7 Fun Facts About Salem the Cat From ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ — and Where Is He Now?
Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered on September 27, 1996, introducing viewers to Melissa Joan Hart‘s Sabrina Spellman, her aunts Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick) and one very opinionated black cat who always seemed to be crying about something.
Salem Saberhagen was actually a warlock sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat after trying to take over the world. He quickly became much more than the Spellmans’ pet after Hilda was forced to house him due to her participation in his schemes, thanks in large part to Nick Bakay‘s dry delivery and a team of puppeteers and animal trainers working behind the scenes.
With the show turning 30, here are some fun facts about how Salem was created, the real cats who played him, and where some of the Salems are now, including Bakay, who voiced the cat.
1 ABC wasn’t sold on Salem at first
Viacom Prod./Everett Collection
It’s hard to imagine Sabrina without the talking cat, but ABC apparently needed some convincing. Animal fabricator and puppeteer Jim Boulden created the first-season Salem out of foam rubber and rabbit fur. Bakay later recalled that the network “did not love the animatronic cat” in the beginning.
That meant viewers saw more of the real cats during the first season while everyone figured out what worked. Once Salem became popular, there was little reason to hide the puppet anymore. Series creator Nell Scovell recalled an early table read attended by ABC executives where the animatronic Salem suddenly came to life and welcomed everyone, with Bakay providing the voice.
2 It took a whole team to bring Salem to life
Bob D’Amico/Viacom Prod./Everett Collection
There were two main animatronic versions, one made to sit upright and another made to lie down. Thom Fountain controlled Salem’s mouth, while Jim Greenall handled movements including his ears and tail by remote control. Mauri Bernstein hid on set and controlled his head and body. She sometimes had to squeeze under Sabrina’s bed, behind tables or beneath furniture to stay out of the shot.
Bakay estimated in a 2018 interview with Refinery29 that there were “five or six at least,” with different versions needed depending on what Salem was doing in a scene. He also said two different puppet-building operations worked on the character at different points in the series.
3 There were several real Salems, too
George Lange/Viacom Prod./Everett Collection
When Salem needed to run, jump or move like an actual cat, the show brought in the professionals. A 1997 Los Angeles Times story identified four of the main cats working on the series at the time as Elvis, Lucy, Witch, and Salem. Trainer Mark Watters explained that the cats learned their actions through food rewards.
As the series went on, different cats became known for different skills. Witch handled many of the stunts, while Elvis was particularly good when the job simply required Salem to stay put. A cat actually named Salem was used when they wanted more unpredictable energy. The cats even had their own trailer when they weren’t working. Another cat named Warlock became a successful animal actor away from Sabrina. He later appeared in Scary Movie 2, The Prestige, and Team America: World Police.
4 Sometimes Salem was just a stuffed cat
Viacom Prod./Everett Collection
Not every Salem on the set was mechanical or alive. The production also had a couple of stuffed versions nicknamed “Stuffy.” They were primarily used during rehearsals and blocking so the actors and crew knew where Salem was supposed to be.
Every once in a while, however, Stuffy made it into the finished show. If Salem only needed to fly past the camera or be quickly moved through a scene, there was no need to bring out an animatronic puppet or trained cat.
5 Nick Bakay was a Sabrina writer before he became Salem
Termite Art Prod./Everett Collection
Bakay didn’t originally join Sabrina the Teenage Witch to play the cat. He was hired as a writer. He already had voice acting experience and was voicing Norbert on The Angry Beavers when Sabrina began looking for Salem’s voice. Since Bakay was already working on the show, he auditioned and got the part.
“It was an inside job,” he later joked. For the first four seasons, Bakay left the writers’ room whenever Salem was needed and performed his lines live from off camera with a microphone. He and puppeteer Thom Fountain eventually developed a rhythm that allowed Fountain to match Salem’s mouth movements to Bakay’s delivery.
After Season 4, Bakay left the Sabrina writing staff to work on The King of Queens. For the final three seasons, someone on set recorded Salem’s lines during filming, and Bakay later replaced them with his voice in the studio.
6 Salem once made fun of Nick Bakay on the show
Bob D’Amico/Viacom Prod./Everett Collection
In the Season 4 episode “Jealousy,” Salem is impatiently waiting to use the phone because he wants to call Nick Bakay’s sports show on ESPN Radio. He complains that Bakay talks too much about the Buffalo Bills before adding, “Lord, is it annoying.”
Bakay really worked in sports media and was a devoted Buffalo sports fan. He contributed to ESPN and frequently wrote about the Bills. Even better, Bakay himself was credited as a producer on “Jealousy,” which aired on October 8, 1999. The episode was written by Frank Conniff.
7 Salem won 3 Kids’ Choice Awards
The character won three consecutive Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite Animal Star. Vanity Fair also reported that Salem received plenty of fan mail during the show’s run.
Given that the “animal star” viewers could be watching was a live cat, an animatronic puppet, a stuffed cat and several puppeteers in the same episode, the award technically belonged to a whole team.
Where is Salem now?
There isn’t just one Salem to track down, as several different versions of the wisecracking cat were used throughout Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But at least one Salem puppet has found a permanent home at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, which highlighted the familiar feline as part of its permanent collection in a 2025 announcement.
Other production-used Salems have made their way into private collections. Heritage Auctions sold a sitting Salem puppet for $4,875 in October 2023. A second puppet designed in a lying-down position sold for $4,750 at the same auction. As for the original first-season puppet, Vanity Fair reported in 2019 that Jim Boulden still had it at his animal fabrication studio.
Where is Nick Bakay Now?
Bakay, now 66, went on to write and produce shows including The King of Queens, Two and a Half Men, Mom and Bookie. He currently serves as an executive producer on Netflix’s Leanne, which returned for its second season on August 27, 2026.
He has also returned to his other longtime love, sports. In September 2026, Bakay and Billy Gardell launched Winning Ugly, a weekly VSiN show about the NFL.
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