A fundraiser has been launched for a cat living at Holy Trinity Church in Rotherhithe, after she was badly injured by a car last week.
Pushka ran off from the Bryan Road church on the eastern side of the peninsula on the morning of Monday, November 1. Church staff and locals looked for her for nearly two days before finding her the following afternoon – alive but seriously hurt.
Ursula Almond, who is helping organise the fundraiser, said Pushka’s jaw was broken, her eye was hanging out and blood was running from her nose.
Vicar Andrew Doyle said: “We almost gave her up for dead – Angela the church warden found her. Pushka was in a bit of a state when she was found. She’s had to have an eye removed and her jaw wired shut.”
The church is Pushka’s third home and her third name – she was given the inauspicious name of Covid before, Fr Doyle said.
“She is exceptionally loved by some, tolerated by others,” he added. “She has been adopted by the congregation.”
The vet’s bill came to £2,000. One elderly member of the congregation stumped up £1,000 up front, and Fr Doyle said he would like to pay her back.
“People have been really kind – we’re not trying to push the fundraising too much. We’re finding a way forward.”
This isn’t the first scrape Pushka has got into recently – she got stuck on the roof of the church and Fr Doyle had to climb on the roof in his robes before a service to get her down. Unlike most other cats, Pushka doesn’t land on her feet when she falls – she tends to land on her side.
To donate to the fundraiser, click here.