When Julieanne Gerard first laid eyes on Cookie three years ago, the tabby belonged to someone else and was in the backseat of a car with a rope tied around her small neck.
The feline looked starved, weighing what seemed like one pound, even though she was about 3 years old, and her teeth were rotten. The sight horrified Gerard, who said her instinct was to immediately rescue the cat from her then owners, who she described as homeless and addicted to drugs.
Gerard scrounged in her purse and dug up all that she had to her name at the time, which was a $20 bill.
