Reader Susan would like to thank everyone who helped her find temporary foster homes for her cats after a devastating house fire in September. Two of her cats still need temporary foster care. Here’s what Susan wrote us in an email:

“A couple of months ago, some friends had posted a note for me on West Philly Local after we suffered a terrible house fire over at Springfield and St. Bernard. It was a call for help placing my cats who had survived the fire (sadly, we lost a third recently due to complications from the event) in temporary foster homes. The response was wonderful: I managed to place 8 cats in 8 separate foster homes: a minor miracle for anyone who has ever tried to find foster homes for animals. It was a huge relief for me, amid all the chaos and grief and stress surrounding the fire and the ensuing issues.

Needless to say, our house is nowhere near on the schedule for reconstruction originally given to us by the contractors (wrangling with the insurance and mortgage companies mostly to blame). As a result, I am now faced with needing to find new foster homes for two cats within the next week or so (of course, our house is nowhere near the completion date that the contractors originally gave us), and was wondering if you might know of any folks who would be willing to take a cat in for something like 4-6 weeks.

Habib, a 13-year-old neutered fat “creamsicle” cat (I call him that because he is orange and white), is very funny, friendly, and talkative, and his current foster parents love him, but have obligations to be away come mid-December and cannot continue to care for him. Martini is an orange tabby, neutered, about 6 years old, but FeLV positive. He has NEVER exhibited any signs of illness (he was minutes away from euthanasia as a tiny kitten in the ER at the Penn Vet Hospital, where I worked, when I whisked him home), so he appears to be a carrier of the virus, but it would be best for him to be in a home without other cats, or perhaps other cats who also have tested positive. Currently, he is sequestered in one room in a neighbor’s house (due to other resident cats), and cries a lot, and is very lonely. It breaks my heart. He is a true people cat and seems very depressed without human companionship.”

To contact Susan please email: susaniris[at]msn.com or call 215-435-5273.