For several months, we had been taking care of a little black stray cat who has been coming to our backyard, hoping to tame him and find him a forever home. We started calling him Petinho - a pet name for "little black" in Portuguese ("Pretinho"). Unfortunately, Petinho went missing right before Halloween, and we feared the worst. When he returned, it was with a badly injured front paw. It broke our hearts to watch him limping and crying .

It took several days - longer than we wanted - but we were finally able to trap and rescue Petinho. Getting medical care for this stray kitty was the right thing to do - the only possible choice. We were lucky enough to be seen at Ocean Avenue Vet Clinic after being turned away by several other hospitals. Unfortunately, the bill at Ocean Ave. was astronomical ($1,221.40), and so we are reaching out to the community and hoping for a little bit of financial assistance.

Petinho is recovering very well and his paw is almost fully healed. We never imagined that he would let us handle him so easily to treat his injury. You would hardly believe he is a stray cat. He is so gentle and sweet - it's like he knows we are trying to help him. He will still need to be vaccinated, chipped, and neutered and then we hope we can find him an amazing forever home. He is a wonderful cat.

We hope that you can find it in your heart to contribute to Petinho's care, even a little. Your donation will help cover Petinho's medical bills and give this formerly stray cat the safe, happy, indoor life he deserves.