Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Long time readers, but not first time callers might know that I established a non-profit, Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities in 2021.

to raise community awareness and promote grassroots engagement for neighborhood quality of life, animal welfare, anti-poverty, and LGBTQ+ issues in Western Pennsylvania.

Currently, we have two main project areas. Protect Trans Kids distributes yard signs throughout the region to support transgender youth (and adults.) #PghCatFolx helps the folx who help the cats and other critters.

#PghCatFolx is not a rescue. We listen, learn, and identify gaps we can fill to support rescuers, colony caretakers, trappers, and others. A few of the gaps we’ve identified are a lack of storage space for traps and shelter supplies, limited capacity to redirect gently used pet supplies, and a pet food pantry for caretakers and trappers. We also see a need for support.

We’ve set up the following supports (or will be soon)

• Dr. John P. Ruffing VMD Pet Food Pantry – accepts donations of food and distributes them to people who often are not eligible for existing pantries. Our primary focus are fox who live on the Northside. You can donate food IRL at 1213 W North Avenue Manchester 15233 (steps) or 1440 Faulsey Way Manchester 15233 (backyard address.) Look for the bins to leave any items.
• Free Pet Stuff Store 15233 – collects gently used (and new) pet items for distribution to the same folx as well as low income pet owners on Pittsburgh’s Northside. Not a retail space. Distribution will be via those same bins.
• Cat Folx Lending Library – this is in the works. Essentially a permanent home for items like drop traps, bite gloves, microchip scanner and other items sometimes only needed once or to supplement a larger effort. We are putting up a shed to get started.

Let me give you an example of how else we provide support.

Yesterday morning, I got a call via FB Messenger from a casual acquaintance. I knew from the day before that she had found a kitten so I wasn’t surprised when she started with “Can I bring this kitten to you?” I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. She was on her way home from a pet store after purchasing another feeding kit.

She had tried everything suggested, but had been unable to get the kitten to eat. She was beating herself up and urgently seeking help for the kitten. I looked at my phone and saw that Humane Animal Rescue was opening in 20 minutes. So I suggested she head there.

She was concerned that they had no slots, but I was confident they would take a very wee kitten. I urged her to keep in mind he would have access to a full veterinary clinic if he had experienced damage and an array of well-trained bottle feeding fosters.

I could hear in her voice that she felt like she had done something wrong. So I assured her that she had gotten him through the night. He had pooped and peed because she knew to massage him. She had information to share with HAR. She had tried all the techniques which was more information – he needed someone who could skip right to the tough kitten feeding tips. I told her that he would have died if she not scooped him up. He didn’t die because of her.

Of course they admitted him and placed him with a bottle feeding veteran. They dubbed him ‘Johnny Pickles’ and he’s doing well as I type this. My neighbor is scouring the blocks looking for Mama. She may have found her and other kittens. That’s to be determined.

My point is that I couldn’t help her by taking the kitten or telling yet another technique to try. What I could do was point her to a resource and offer encouragement. She had to process the decision to take the kitten to HAR and her feelings about it. I was there to simply mirror what she told me – she had tried everything she knew, she was exhausted, and he needed to eat soon.

That’s how we support the people who help the cats. We answer the phone, we listen, we strategize, and we remind them that self-care is important. If you drive yourself into the ground to help just one more cat, the cats already in your care bear the consequences. We bear the consequences.

I guess you could say that I noticed self-care and mutual support were gaps, too. Not because other rescuers and trappers don’t want to show up for each other, but more so that we don’t let them. We feel guilty because they have their own cats. We feel weak if we don’t see every cat through. We feel despair that it is a never ending cycle of cats needing help.

I’d like to have a chair massage set up somewhere once a week and give everyone a 15 minute session.

I think Johnny PIckles would agree.

Things you can donate on an ongoing basis to support #PghCatFolx

• Cat and dog food, wet and dry
• Clean towels in good condition
• Stainless steel and ceramic/porcelain bowls
• Paper plates and bowls, any style (great use for leftover party items)
• Cat litter

So why do we spell folks with an x? It is to remind everyone of the need to represent all of the people doing and who have done this work – across gender, ethnicity, and other identities. There’s too much emphasis on middle aged suburban white women and not enough acknowledgment of BIPOC rescuers and caretakers. The woman who lived on the property where our colony resides was Black and her story is important. The stories of working class housewives in the early 20th century and stretching back through the 19th century when Manchester was colonized matter. Cats were often an important working member of a household.

At our event last weekend, a man said to me “Oh, you are the people with the X in your name.” So that works, too.