"If it wasn't for Scabies I would have inhaled enough smoke that I would be dead."

Clarice Aikman has four cats. One of them, Scabies, sleeps on her chest at night, with his paws outstretched to her neck. And that's exactly how he fell asleep with her in the early morning hours of Christmas day...until he started to swat and kick her in the face.

"I sat up and I was like 'what the heck, why is it so hazy in here?" That's when she saw white smoke coming out of her floor vent and realized that the apartment was on fire. The smoke detectors had not yet gone off.

She tried to round up her cats, and ended up opening a window and calling 911. She has asthma and COPD, and ended up ripping off a screen to climb on to the porch. When the firefighters arrived, they rescued all of her cats: Scabies (of course), Mr. Happy McFlea, Mars and Havoc. All of the cats are staying with her at a motel that was paid for by the American Red Cross.

However, Clarice needs some help. She's been looking into subsidized housing, and most places don't allow animals. The places that do have a long waiting list. "I can never abandon him," she said of Scabies. "He literally saved my life."

A site has been set up to help her financially. You can visit it HERE.

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