Friday, March 29, 2024
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Rescue Story: Meet Nugget

Meet Nugget!
Meet Nugget!

Sometimes it really does take a whole neighborhood to rescue a cat, but when he’s a sweet, friendly, outgoing creamsicle kitty and everyone is watching out for him, it’s not so hard.

Nugget came to the right feeding station and flashed his nuggets, which we then plotted to remove, so I called Margo from the Homeless Cat Management Team and she helped me with a low-cost neuter with rabies for this past Sunday. Then Nugget flashed an ugly seeping wound and got to come indoors at neighbor Peg’s house and eat four cans of food each day inside instead of out. I quickly pulled as many strings as I have and found a lower-cost visit with a veterinarian to check his wound. His wound was okay, so Sunday he would be neutered.

Nugget in the carrier.
Nugget in the carrier.

Peg called early Sunday morning to say that morning Nugget got really tired of the no-food ordeal and decided to spill his litterbox, and then his water bowl, and then roll around in the wet clay litter! It took three tries to clean him up. I will add that Peg is an ordained minister and hosts an online service each Sunday morning for members of her Facebook group. Before COVID she preached at one or more churches Sunday mornings but this Sunday was simply going to attend a service for the first time, at 9:30 a.m. She still managed to do both of those, and look neat and clean and drop him off here, after cleaning up Nugget for his neuter!

Peg and Nugget.
Peg and Nugget.

Now Nugget is living the life and trying to charm Peg into the idea that he should stay there. He’s also kicking back his heels in Peg’s office just being comfortable. In the meantime we found his owner and are working on a good arrangement for that person and for Nugget.

Nugget being charming.
Nugget being charming.

He’s just one of several cats in our immediate neighborhood whose futures are for one reason or another up in the air, but his is currently a very happy one. Thanks to Peg for taking him in and fostering him! Peg has taken in and fostered several other cats, from older kittens to really old feral cats who indicated they no longer wanted to live outdoors. I’ll be writing about some of these others soon, now that we can safely visit each other. While I can’t foster right now, even overnight, I am deeply grateful to Peg’s generosity and more than happy to pull any strings I need to to help the cats in our neighborhood who need this sort of help.

Working together works!

Nugget is another example of how you don’t need to grab traps and go sit out in the rain overnight to rescue cats. You can help cats just by keeping an eye on your own neighborhood, get to know the cats and the people, which is exactly what I did when I moved here 30 years ago. If you see cats outdoors, find out if they have an owner. Find a way to provide for their needs, often by finding a local organization that can assess and help. Find a low-cost or free clinic near you where they can be spayed or neutered or get necessary veterinary care. Domestic animals, even when living outdoors whether stray or feral, are all humans’ responsibility.

Help HCMT and Pittsburgh C.A.T.!

Peg and I are going to set up a PayPal account to collect donations for the cats in our neighborhood who need spays and neuters. The appointments were not paid for by HCMT, but we did get a discount, and it would be nice to know we have a pool of funds on hand to run to the vet with a cat, or just schedule a low-cost surgery ourselves. I’ll be reaching out to you at some point soon to help set up those funds, but for now you can still help cats by helping HCMT help me!

I’d love it if you had the chance to donate even $5.00 to HCMT to help them help me with Nugget and our other local cats, and the many more HMCT and Pittsburgh CAT have rescued right off the streets and are providing care for. Here are a few opportunities!

Bid on this quilt by October 7!

It’s Raffle Time!! Check out this amazing quilt made by our friend, Norma! From now until October 1, for every donation of $5 you make, you will be entered to win this beautiful handmade quilt and help our rescue efforts (donate $25 and you’ll be entered 3 times, donate $50 and you’ll be entered 10 times). The winner will be determined by using a random number generator and announced here on Facebook October 1 (on this post https://www.facebook.com/homelesscatteam/posts/10158202741161953)! Donate via PayPal [email protected] or by using Venmo @hcmt_207. Please include “Quilt” in the notes! MEOW!!!

Here is a detailed description of the quilt: Hand-made whimsical wall quilt. 37”x37”. 100% cotton. Has sleeve on back for hanging.

Norma’s Quilt

You know that Pittsburgh C.A.T. is the rescue I volunteer with, but even when I’m rescuing cats and kittens for others they still provide support to me in the form of traps and transport, fostering, food, kitten formula, and low-cost clinic and surgery appointments. I couldn’t help anyone without their support. Rescuing adult cats to foster and adopt to a forever home can be expensive depending on their condition, but rescuing kittens is always expensive because they need complete vetting, often they are orphaned and need formula and bottle feeding for weeks, they often develop illnesses or conditions specific to young kittens and they eat A LOT. We don’t adopt kitten out until they are spayed and neutered and have all age-appropriate vaccines, so we make a substantial investment in their future.

Right now, Pittsburgh C.A.T. is in need of a few baby scales for fosters. Weighing kittens is an important part of their care. Check the Amazon Wishlist https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1DJBKJ6Y7IMR8?ref_=wl_share

Here’s what you can do:

  • Visit www.homelesscat.org/donate to find a list of donation possibilities. HCMT is a 501c3 organization and donations are tax deductible, Pittsburgh C.A.T. is our “sister organization” formed to foster and rehome the socialized or socializable cats we rescue, same people, different activities. You can make a donation to HCMT and designate it for care through Pittsburgh C.A.T.
  • Donate Amazon gift cards to [email protected]. Because our cats are fostered in homes all around the Pittsburgh area, gift cards enable us to send supplies directly to fosters!
  • You can also buy supplies through our Amazon wishlist
  • Or donate cash through Paypal ([email protected]) or Venmo (Pittsburghcat).

Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

AfterDinnerNap-Etsy

Feline Gifts from Portraits of Animals!

cat refrigerator magnets
Sitting Pretty Refrigerator magnets.

I worked out the manufacture of my own “die” or basically a cookie cutter to use for creating consistent shapes of one of my sketches. Each magnet is hand-painted. Read more.



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All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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