Animal protector Valia Orfanidou of Orphan Pet in Athens, Greece recounted the beautiful, heart-wrenching story of Cinnamon the orange cat. Cinnamon had lived with the same couple for 17 years but after their deaths, she was subject to a lot of change and even more abuse. Luckily, Cinnamon was rescued by SCARS and given a safe place to stay. It took a great deal of time for Cinnamon to tolerate humans again, but once she broke through that self-imposed wall, she found the love and the safety of home that she’d been missing.

Abandoned at 17, after losing everything and being abused and mistreated, Cinnamon came to us angry, confused and full of hatred. And while we thought that her days were counted, she didn’t just survive, against all odds, she thrived. …We thought we had given her a “home” to spend her final days, and for months we believed that this was all we could do. But Cinnamon wanted more from life, and she got it. She is too old, and too fragile to be put for adoption, so this will be her home, for the time she has left. Beside, home is where the heart is, and her heart is finally with us, even if it took her six months to surrender.