He became our third cat and a constant fixture in our yard and lives.

His eye continued to go through new phases of awfulness, oozing and red and clearly painful. I worried when I finally caught him I’d be too late, that the infection would spread, and that he’d hate being indoors. Fast forward to May 2025 I got the best view of his eye he’d ever let me have, and I knew it was now or never. I set the trap and prayed, and 24 hours later he was caught (and pissed about it).

The emergency vet recommended I could give him up and let a shelter cover the surgical costs, but I didn’t spend two years getting this little man to trust me to leave him in the home stretch. He made it through emergency surgery to remove the eye, and when placed in my arms for the first time, began to pur and (very sleepily) make biscuits.

With his own room in our home he came alive. All he wants now is love and pets. He crawls into my and my boyfriend's laps, makes biscuits on fuzzy blankets, and runs to his bed when we enter the room as if to say “Look at THIS SHIT! My own bed!” He is a sweet, playful boy and the perfect edition to our family.

Unfortunately his surgery maxed out my credit card, and like most Americans, I didn’t have a spare $5,000 laying around. I am hoping to raise funds to cover the surgery, and then his follow up appointments, labs, neutering, and all of his vaccines he still needs. I know times are tough for all of us right now, and appreciate any help you can give us. Coco trusted me to help him, and I trust our community to help us.

Thank you for reading, donating, and sharing.

With love and hope,

Coco & Shannen