“His face said everything that needed to be said.”
In Quebec, Canada last year, on Valentine’s day, a woman heard crying sounds coming from her back garden.
When she checked to see what it was, she was greeted by an orange tabby cat standing in the snow, looking in need of some TLC.
The cat meowed as if to say ‘help’, and pawed at her door.
The woman, a foster volunteer with Un Chat à la Fois, a kitten rescue in Quebec, messaged Marie Simard with a photo of the cat.
It was initially thought that the cat was lost due to his friendly nature, but he didn’t have a microchip and hadn’t been neutered, so Marie couldn’t be sure if he’d ever been properly looked after.
“She said she knew we were not taking adult cats and was looking to help him,” Simard, founder of Un Chat à la Fois, told The Dodo.
“As soon as I saw the picture it broke my heart, and I told her to take him to our partner clinic so he could be evaluated.”
“His face said everything that needed to be said,” she added. “He stayed in front of her door for a while, and as soon as I told her to get him, he didn’t try to get away.”
The vet at the clinic found that the cat did indeed need help.
The poor stray was covered in bite wounds, fleas, and ticks and was suffering from frostbite, rotten teeth, and diabetes.
Simard knew if the kitty hadn’t asked for the attention he so desperately needed that day, there was no way he would have made it through the freezing cold winter.
The cat was so grateful to just be around people again.
“He was very nice to the employees at the clinic,” Simard said. “He would take his paw out of the cage at the vet so the people would pet him.”
Simard named the cat Aslan, after the lion in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series.
Aslan’s health improved after a few days, and he went to live in a foster home, where he quickly became friends with his new siblings.
Aslan made sure his foster Mum knew just how happy he was to be safe and warm.
“He’s a very affectionate cat,” Simard said. “He likes to sleep close to his foster Mum.”
Aslan’s new owner couldn’t bring herself to separate him from his new sister cat, Cleo.
“He would just sleep next to her, groom her and she would groom him,” Simard said. “It made sense to have them stay together — two rescue cats who had a tough life.”
We’re so happy for this sweet lion boy.
