This is one lucky furball. Sea ice stranded the newborn sea otter on an Alaskan beach, where he was found orphaned, starving, cold, and all alone. Let's take a moment to give props to the pup-saving residents of Port Heiden -- my fellow crusaders of cute -- who took him to the Alaskan SeaLife Center.

When he arrived, he was a mess -- 7 pounds of skin, bones, and matted dreadlocks. (Sea otters are the furriest of the furry, with 800,000 hairs per square inch.)

Keeping their thick fur-dos in order is Survival 101 for the icy ocean swimmers. And our otter was now in good hands, learning grooming skills from his foster parents.

No more tangles. No more tears.

And with round-the-clock feedings, no more hunger. (Cue requisite bottle shot!)

After a few weeks of eating a third of his weight in squid-clam-Pedialyte slurry and playing with his fave yellow bat, the pup beefed up for the big leagues. In a first round draft pick, he went to The Pirates, er the Pittsburgh Zoo (aka Daddy Warbucks for Little Orphan Otter).