Valentino the cat wanted nothing more than for someone to give him some love. Sadly, his looks and condition prohibited just that. The kitty’s fur was hardened and riddled with grime. His eyes were shut from being too caked and swollen for him to see anything. Even worse, this poor cat suffered from sarcoptic mange, a condition that’s highly contagious to both cats and humans.
So Valentino was left alone… begging for love, but people were too afraid to go near him. Except for a woman named Elaine Seamans. When passing by Valentino’s cage at the Baldwin Park animal shelter last week and heard his cry for help, she knew what to do.
“He reached out with his little paw and made the tiniest meow,” Seamans tells The Dodo. “It was like he was screaming without verbalizing it: ‘Please help me.’
“There are times when it’s not an option to keep walking,” she adds. “You just have to stop. This was one of those times.”
And the woman pressed the kitty directly to her heart, and she wasn’t even wearing gloves
“When I picked him up, he put his little head on my shoulder,” Seamans says. “That was it. I had to get him out.”
Seaman contacted Toby Wisneski from Leave No Paws Behind to help. Then Wisneski immediately took Valentino to the vet to get the medical attention he needed.
“He couldn’t move and he couldn’t see. But God love him, he’s a fighter,” Wisneski says. “Everybody just adores him and they’re very protective of him.”
His prognosis is good, and staff believe he has a long life ahead of him. They can’t wait to find him a loving home that he so deserves.
“He’s so loving,” Wisneski says. “You can tell he is very grateful. He will purr for them and try to rub up against [veterinary staff]. He knows he is safe.”
When Valentino finally opens his eyes, it will be to a brand-new life. One with a family.
