On Valentine’s Day, a woman heard desperate cries coming from her backyard. Stepping outside, she found an orange tabby standing in the snow, looking battered and cold.
The cat pawed at her door, meowing as if pleading to come inside.
The woman, a foster volunteer for Un Chat à la Fois, a kitten rescue based in Quebec, quickly snapped a photo and sent it to Marie Simard, the rescue’s founder.
“She explained she knew we typically don’t take in adult cats but wanted to help him,” Simard told The Dodo. “As soon as I saw his picture, it broke my heart. I immediately told her to bring him to our partner clinic for evaluation.”
“His face said it all,” Simard added. “He stayed by her door for quite a while, and when she went to get him, he didn’t resist at all.”
At the clinic, it became clear the cat had been through a lot. He was covered in bite wounds, riddled with fleas and ticks, suffering from frostbite, rotten teeth, and was diagnosed with diabetes. If he hadn’t sought help when he did, he likely wouldn’t have survived the brutal winter.
Despite everything, the cat was overwhelmingly grateful to be safe. “He was so sweet to the clinic staff,” Simard said. “He would stick his paw out from the cage, asking to be petted.”
Simard named him Aslan, after the noble lion from The Chronicles of Narnia. After a few days of treatment, Aslan’s condition improved enough for him to move into a foster home, where he quickly bonded with his foster mom’s other cats.
Every day, Aslan showed his appreciation, showering his foster mom with affection.
“He’s a very loving cat,” Simard said. “He always wants to sleep right next to her.”
When it came time to find Aslan a forever home, his foster mom couldn’t bear to separate him from Cleo, another rescue cat he had become inseparable from. “They would sleep together, groom each other — they had clearly become family,” Simard said. “It was only natural they stay together — two rescues who had endured so much.”
Now, a year later, Aslan is thriving and has proven to be the best Valentine’s Day gift his family could ever receive.
If you’d like to help other cats like Aslan find their second chance, you can donate to Un Chat à la Fois.
