AFTER ORDEAL, CRIPPLED KITTY FINDS BENEFACTOR.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

Missing and presumed dead, the 7-week-old kitten that appeared lifeless after teen-age boys allegedly beat him with a stick three weeks ago is alive and well, minus his right hind leg.

``He's my little treasure,'' said Ondiene Fink, who has been keeping the kitten since neighborhood children brought him to her door July 17. ``It's truly a miracle that he's alive.''

The kitten's leg was so badly injured and infected, he had to be amputated, Fink said. But as the gray and white short-hair snuggled in her lap, she said she's named him Scooter for the way he manages to scoot around on his three other legs.

Police say the kitten is one of four in a box that several teens allegedly tied to a tree July 15 and clubbed with a stick. Police believe Scooter is the kitten that dropped out of the box and fell to the ground. The 15-year-old witness who reported the attack told police the kitten appeared dead when a little girl picked him up and ran away. Police were unable to find the girl or the kitten.

But some children spotted the kitten two days later on Broadway, about a block north of the Harvard Street apartment complex where the beating occurred.

Fink, who lives one block north of where the kitten was found, is a cat lover and known throughout the east end neighborhood as a rescuer of abused animals.

So, on July 17, children who live near Fink brought the wounded cat to her. She took him to her 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital on San Fernando Road.

Fink, who has been taking care of abused and neglected cats for more than eight years, said she'd never seen anything like Scooter.

``I was breathless. His bone was sticking out of his skin and he was filthy. I thought he'd been hit by a car, but only one bone was shattered,'' she said.

According to a police report, a 15-year-old Glendale girl told officers she was walking to school July 15 when she heard shrieks in the 1300 block of East Harvard Street. She saw teen-agers laughing and taking turns bashing the box of kittens, police say. She also watched a young girl scream, ``Stop killing my kitties

''

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of felony animal cruelty and are looking for two other teens.

An 18-year-old also was identified by the witness and arrested, but charges were dropped when police discovered he was in Los Angeles County Jail the day the attack occurred.

Glendale Sgt. Rick Young said Monday that Scooter's wounds are consistent with what the witness described. Also, the kitten was found near the crime scene and looks identical to his brothers and sisters, Young said.

Scooter's wounds were some of the worst veterinarian Ahmed Khalek said he's seen in his 15 years of practice. Khalek, of Angelus Pet Hospital, said the kitten's right rear leg was broken, it was severely infected, the animal was infested with fleas and was running a fever.

To stop the infection from spreading, Khalek had to amputate the leg. Scooter stayed in the hospital a week after the surgery.

``He was in bad shape. He's a very tiny little kitty,'' Khalek said, adding that the prognosis is good. ``I don't know if I saved his life. I did my job.'' Khalek commended Fink, saying her compassion for animals also saved the 7-week-old kitten's life.

Young said Fink paid the kitten's $710 medical bill.

Fink works with cancer patients and burn victims by doing their makeup and creating wigs. Her Barrington Way apartment has been remodeled for cats, the carpet replaced with tile, and drapes exchanged for blinds.

Kitty condos dot the perimeter of her living room and chow time features a vat of mixed dry food, protein food, canned food, yogurt and eggs.

On Monday, as a handful of kittens and cats scanned the room for sunny spots, Fink ticked off the origin of her ``adopted children.'' She found short-haired Whiskey in a trash bin. Taylor was discovered near a freeway overpass.

And Scooter, well, his story tops the rest, she said.

Fink said her adrenaline races every time she thinks about what happened to Scooter.

``He was really traumatized at first. But he's doing better,'' she said. ``We try not to startle him and he's building up strength in his left leg. And the other kittens, they must know he's been through a lot. They snuggle with him and don't pick on him at all - one of the cats even nurses him.''

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Photo: Ondiene Fink of Glendale holds 7-week-old Scooter.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer