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+++Hurricane Katrina/Rita Survivors and Rescuers+++ » Group Forum

Our Katrina Stories.....

  
(Page 2 of 2: Viewing entries 11 to 20)  
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Bailey

Bailey - the sock- stealer!		 
 
Barked: Fri Aug 25, '06 10:14am PST 
Wow! It is good to read the stories of all my fellow hurricane survivors. I'm so glad that all of you made it through such a harrowing experience.

As for me, my family (which, at the time, included my parents and three cat siblings) decided to evacuate on Sunday morning before the storm came. We took our neighbor and his little dog with us, too. It was a long 12+ hour drive to Jackson, MS, where we finally gave up on our goal of Dallas and took the offer of a family friend to come and stay with him and his cat. It was a big house with a HUGE yard (much bigger than mine!) and I had a great time there! The cats weren't too sure about the whole deal, but they are generally more uptight than me.

An Monday, the hurricane blew through and the electricity went out where we were staying. It remained out for about a week and a half, so we didn't know what had happened to our house. Another family with a little 2 year-old boy came to stay with us, too, and they were from Buras, where Katrina made landfall. I tried my best to comfort them and play with them (I am a good Lab, after all), becuase they had to leave their dogs behind and were devastated at what had probably happened. That was really hard and sad for me and for everyone.

My poppy, who is a doctor and had to go back to work right away, was able to get us back into the GNO area earlier than they let in the general public, so we went in to check things out as soon as we could. Mommy and poppy were so thankful that our house didn't flood, but it did loose the roof, so lots of water came in and the ceiling was falling down and mold was growing on the walls. Mommy says that the strangest thing was how silent everything was, and how the air smelled so bad and was so heavy and still. We had to drive around lots of trees and objects in the roads and mommy and poppy spent a long time trying to pick up all of the shingles from our roof that had landed on the lawn and the neighbors' lawn.

Even though our house is mostly fixed up (we still have to have the wood floors refinished), mommy sometimes still catches a whiff of the bad smells, and it makes her feel sad. She drives through lots of areas that are still in really bad shape every day and she does work in the 7th, 8th, and 9th wards and she says her heart is so heavy and broken over all of the devastation and that she wishes she could wrap the entire area up in her arms and give it a hug.
Bonnie

I'm bringing- sexy back		 
 
Barked: Fri Jun 8, '07 8:24am PST 
Hi there! I'm so glad to see a group for Katrina survivors. My girl, Bonnie was rescued from a shelter in Mississippi by the wonderful folks at SICSA in Kettering, OH about 5 weeks after Hurricane Katrina. Bonnie was in very bad shape. She weighed 32 lbs (normal weight is about 70), she was so skinny, you could see every bone in her body. She had Grade III heartworm. It appeared that she had just had puppies, but we have no idea what happened to them. Her teeth are completely filed down, they think from chewing on a heavy chain trying to get free. Due to this, there is no way to tell how old Bonnie is. The doctors guess anywhere from 6-9 years. I don't know where they found her. A friend of mine works at SICSA and told me they were going to drive down and bring back some hurricane dogs. I lived in Cincinnati, OH at the time and my mom, sister and I drove up to Kettering with the intention of just sitting with the dogs and making them comfortable. I had a lab/great dane mix at home who had bone cancer and was starting to go downhill, so I was not looking to adopt another dog. When I saw all of the dogs, it was obvious that Bonnie was in the worst shape of all, emotionally and physically. She would not eat or have any interaction with anyone. I crawled in her cage with her with some pupperoni and after ignoring me for about 2 hours, she nudged my leg with her head, ate some pupperoni and then gave me a kiss. I started to cry and took her home that day. Bonnie had a rough time for the next year, she had 4 heartworm treatments, which are not pleasant and then when we finally got the great news that the heartworm was gone, they found a tumor on her lung that was growing rapidly. They had to remove one of her lung lobes along with the tumor. That was last year around this time and I'm happy to report she is doing amazing now! She has surprised everyone, except me, I knew she was going to make it. She has heart disease and has to take medicine for the rest of her life, but otherwise, she's healthy. She is not nearly as shy as she used to be and is such a happy girl. Sometimes I look at her playing with our other dogs and get happy tears because of the transformation she has made from that terrified little girl that I sat in the cage with almost two years ago.
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Vail

Vail, born to- protect		 
 
Barked: Mon Jun 18, '07 2:58pm PST 
My Mom and I rode out Katrina in Hattiesburg, MS. Neither of us was prepared for what we saw. We were very grateful that every big tree that went down did so right by our house and not on it.

For a day and a half we huddled in the guest bathroom shower stall listening to the scariest sounds. Then when darkness fell we listened to the only radio station left in Miss. People kept calling in looking for info about what was left. My Mom and I cried together when someone asked if a particular apartment complex was still standing because their kitty was there. Unfortunately the complex was gone.

We were very scared but also very blessed.
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Bayou

I am the Queen		 
 
Barked: Tue Jul 10, '07 9:39am PST 
I came from Gonzales to Houston to Cincinnati. I was pregneant and the SPCA said they adopted my pups out. I came with my mate Bourbon. Mu foster parents decided to foster a dog because they have 2 dogs and would want someone do it for them if this would happen. On October 15, 2005 I met my foster parents, Tim & Katie. They took me home. In the car Katie kept telling me it will be OK. I did not believe her at first. When I first met my 2 foster sisters (Honey and Snickerdoodle) I knew it would be OK. Then I met the 3 girls, Angela, Amanda and Aimee. I was happy cheer.

The first day I went up the steps cautiously and then stood at the top and looked down. NO WATER!!!. I wish I could have told my foster's what happen during the Hurricane. I was very scared of Tim (the only male in the house). They believe I was abused by my previous owners. I wish I could tell them. Little by little I grew to love my family.

Finally on Tim's 40th B-day they were able to adopt me. It was a great B-Day for Tim. Since then he and I are best pals. I am now house-broken. Let my girls dress me up in whatever they want (sunglasses, dresses, gym clothes, wigs).

I love my family and glad they took the chance on a dog that they had no idea if they were going to have me briefly or forever.

Bayou

Edited by author Tue Jul 10, '07 9:41am PST

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Maddox

Hey! What's up?!- Yeah!		 
 
Barked: Thu Jul 19, '07 11:01am PST 
My name's Maddox, and I'm a Katrina/Rita Rescue from Waveland, MS. As best we can tell, I'm a jack russell/italian greyhound or whippet. Like many of you, my story is kind of fuzzy (no pun intended) since the shelters down there were so overwhelmed. I was definitely born AFTER the hurricanes, and my parents were probably strayed, but like I said, since the shelters were so inundated, my people were never able to get the full story.

I was brought up to North Carolina by a consortium of animal rescuers working together under the name Animal Rescue Front. I came to Raleigh-Durham with a very nice lady named Dawn along with my brother Jack and several other small rescue dogs. My people found Dawn via the internet, found out she was having an adoption event at Petsmart that weekend, and that's where they found me! The best part is, the day I was brought into the shelter in Mississippi, that was my peoples' first wedding anniversary. It was meant to be!

I had all sorts of health problems (one of my other littermates, they're not sure he ever made it out of Waveland Animal Shelter), but once I got some good medicine, good food and a forever home, I have since exploded into the most insane 14-pound bundle of energy you'll ever meet! snoopy

Edited by author Thu Jul 19, '07 11:05am PST

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♣Sawye- r-Katrina- Survivor

Fight BSL B4- they come for- YOUR Breed!
 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 30, '07 10:09am PST 
I'm a Plott-hound and who-knows what mix (Mom thinks maybe shepherd? I sure do shed! BOL!) I was running loose through the Nola area and was cage-trapped in early January 2006. It is believed that I was just about a year old when Katrina hit, and that I'd somehow been fending for myself all that time. I was trucked up to NY with 36 other NOLA-area rescues, to a no-kill shelter to be "rehabilitated". Well, I was neutered, microchipped, treated for heartworm, hookworm, mange and all of the assorted maladies that afflicted most of us survivors. The staff at the shelter were very patient with me, and, since I was so passive from fear that I was nearly catatonic, I was easy to manage, but not easy to get adopted. They had my picture on their website as available for adoption, but whenever anyone wanted to see me, I'd be cowering in the corner of the inner kennel, or hiding out of sight in the outer kennel. Then the folks that became Mom and Dad started to visit me every day. Most days they'd bring their beautiful dog Godiva to walk with me, and then, after walking the shelter grounds together, Mom would take me back to my kennel, and sit on the floor and just talk quietly to me. She would also bring me treats; a little bologna, a little chicken, and talk quietly all the time while trying to get me to accept the gift. After two weeks of this, they took me to "Furever", where I've been living happily ever after. It's my one-year annifursary next month!
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Hershey

I'm sticking my- tongue out at- you!		 
 
Barked: Mon Aug 27, '07 8:24pm PST 
Our family lives in Ocean Springs, MS which is the town on the other side of the Biloxi Bridge. We live south of 90 and south of the tracks (which became famous landmarks on the news). We live less then 2 blocks from a water "inlet" and less then a mile from the open gulf. My daddy is a nurse and, at the time, Mommy was a teacher. Daddy had to work that Sunday and mommy sent him a text message that we were to expect up to a 25 storm serge. Daddy called mommy and said to get ready to go, we couldn't take that storm serge...so, she did. But, by time daddy got home, we couldn't get out. He almost couldn't get in. I don't think mommy seriously thought we would flood. She was worried about tornadoes and the roof. Mommy was getting a bag ready to go into the closet b/c she could hear all the tornadoes but daddy said no, "WATER!! ATTIC NOW!!" Mommy let the kitties go from their room to the rest of the house so they could get up high since there was no way to get them all in the attic. We already had our harnesses on. Mommy got into the attic and then they tried to get Harley up, but he wouldn't go. He fought daddy trying to get him up. Mommy said, "Get Hershey, She'll come and He will follow her." So, that's what we did. I went up fine, and once I was up Harley didn't fight anymore. From there we watched the water rise. After a few hours, we came down and everything was ruined.....the cars were flooded, the house was flooded....everything was ruined. But we had all survived. We lived like we were camping for a long time.
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Beatrix- Kiddo

Yard? What- yard?....		 
 
Barked: Tue Aug 28, '07 10:12am PST 
Hey, I just joined because I got a pawmail from Hershey and got to here from her doggie page. Hi Hershey!

My story is this, Mom had a yellow lab named Grace who had just died. Mom was very upset and said no more dogs (Dad still had his dog Frisco and Mom said that was it). A few years before Grace died Mom's other dog Babe, who she had with her for years had died too.
Those two deaths tore Mom up.

She and Dad went out looking for a fancy urn for Gracie's ashes, they were going to check out antique shops and fairs. As they were driving along Dad saw this sign for an antique fair and passed it. So he said he was going to turn around, Mom said forget it just keep going but Dad turned anyway.

Mom was way behind Dad going into the fair and when she got to the entrance she heard Dad call her, she looked to her left and there Dad was with me. A Katrina Dog Rescue group was at the fair with some Katrina dogs. A man was holding me out front and Dad took one look and said "Look at this cool dog, isn't she the coolest looking dog?" Mom was like "ohnonowaynonononono". Dad would not leave me and handed mom the forms to fill out, she handed them back, he insisted, he begged. Mom consented, thinking probably they wouldn't get me because they would have a lot of people wanting me.

Surprise surprise, the rescue group really liked them, went to the house with me, liked the big yard and the fact that I made myself at home in the bay window. Before Mom could blink an eye I was hers.

When I had first got up here, they had given me to a woman that could not take good care of me and gave me back. The rescue people had originally disagreed about giving me to this other woman and sure enough they were right, now they go to homes to check people out.

We really bonded over my heartworm treatment, (thank you University of Penn Vet Hospital for my free heartworm treatment!) when she was with me ALL the time. Now she could not imagine life without me, we walk together all the time and go running and to fairs and stuff. We even stop by the Rescue Group that saved me when they are at fairs and have shows.

That is my Katrina story oh and my name, Mom was not to happy with the name they had given me. After she got to know me and decided I looked like Uma Thurman if Uma had been a dog, with my long legs and light coloring. Dad did not like the name Uma for me but his favorite movie is Kill Bill, so that is Uma's name in Kill Bill, Beatrix Kiddo, plus I am a great escape artist (I no longer do this) and give good karate chop.
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Barley

I'm a lover not- a fighter		 
 
Barked: Thu Sep 6, '07 8:11am PST 
We don't know much about Barley's rescue. We know he was rescued in New Orleans. He was found swimming through flood waters with his sister. He some how ended up here in NY and I found him on petfinder and adopted himsmile
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Emma Barrett

It\'s good to be- the Queen
 
 
Barked: Wed Sep 12, '07 12:26pm PST 
Hope all you woofurs don't mind a kitty posting. First, our meowmywould like to say God Bless all the people who adopted woofurs who were rescued from Katrina/Rita.

She lost four cats in Hurricane Katrina. Her house in St. Bernard Parish (we have parishes in Louisiana rather than counties) had 14 feet of water in it. My brother Louis and I adopted her in May, 2006 after she moved into a FEMA trailer. Benny Grunch was born on the property where we live, and moved in with us in December, 2006. We are helping her to heal the hole in her heart and rebuild her life.

Emma, Louis and Benny Grunch (visit us on CATSTER)

P.S. wave Mo!!
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  (Page 2 of 2: Viewing entries 11 to 20)  
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