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Paw It Forward Success - Smokey the House Fire Kitty

Smokey the black cat

Meet Smokey, a black cat who found his way into our hospital on Halloween. What are the odds? Smokey had been in a house fire and then abandoned by his owners. He needed urgent medical treatment including oxygen therapy for several days. VESHW staff tried reaching out to local rescue groups to take on the case but were unable to find a home for him.

Without resources for this sweet kitty, VESHW’s nonprofit Paw It Forward Foundation kicked in to cover his medical bills. Our hospital staff took it upon themselves to find little Smokey a foster. The cat had become a sort of mascot, encouraging staff on the busy Halloween night and they were determined to help!

His foster mom, Katherine, says “I was happy to foster, he’d survived so much already. I have a little kitty apartment that I use for fosters. Smokey stayed in there for several days while he was healing. 

It has three stories so he had some nice room to jump around, and a few hammocks in which to lounge. This makes fostering feasible for me, as it allows my other kitties to sniff around while getting used to each other.”

 After several weeks, Smokey was fitting in really well with the other cats in Katherine’s family. We are happy to report he became a “foster fail” and she decided to adopt Smokey permanently into her home.­ 

 “He just wants a good scratch sometimes” Katherine says. “Smokey is super sweet and calm. He likes to hang out with my children and snuggle. He likes to sneak in to my 15 year old daughter’s room at night and wake her up. I like to think he is checking on her.”

The Paw It Forward Foundation made it possible for Smokey to be saved from the house fire. He is a perfectly healthy kitty now.