In February 2016, Coconut was just another filthy, injured stray cat wandering the chilly streets of Boston when a lady saw him and realized she had to take care of him.

The fluffy, all-white stray appeared to not have much time left as a street cat because of his poor condition. His ears had scars and blood on them. And anytime someone approached him, he growled.

Joni Nelson, founder of Boston’s Forgotten Felines (BFF), has been rescuing cats for over 30 years. She took Coconut off the streets, initially just aiming to neuter him and rerelease him. But she realized that even though he wasn’t tame, she just couldn’t let him go.

“Poor Coconut was a mess,” Nelson said. He had a urinary tract infection, goopy eyes, ear mites, a limp, chronic diarrhea and was totally filthy. “But it was his nasty attitude that made him hard to like.”

Even though Nelson helped him get better, giving him medicine every day, he was still really mean. “He was very difficult to feed … He would never look up but sure would lash out when I opened his cage.”

Nelson realized that he didn’t always respond to visual cues and concluded he was partially blind. “After a long time, he started to calm down some,” Nelson said. “I could go in and clean his box and put down food without him coming at me but he still hissed whenever anyone walked by his cage. Still he never lifted up his head all the way, always looking down.”

Nelson said that it took the man “two really deep bites” before Nelson realized the man could only see shadows and was deaf. “Why should he be so evil? He was terrified, and no one is aware of the suffering he endured while spending so much time in that situation on the streets. He was unadoptable, therefore many people advised me to put him to sleep. I was unable to put him to sleep or allow him to live his life in a cage.”

Months went by. And Coconut appeared to quiet down very, very slowly. Nelson remarked, “It took me a long time to get him to let me touch him. But eventually, he did, one day. Initially, merely his head for a little moment.

Volunteers did all they could to show Coconut he was finally safe. And soon he got the message. “Lots of love and attention and he learned to trust and love,” Nelson said.

Coconut’s first foster mom, Sherri DeLuca, helped Coconut come around. Then it was time for him to try a foster home with Ashley Ward. “I admit I was very worried he would go back to being frightened and mean with strangers but after just one night of hiding he came out from under the bed in his new foster home,” Nelson said.

Coconut is incredibly delicious, according to Ward, who spoke to The Dodo. “He stumbles over to me to receive pets every time I enter the room. He immediately starts purring as soon as I begin to pet him. In order for you to pet him, he will cuddle up directly by your side and tuck his head under your arm.”

Since being saved from the streets a year ago, Coconut has come a long way, but he still needs a permanent home of his own.

“It has been truly beautiful to see the transformation in Coconut, from scared abandoned street cat to the kitty he is today, one who loves to be pet and loved,” Danapel C. de Veer, one of the other volunteers for BFF, told The Dodo. “It’s amazing what love, patience, security and kindness can do for a kitty like Coconut.”