Staff opens cat rescue group at USC

Living side by side with the four million people of Los Angeles are one to three million unhoused cats. Without access to shelter and care, these fluffy residents are often exposed to injuries, disease and natural and human predators — a crisis which USC faculty have observed.

John Nikolai, an administrative assistant in the USC School of Philosophy, a division of the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, is forming a division of his rescue, Punks for Pussies, called U Save Cats, which aims to counter the homeless cat crisis on and around campus with the help of people willing to foster and socialize cats and kittens, transport cats to medical appointments and advocate for them.

When Nikolai began working at USC about six years ago, he began seeing cats in the neighborhood he parked in. 

“There were two kittens who would sleep in a barbecue together that I would walk by everyday,”  Nikolai said. “I only came to realize the danger they were in when somebody poisoned one of the kittens intentionally. That’s when neighbors told me that there was a family in this apartment complex where those kittens had lived that were cat serial killers.”

With the help of Natalie Schaad, his supervisor, Nikolai rescued Gjeorgie, a kitten who was then neutered and adopted. Nikolai removed the other cats and kittens from that apartment complex and also got them adopted with the help of a woman in the neighborhood who was living in her car with her two dogs and a cat. 

Nikolai was quick to react when he heard about an auto graveyard where many cats lived in unsafe conditions and where kittens were born under cars.

“That woman and I started rescuing as many kittens as we could and any of the adults who were social and friendly that I could find homes for,” Nikolai said. “Any that were too feral, we started getting them fixed. That was the beginning of this rescue.”

Nikolai’s rescue effort received support from the L.A. punk community: Musicians came forward to foster cats, adopt them and play benefit concerts. After three years, the rescue came to be known as Punks for Pussies and was later registered as Lifelines for Felines.

Stephanie Babcock, a registered veterinary technician and USC alumna, first joined Nikolai’s rescue effort by caring for cats from the auto graveyard. A lack of spay-and-neuter facilities, she said, is responsible for the population crisis afflicting unhoused cats in L.A.

“The number one most euthanized animals at the shelters are neonate kittens,” Babcock said. “Preventing these from being born will actually save countless lives. Cats can have average litter sizes of three to six and they begin breeding around six months of age. There is no menopause for cats, they just keep on going if they don’t get fixed.”

Babcock also said it’s important to foster and socialize kittens before they are twelve weeks old. After that age, the process of socializing pets becomes difficult. Students can help, she said, by becoming temporary fosters — though campus housing rules restrict pet ownership in most cases.

“Studies have shown that caring for a pet is beneficial for humans. It’s good for your brain and a major milestone in growing up,” Babcock said. “Fostering would help everybody. It’s an important step to make sure these cats are going to be able to get the attention they deserve and we would love a way forward with student housing.”

With the auto graveyard being vacated after the owner of the property passed away, Nikolai moved his cats to the outskirts of Joshua Tree National Park, which the organization has been using since September 2022. There, cat families have remained together and reside in a low stress area with resources they need.

Heidi Kolkovich, vice president of Punks for Pussies, said one of her favorite memories of working with the cats was driving six of them to an art gallery in Joshua Tree, where the cats would get some of the spotlight. 

“We thought it would be the perfect space to put the cats because the art aspect is tied into what we do,” Kolkovich said. “Nikolai makes a lot of paintings to showcase the cats … but then [we had] some cats actually in person for people to see and to get a little more exposure for the rescue and what we’re doing.”

After discovering a colony of cats on the outskirts of USC’s campus and just minutes from his office last fall, Nikolai’s goal is to bring his rescue to the school. 

“Other departments have been reaching out to me for years,”  Nikolai said about homeless cats being discovered on campus. “My plan and goal is to form a subdivision of the rescue here at USC so that people who are interested, faculty, students and staff can be a part of this rescue effort.”

Nikolai said those interested can donate to the rescue via Paypal or Venmo to [email protected]. Those interested in forming and supporting this group can contact the same email address to find out how they can help. Donations, canned cat food or litter can be dropped off in-person at Nikolai’s office at MHP 113.

“These homeless cats and kittens are a voiceless part of the USC community,” Nikolai said. “If USC will support this organization and recognize it as a part of the University formally, that is a way to ensure that these animals will always have help. It’s also a way to acknowledge the fact that they are part of the USC community and a group that is worth saving.”

Correction: This article was updated at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 12 to reflect that John Nikolai is a staff member at USC, not a faculty member. He also continues to run the Punks for Pussies rescue. The first cat mentioned by name is called Gjeorgie, not Djeorgie. The Daily Trojan regrets these errors.