This week’s dog is Brandy – a beautiful, smart, and playful brunette pit bull mix.

Brandy has the kinds of things that you want in a dog, the complete package! She has a huge, beautiful smile that she’ll show you just about any time you pet her, and her pen pal at the shelter has been teaching her some commands.

She already knows “sit” and “down,” and she’s even learning “roll over.” Basically, she’ll learn pretty much anything if there are treats involved!

It doesn’t take much to keep this dog happy. She has a lot of energy since she’s still in her prime, so she loves to play and run, but once she’s worn out she is content to plop down next to you (or on your lap if you’re okay with that) and relax. Brandy also loves belly rubs.

Please come and meet this dog and take her home with you. She wants a new home with people who will love her as much as she’ll love them (a lot!). If you have any other dogs (or cats) in your home, bring them with you to meet Brandy to see if they’d get along.

Please email Brandy’s pen pal Sarah for more information or if you want to meet Brandy: cortes.sarah [at] gmail.com

Reader Jeff says that he found a small tabico kitten (pictured) this afternoon on 46th St between Osage and Baltimore. He believes that it’s a girl.

“She looks to be around 3 months old, mostly grey tabby markings with some brown markings on her back. Some people nearby said it had been wandering around most of today (but not before then) and the state of its ears and teeth makes me think she hasn’t been outside for long. I’m guessing her family are somewhere around here…”

If you know whose kitten this may be, please contact Jeff by email: dougherty.jeffrey [at] gmail.com

The story about neighborhood cat Clark Kent, the nearly dead feline rescued by our reader James last week, has touched a lot of people in West Philly and beyond. City Kitties and the staff at The Cat Doctor, which fought for the cat’s life, received donations from 40 U.S. states and countries like Australia, Germany, Ireland, France, Spain, Israel, England, Netherlands, Singapore, Canada, and Russia.

We also were informed that designer Jen Roder created a special “Clark Kent” button (pictured) which you can buy for only $5. All proceeds from the button sale are going to support other cats and kittens in need.

This week’s dog is Shelly, a sweet adult pit bull/bulldog mix with some superpowers that have gotten her into a bit of a sticky situation at the shelter where’s she currently residing.

For example, Shelly can scale kennel walls in a single bound, which is fascinating to watch, but not so much if you’re looking for a nice, well behaved doggie to take home with you. Some of Shelly’s friends at the shelter have tried to explain to her that if an adopter wants a pet that can climb walls, they’d adopt a cat, not a dog – unfortunately, Shelly still thinks her kennel hijinks are entertaining. What this means for Shelly is that she needs to leave the shelter as soon as possible, so read on to find out more about what makes Shelly so special and worth saving today!

Shelly was found running loose in a junkyard, and the junkyard owner was nice enough to take care of her for a few days, in the hopes that her owners would come looking for her. Unfortunately, Shelly’s owners never came, and he was forced to bring Shelly to the shelter. At the shelter, Shelly is a staff and volunteer favorite because she is “near perfect”: friendly, gentle, and eager to please, knows “sit”, “down”, “paw” and “no”, walks GREAT on the leash, is crate trained and loves to just snuggle up next to you to escape the loud shelter for a bit. Being that she is very eager to please, it is very easy to train her and makes her simply a joy to be around.

She seems to like being around other dogs, and when she met another female dog that made it very clear she was not interested in playing with her, Shelly backed off appropriately and left the other dog alone. As far as our feline friends, Shelly did show some interest in cats during her cat test, so she would need to be retested with cats before she can go home with one.

Unfortunately, while Shelly’s an absolute doll once she’s outside, she does not like living in her kennel, and she’s becoming sad and stressed, and expresses her frustration in her kennel by jumping and barking. Shelly’s behavior in her kennel causes adopters to pass her by, and because she is less adoptable as a result of her kennel behavior, Shelly’s time is limited.

Now it is time for her to find her home for the holidays. Shelly’s adoption fee right now is only $20, and that includes her spay surgery, microchipping, and vaccinations – small price to pay for years of unconditional love! This is a wonderful opportunity to change an animal’s whole world for the better – please email Shelly’s pen pal at: lulu_todorov@hotmail.com to learn more about her, or stop by the shelter to meet Super Shelly today! The shelter is located at 111 W. Hunting Park Avenue. Phone: 267-385-3800.

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.

Here’s one of the holiday volunteer opportunities. Project MEOW is looking for foster parents for their cats this holiday season.

Project MEOW adoptables (like Dewey, pictured) are nurtured in individual foster homes, allowing for personal assessments of their character, to make the best matches possible with their future forever homes. Project MEOW covers medical and health care, promotes the cat’s adoptable status, and reviews the adoption applications – you provide food, litter, toys, and most rewarding of all, the love and attention the kitty needs. Please contact projectmeowadoptions[at]gmail.com to meet your holiday cuddler, and give the gift of fostering.

Project MEOW is an all-volunteer, animal welfare group that humanely reduces the stray cat population in West Philadelphia through rescue, trap-neuter-return and building strong relationships with the residents who feed and care for stray cats.