This touching story was forwarded to us by Debby Boyd of Project MEOW, a local cat rescue organization. This is what happened yesterday to Jadee, who adopted a cat from Project MEOW a few years ago:

“I was driving home on Lancaster Ave. in the rain when I saw this tiny furball limping his way across the busy street. He made it to the edge and got washed into a flooded gutter when I stopped (without pulling over) and jumped out (without closing my car door) and scooped him up. I laid him on my lap and drove to Baltimore Pet Shoppe to get some advice from Katie. She said that I should take the kitty to a vet right away cause it looked like a car might have hit him. I called Girard Vet to see if they’d take in an emergency appointment and thank goodness they did. They took X-Rays and said that his right thigh bone was split in two and he would need a cast.

I walked around North West Philly for hours waiting for him to finish up and decided to name him Grasshopper. I got back and found him in this huge, green cast. The poor little guy!”

Jadee needs help paying off Grasshopper’s $200 vet bill. You can donate money here. She is also looking for a good home for Grasshopper. To contact Jadee email: jadee.klinger [at] gmail.com

This week’s featured dog is Torry, a one-two-year-old female terrier mix who has gorgeous markings and is quite the cuddler. She’s a regular Velcro dog: as soon as you take a seat, she’ll lean right up against you and stay attached for as long as you’ll pet her. This gorgeous young lady is friendly and social with dogs of all shapes, sizes, and colors and seems to like cats, too.

Torry loves to be outside and walks and jogs well on a leash. She loves to explore, but the whole time she checks back with you every few minutes to make sure you’re still right there with her. She knows “sit” and “stay” and absolutely loves treats, so training her should be a breeze.

This poor girl came into the shelter as a skinny little stray, and she’s still quite thin; could you be the one to bring this wonderful addition into your family so that she can get back to a healthy weight?

Currently Torry is being fostered and living with cats and kids! Check out this video of Torry. If you would like to meet her please email Erin at: erin.e.mcgowan [at] gmail.com.

Update (Sept. 4): The dog was spotted and later found by his owners at his old apartment!

This pooch (Theo) went missing last night (Sept. 2) near 46th and Woodland. He was last seen on Baltimore and 46th St. He is one year old and is a shih tzu/poodle/bischon frise.

He has a blue collar with only a rabies tag on it (the name tag broke off). He is shy and skiddish towards strangers (he ran away from a few people when they tried to catch him).

A cash reward is offered to anyone who finds him or leads his owner to find him. The owner’s name is Jessica and her contact number is 570-313-3847.

This week’s featured dog is Jillian. Jillian is a young, super friendly pit bull terrier mix. She is a petite girl – she weighs about 26 pounds when she came to the shelter. She’s only 6-12 months old.

Jillian came to the shelter on August 18, 2011 and has a sad story. Her owner left her with a friend when they were moving and they never came back to get her!

She is very excited at the shelter and just wants to get out of her cage. She’s locked up in a small space for long periods of time and, being a puppy, she really needs lots of exercise and stimulation and someone to teach her how to behave. When she does get out, she is happy to run around and play. She craves interaction and companionship and needs some structure and stability.

Jillian absolutely adores people and can barely contain her excitement when they show her attention and kindness. The shelter staff introduced her to some cats there and she wasn’t very interested in them. The shelter also tested her with some of her dog shelter mates and she did just fine. She was way more interested in attention from her human friends.

Because she can get a little riled up (although she will most likely settle down in a home once she gets a little older), Jillian probably should go to a home with bigger kids (over 5 years) that can handle her playing with them.

The shelter where Jillian lives right now has a very high intake rate and only so much room for puppies. Unfortunately, the shelter has to accept every animal that is dropped at its door! This puts Jillian and her furry friends there at risk every day that they stay there. Even though she’s a young, healthy, super friendly, affectionate girl, her life is at risk! So if you can find room in your home and your heart, please foster or adopt her!

Jillian is up to date on all of her shots, microchipped and will be neutered when you take her home.

Jillian currently resides at the PSPCA’s Animal Care & Control Team (ACCT), 111 W. Hunting Park Avenue. For more information call: 267-385-3800. ACCT is open 365 days a year. If you cannot adopt her permanently but would like to help anyways, you can always consider fostering Jillian until she finds her happy ending.

Update (Sept. 7): We learned that Hickory was reunited with his family two days ago.

This information comes from the missing cat’s owners who live near 46th and Pine:

We are searching for our cat, Hickory. He has been missing for over a week now – he is a wanderer so we weren’t too worried at first but he sometimes strays far and I’m wondering if he got lost or someone took him in mistakenly.

He is black and grey striped with white on chest and paws (I think he is brown as well, but my son thinks just grey), with green eyes.

He usually wears a collar with his name and phone # but I wonder if it came off. He is very friendly and will usually approach people. He is micro-chipped.

If you have seen him or think you have seen him, please let us know. You can call 215-510-7067 and speak to Al. Thanks, he is very much missed.

Reader Kristen wrote us with this information:

This little cat broke into my house and has decided this is where she lives but I think that she might belong to someone else in West Philly.

Found near 49th and Springfield.

I’m treating her for fleas and making sure she is neutered so she might be a stray but before I adopt her out I wanted to put out the call.

Owners can call me at 917-280-4287 and describe the collar (no tags) she was wearing.