A kitten abandoned next to a dumpster near a Chilliwack pet store this week has a new home thanks to the homeless man who found it.
The man goes by “Jay” or “Jay Bro” on the streets, and his face lights up as he pulls the little black-and-white kitten out of its carrier for a photo.
“It’s my kitty cat,” he says. “I got him to purr. He was shaking when I found him.”
It was around 8 a.m. on Sept. 17 when Jay was over by the dumpster in the Safeway parking lot next to Oly’s Pet Connection. He heard a strange sound, and then he saw Sylvester – so named by Jay – in a cat carrier by the dumpster with a bag of food next to it.
So while the animal was clearly abandoned by its owner, the person who left the kitten obviously wanted it to be fed and taken care of.
“I can’t say the person totally neglected it, but it was left,” Jay said.
Not having a place to go, Jay and his friends went to the one place they knew best, and where there was someone they could rely on: Nikki Unger who works at Corky’s Liquor Bin.
Unger took the kitten inside and kept him safe, gave him some food and tried to figure out what to do next. And the same day Sylvester was found, she quickly found a home for the cat who is already doing well and seems frisky and happy.
She wasn’t surprised Jay brought the kitten to her, as she said he’s a very caring, nice man.
As for Jay, he said he would have gladly kept Sylvester as a pet, taking him around on a leash, but he readily understands that wasn’t a great solution.
“I would have walked around with it but I’m homeless,” he said.
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