A tiny 5-week-old kitten was left in the hands of a man at a store in Fresno, California. The kitten held onto him and kept rubbing his face for love.

On August 13, a young woman walked into the Petco on Friant with a little kitten. "She asked me if I could help her with the new kitten that she had found," Gilbert Hinojosa, the manager of the store, told Love Meow.

As Gilbert led her to the aisle to find a new kitten food, she paused and said that she would get a coupon for that in her car. "She said, 'Would you mind holding my kitty?' I said, 'No problem, go ahead. I'll be waiting right here," Gilbert added.

But the woman never came back. After waiting for a long time, Gilbert walked out to the front door and the woman was nowhere to be seen. It dawned on him that this was another case of animal abandonment.

While he was holding the kitten, the little one was eager for snuggles. "She kept rubbing herself all over my beard. Every time I moved her, she would turn around and go back into it. And boy, was she a purrer! She would get all comfy under my chin and motor away."

The kitten loved his beard, rubbing all over it as if it reminded her of her mom.

Gilbert reached out to the Cat House on the Kings, a cat rescue and sanctuary in Parlier, California. Within minutes, they were able to find the kitten a foster home. They named her Gillie after her rescuer.

"She is now safe and sound in foster care with The Cat House on the Kings! This isn't really how we plan to take in kittens but it's often how we end up with them," Harvie Schreiber of the Cat House on the Kings told Love Meow.

After a much-needed bath, the kitten's calico markings were revealed.

"She was not covered in fleas, but was oily and very dirty. All those gray spots turned white," Margaret Cribbin, foster mom, said.

Gillie was a bit shy when she first arrived, but the sweet calico couldn't resist the food and all the soft things. "After a bath and food, she was looking much better," Margaret added.

To help socialize the kitten, they paired her up with another foster, Chin Chin, and the two just hit it off.

"They have already become playmates and snuggle buddies. Chin Chin is a few weeks older than Gillie, but that's not bothering her at all. She is sassy and is doing her best to keep up with him," Harvie told Love Meow.

The two feline friends, both had a rough start to life, now have each other.

Gillie is so happy to have a buddy to play and cuddle with, and Chin Chin can't get enough of his new sister.

Watch them play in this video:

Gilbert hopes to visit little Gillie some day.

"It fills me with hope," Gilbert told Love Meow. "With the help of the Cat House on the Kings and our other adoption partners, we can really make a difference and save these scared, helpless animals that are left out and forgotten."

Share this story with your friends. Follow updates on Gillie on Facebook. If you would like to support their rescue efforts, click here to see how you can help.

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