When I first moved to my current Bushwick apartment in the summer of 2013, there were about six cats in my backyard area. My neighbor across the hall met her cat after her door was left wide open and they’ve been inseparable for nearly three years. But what if it were the other way around, and you instead were the one seeking out the cat? Seven-year Bushwick residents Scott Bleicher and his wife, Jayda Chi, have been doing exactly that for the past four years – rescuing kittens and cats from the streets of Bushwick.

“Once you start, then you start seeing cats all over the place, almost like they come out just for you to see them,” says Scott.

Lately the couple has been particularly devoted to a kitty named Cecil, who was rescued with his three brothers shortly after injuring himself from climbing a chicken wire fence. While his brothers were rescued in good health, four-month-old Cecil had to pummel through not only a toe amputation from the climb, but VERG North also discovered little pieces of chicken wire in his stomach and intestines.