Mark Pastor and Lisa De Lange had been easing a neighborhood cat into their West Altadena household when the Eaton Fire reached them in January 2025. They called her Skinny Minnie.
The couple evacuated around 2:30 a.m., CBS Los Angeles reported, alerted by another of their cats, Bo. They got out with their two indoor cats. Skinny Minnie was outside, and they had to leave her behind. Their home was destroyed.
Found in the rubble
On January 9, 2025, a Good Samaritan brought a badly injured cat to Pasadena Humane after finding her in the rubble of a destroyed Altadena home. She had third-degree burns across her body, scorched paw pads, missing whiskers and trouble breathing.
“All four legs were insanely, badly burned,” Pastor told CBS Los Angeles.
Her care took months. According to Pasadena Humane, she received pain medication, antibiotics and daily wound cleaning and bandage changes, followed by surgeries to remove scar tissue that was limiting her movement. CBS Los Angeles reported that more than 30 staff members and volunteers cared for her along the way. By mid-April she had graduated to a larger room with soft blankets and mats.
A photo that brought her home
In early February, actor Adrien Brody visited the shelter and held the recovering cat. A social media post with that photo is how Pastor and De Lange found her, according to CBS Los Angeles and Pasadena Humane. The shelter says she was identified about a month after she arrived.
In May 2025, Skinny Minnie was the face of Pasadena Humane’s fourth annual Day of Giving. Days later, she went home.
De Lange said she hoped the cat’s story would reach people still recovering from the fire. “That she’s here to help make other people feel better about what happened and see hope,” she told CBS Los Angeles.
The wider effort
Skinny Minnie was one of many. LAist reported in January 2026 that Pasadena Humane cared for more than 1,500 pets and wild animals during and after the Eaton Fire, including about 1,000 in the first three weeks. A year after the fire, a handful of animals were still in the shelter’s care or in foster homes.
Sources
- Pasadena Humane, Eaton fire-injured cat Skinny Minnie, after 4 months of care, is finally going home (May 15, 2025)
- CBS Los Angeles, Cat severely burned in Eaton Fire returns home after four-month hospital stay (May 23, 2025)
- LAist, One year later, Pasadena Humane is still caring for animals displaced by the Eaton Fire (Jan. 8, 2026)
