Shelter cat missing part of his nose is so happy someone adopted him!

Shar Khan, who is estimated to be 9 years old, was picked up as a stray last week in Southern California, and taken to the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter.

He was an absolute mess. Emancipated, fur matted into dreadlocks, his ears torn up and his nose missing a chunk, staff also figured the poor kitty had some sort of terminal illness. He was immediately put on the euthanasia list.

Then they found out he had a microchip.

“Legally, they have to place them on a 10-day hold while they try to contact the owner or the name that’s on the chip,” Toby Wisneski, founder and CEO of Leave No Paws Behind, a group that rescues senior and sick animals, told The Dodo. “Several days had passed by, and nobody was stepping up.”

Wisneski found Shar Khan through a Facebook post.

“I had noticed that somebody had tagged me on a post,” Wisneski said. “So I went to the post … and I saw Shar Khan, and I thought, ‘My goodness. Look at that poor kitty.’ I asked my son to go over to Baldwin Park that day and to take a look at him.”

Wisneski already knew that she was going to rescue him, but the way Shar Khan bonded with Wisneski’s son and grandson, who’d gone to the shelter to meet the cat, sealed the deal.

“He kind of just went in to give the little head butt and the little rub against my grandson,” Wisneski said. “It was almost like he knew that his savior had come, and that he was going to be okay.”

As soon as Khan’s stay was up, Wisneski adopted him out and took him to the vet. The poor cat was diagnosed with kidney disease, issues with his blood, and of course the curious case of his nose.

“The doctor said it could be a major infection that just took over and ate away at his nose,” Wisneski said. “He could have been abused, or it could be cancer. But until we get him strong and stable enough to do a biopsy on his nose, we’re not going to really know.”

But all of these issues are fixable, according to Wisneski.

“He does have some medical issues, but it was nothing to warrant him being put to sleep,” Wisneski said.

“He’s very happy and he wants to live — he’s shown us that he wants to live,” Wisneski said. “He’s the sweetest little cat.”

“My favorite thing about him is the way he purrs, the way he loves to be touched and the way he’ll just come into you and start rubbing up against your face and your hands,” she added. "He just steals your heart away. In his own little way, he’s saying, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you,’ and he’s so grateful to be alive.”

Watch the adorable video below!

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Related Story: Family adopted a 20 year old cat from the shelter, never expected how much love he had left to give

via The Dodo