The tale of a cat named Floyd Mayweather is one that will surely tug at your heartstrings, from his rough beginnings on the streets to finding a loving forever home. Floyd, a resilient senior blind cat, was found crying on the streets at 10-12 years old, but now he no longer has to fight. Today, he is living his best life as best friends with another cat in an amazing forever home with an owner that he adores. While his story may bring tears to our eyes, we are overjoyed to hear that he is doing much better now.
According to recent reports, Floyd was around 10-12 years old when volunteers from the nonprofit Neighborhood Cats were working to trap, neuter, and return a colony of community cats last spring in Jersey City. The first time the senior kitty was spotted was by Jade Vazquez, TNR director for the nonprofit’s branch in Jersey City, and at the time, he was already leaning on walls as he walked as if he needed support. Immediately, Vazquez realized that something was wrong with him. Submitted by Melissa Fiore.
“I had a feeling that something was off with the cat. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that there’s something not quite right,” she shared with TODAY. The next day, she set up a trap for him on the sidewalk, and Floyd approached her, crying. “It’s unusual for a feral cat to cry. They don’t like to draw attention to themselves, but if they’re in pain or distress, they will cry. He actually walked straight into a lamppost and stunned himself.”
It took a moment, but eventually, the cat walked into the trap she set for him, and after wrapping him up in a blanket and taking a closer look at him Vazquez realized he was essentially blind. “One eye was sunken, and both corneas were badly scarred from fighting.”
Despite the usual protocol of releasing cats like these back onto the street, Vazquez decided that returning him there would be like a death sentence. Instead, she took him into her own home for five weeks of treatment, all the while searching for a forever family to adopt the surprisingly docile cat.
“I thought he was going to be a really mean cat because he was a big boy,” Vazquez explained. “But because he couldn’t see, once you touched him, he would let you pet him. If you rushed in and grabbed him, then he was on the defensive. He was ready to bite. But he turned out to be a nice cat.”
By Jade Vazquez
Not long ago, the kitty found an adoptive mother. Melissa Fiore, a 45-year-old paramedic who had already rescued 3 cats and wasn’t looking for another one, heard about the blind, “slow-moving teddy bear,” and couldn’t resist taking him in. “I just had to adopt him,” she told TODAY. It took a month, but eventually Floyd relaxed and became best friends with Fiore’s other battered old tomcat, Sugar Ray Leonard.
“When Floyd first came to me, he was initially kept in a cage for about a month due to having bloody urine and needing several rounds of antibiotics before he improved,” Fiore shared. “Sugar Ray Leonard is very attentive to another cat that’s not feeling well or unhappy. So Sugar Ray Leonard would typically sit near the cage, looking at Floyd and showing interest and what I would call concern. He knows when another cat’s not happy, and he’s very in tune with it.”
By Melissa Fiore
Currently, the two cats are lounging around together in the sunny spots around the house. Not only that, Floyd has put on 6 pounds and hangs out with Fiore’s two other rescue cats as well, Googles and Lily, and he’s always the first one to jump onto the bed at night. He’s also totally in love with Fiore herself, “pressing against her whenever she’s working from home on the couch.”
It’s a heartwarming friendship, and a happy ending to a tough story, and we are so happy and thankful to hear it. “He is the friendliest cat in the house,” Fiore said. “He’s my best friend.”
For more adorable stories about senior cats, click here!
By Melissa Fiore
For a weekly dose of animal-themed community challenges – Subscribe to our Newsletter!
Can’t get enough of ICANHASCHEEZBURGER? Find us on Instagram!
