Interesting….
>The sitcom's creators were very sensitive to the treatment of animals, so Salem was often played by an animatronic puppet rather than one of the 4 actual cats who are used for the non-dialogue scenes (or at least used for scenes where Salem is moving and it was not required for the audience to actually see him talk). The four trained cats portraying the character were named Elvis, Lucy, Salem, and Witch.[3] This part was performed by three puppeteers and two different animatronic puppets. The mechanical Salems were originally made by Animal Makers,[4] but in early 1998 they were fired, and their puppets were replaced with ones made by The Chiodo Brothers. The new mechanical Salem(s) were controlled by 3 puppeteers, who could manipulate Salem's body in more than 30 ways via rod, cables, and radio control. Animal Makers posted a video of some of the puppets highlights on its website.
Thanks for the trip down nostalgia lane, anon.