Barney Bubble lived alone in the Parkanaur Forest in Northern Ireland when a neighbor alerted about a ginger cat with something strange on its face.
His nose was almost three times larger than Boss’s, another cat at the Rescue Cats NI shelter that rescued him in July 2024. No one knew what was wrong with him. The first tests raised the worst alarm: it could be a tumor.
The tests ruled out cancer and revealed something much rarer: a Cryptococcus infection, a fungus acquired through contact with contaminated soil or bird droppings. After nearly a year of treatment, his nose is visibly smaller now, and Barney remains inseparable from Boss, while hundreds of people around the world continue to follow his recovery week by week.