Tiffany Studer lives in Branford, but she was able to get to the home her mother and sister share with one of her aunts in Sandy Hook very quickly on October 11.The Fire And Finding The FelinesWhen firefighters began arriving a few minutes later, flames were showing out of windows on the main floor of the single-family home. Black smoke was also emanating from the raised ranch-style dwelling.Click here to visit the gofundme page created by Tiffany Studer.

The house where her mother, younger sister, and aunt lived was on fire. No one was hurt during the blaze, but all have had to relocate for the time being.

After assessing the damage done to the house at 23 Sunnyview Terrace, one of Tiffany's next moves was to think about the three cats that also lived in that house. Pumpkin, the oldest cat, was carried out by Tiffany's younger sister Ashley when she was leaving the house. Another one, Mo, was quickly located by firefighters. Missy, the third cat, was found a few hours later.

Mo and Missy have spent time at Newtown Veterinary Services this week due to smoke inhalation. Missy and Pumpkin have also needed to be boarded at Berkshire Veterinary Hospital for a short time. Mo was still at NVS as of the morning of October 13, but will be transferred to Berkshire Veterinary upon his release.

Tiffany's mother Barbara and her sister Ashley are staying with another aunt for now.

"We're staying with my other sister, Cynthia, who also lives in town," Beverly said October 13. "But she has a cat that won't get along with ours, which is why ours have to be boarded."

Tiffany plans to have two of the cats stay with her when they are discharged from the hospitals, and a third will hopefully stay with a friend for a short time.

She is reaching out to the public through a gofundme account with the hopes that her family can be helped with escalating veterinary bills.

Insurance and other options will help replace some of the clothing, furniture, and other items damaged or destroyed by Tuesday's fire. Her aunt and uncle are staying in Southbury, at a pet-friendly hotel, she said.

"The Red Cross took great care of getting them set up over there," she said.

Tiffany's concern is for the trio of cats, and the bond her younger sister has with them.

"Ashley is the caretaker of the cats," she said Wednesday evening, about 30 hours after the fire. "And Mo is like her baby," she said of the male cat.

Pumpkin was a stray who worked her way into the Studer home - and the family's hearts - when the Studers were living in Bristol a few years ago. Mo and Missy were part of a litter Pumpkin birthed a few months after her arrival. The younger two are 7 years old, and veterinarians have said Pumpkin is probably between 8 and 9 years old, according to Tiffany.

"Mo follows my sister everywhere," she said. "He sits under her iPad when she's playing games on it. He talks to her, and she talks to him - either in 'cat' and meowing, or just talking English. She plays with him every day. She feeds him. Mo is her boy.

"She has his picture in a frame next to her bed," she added, "and she usually wears a necklace I made for her first Christmas, that has his picture in it."

The younger female cat, Missy, is "a little more reclusive than Mo, but loves Ashley and my mom," she continued. "Missy will sleep on Ashley's feet, and just tries to be next to her all the time.

"There's a lot of fighting over who gets to be next to Ashley," she said laughing. "Pumpkin, the mom, usually wins though."

Ashley Studer, 24, is autistic. She also has general anxiety disorder, says her mother Beverly.

"This is quite the catastrophe to deal with," Mrs Studer said Thursday, October 13.

Within the description offered to those who visit the gofundme page, Tiffany said in part that for her sister, "these cats are her coping mechanism, for the anxiety she experiences. Being displaced from her home is traumatizing in itself, however, losing beloved friends is a burden I will do anything for her not to bear."

Late Tuesday morning, Barbara Wallenta called 911 to report an odor of burning inside her home. She grabbed her niece Ashley and the two quickly left the dwelling, slowing only to grab a few things on their way out the door.

Firefighters from all five of Newtown's fire companies, along with members of Southbury Volunteer Fire Department, responded to the scene. They were able to put the fire out before the house was destroyed. Nevertheless, a lot of fire and smoke damage occurred. The roof needed to be cut into to provide ventilation.

One photo on Tiffany's gofundme page shows a hole in the ceiling of the lower level of the house, below the bedroom where the fire started.

"The house is definitely not livable right now," Tiffany said. "Everything is completely boarded up. The bedroom where the fire started, by a heater, is completely destroyed."

Beverly Studer credits her younger daughter with saving one of the family pets.

"When the fire happened, Ashley grabbed Pumpkin because she was the easiest one to catch," she said. "They knew right where she would be."

Pumpkin's favorite spot was right on the escape route, according to Tiffany.

"As they were getting out of the house," she said, "they went right past her favorite spot and were able to scoop her up."

"God bless her, she did all the right things," Beverly said of Ashley's actions. "My sister woke her up, and they got out. She grabbed the cat, she grabbed her cellphone, she got out of the house, and she called me at work."

Tiffany found Missy a few hours after the fire. Her mother admitted she thought the cat had died in the fire.

"She found her four hours after the firefighters left," Mrs Studer said. "She had been inside for so long. I thought she was gone.

"She had less smoke inhalation than Mo, though," she added.

Although they had been told by firefighters that the missing black cat had run out of the house, Tiffany and her mother were unconvinced.

"Missy's black, and skittish, and they kept telling us she ran outside," said Beverly. "But we knew she wouldn't do that. She's always been an inside cat. She wouldn't know to run outside."

Tiffany found Missy under some boxes and blankets, she said.

"Her eyes were all dusty, and there was dirt all over them," she said. "I don't know how did didn't inhale more smoke than Mo did, but that's what the X-rays showed."

Finding the cat, she said, "was a very good moment. Ashley was so thankful when we found Missy."

Staff at Newtown Veterinary Hospital did X-rays on both of the cats that had been in the house during the blaze. Mo was put into an oxygen chamber, and had a catheter applied.

"Ashley hasn't been able to touch him yet because he's in that chamber," said Tiffany.

X-rays shows "quite a bit" of evidence of smoke inhalation, she said.

Missy had an oxygen hood on for about 24 hours, and also had X-rays done.

It is the growing bills for these treatments, and the temporary boarding, that worries Tiffany.

"My mother is a single mother, and she is a paraprofessional," Tiffany said. "She doesn't earn a lot of money, but she's doing the best she can.

"My credit cards are now maxed out, having paid for what I could" during the initial hours when the cats needed treatment. As of October 13, the gofundme page indicated bills had already increased from the initial $3,000 amount that had been posted when the page was created to $5,000.

"We haven't asked for help like this before," she added. "We aren't like that. But this is different. This is something so important to both my sister and my mom."