To our fellow Cairn owners/lovers in New Orleans,

[toomanypaws]

My thoughts and prayers go out to all that are in the path of Hurrican Katrina, now a cat. 5! I pray for your safety. I pray for your pet's safety. For those evacuating, please make the necessary provisions to bring your pets along.

[kayharley]

Please be safe and take this storm seriously. I'm in CT with an open door and tons of dog food!

[maggie]

My thoughts and prayers are also with all of you in New Orleans & the surrounding areas, please take this seriously & remember the path can change at the last minute so all of you in the surrounding areas take precautions, better safe than sorry. My best to all of you!

[Scully'sMom]

Toomanypaws, excellent topic!and thoughts.

I will keep all of you in harm's way in my !

Come on up to Philadelphia. We'll have a Cairn party!

[Tuff&Tippy]

Be Safe :!:, we will keep you in our prayers

[Eliz222]

Yes, please take care and you will all be in my thoughts and prayers. God Bless.

[Brigette]

Yes, everyone be safe, if we can help know that we are all here for you.

[toomanypaws]

This just makes me sick! We've been keeping an eye on the hurricane, being we're in the panhandle. There was a lady, who works w/ animals and makes it her job to warn people about protecting their pets, on either The Weather Channel or Fox News. She was reminding people evacuating not to forget about their pets. She said just leaving them is a death sentence. They have a better chance (slim, but a chance) of survival to just be turned loose to fend for themselves. She said she talked to this one family who LEFT their two dogs in their crates on top of the washer & dryer. These poor dogs will have no chance of survival. If they don't drown when the waters rise, they'll starve or die of dehydration. My gosh, for the rest of the night, I'm going to be thinking of two little dogs left behind, probably scared and howling out to no one but the wind and rain! How terribly sad!

[Guest pepandfriend'smom]

All my thoughts and prayers are with the folks in New Orleans and the coast area. Have family in inland La. and Miss., where there will be flooding but (very hopefully) not 100 mph plus winds. Thank you Beth/So Many Paws, for starting this post topic. I hope you and your family have no damage or anything associated with this.

Please stay safe, everyone --

Pam (posting as pepandfriend's mom)

[bradl]

Stay safe! Sure hope things turn out to be more bark than bite. Fingers crossed.

[wags]

Toomanypaws, that makes me feel sad. I wonder how these "people" treat their children or each other!

[Guest mrskti]

Oh Beth that makes me mad and sad for those poor dogs, i'll be thinking of them tonight...poor babies. Stupid, stupid people!!!

[wheezie23]

Hi everyone! I'm 48 miles west of New Orleans and so far, so good. We were not a mandatory evacuation area, so we are riding this storm out. I refuse to leave my dogs behind, so here I stay. We've got plenty of supplies, batteries, and are on fairly high ground, so we should be ok. Thanks for all the kind wishes and prayers.

Thela

[Guest posting as: pepandfriend's m]

Hi, Thela, I am not at the computer that "knows" me so will send this through Forum instead of to you. Have been thinking of you and your family, remembering you are in south Louisiana. Am glad you did not have to do a mandatory evacuation. All the best, and stay safe, for you and your family and furkids.

Pam (posting as pepandfriend's mom)

[savannahsmom35]

Praying for everyone in the line of the storm. Looks like this is going to be a big one that effects much of the Southeastern portion of the country. I am in Columbus, Ga (right next to the border of AL and GA) and they are telling us to expect power outages, trees down and MORE RAIN (seems like that is all that it has done here lately). Please everyone (especially those of you on or near the coast) be safe.

It breaks my heart to hear that people will be leaving there animals behind. I cried when I had to leave Savannah with my parents so that we could go on vacation. I can't imagine leaving her to fend for herself during a catagory 5 hurricane!

[MikeC]

My prayers are with all of you in the storm zone. I watched some of it on the Weather Channel before coming to work this a.m. and it amazed me to see a news person actually get toppled over by the wind in Gulfport. Again, my prayers and best thoughts to all of you and your pets.

Mike

[wags]

How are you all doing, Thela? Thinking of you!

[caesar22]

I too hope for the safety of all in New Orleans and surrounding areas but how can anyone on this board comment on how others try and keep their pet's safe from anything. Are you in their situation? Maybe at that moment they are thinking the safest place for their pet is where they put them. When I read or see the folks on this site and their dogs running free in their cars, that makes me sick. What is going to happen when you have to stop in a hurry and poor fluffy goes smashing into the seat, windows or whatever is in front of them. Luckily you are strapped in so your protected unless fluffy smashes into you. We now have a law in PA where you have ot have your dogs restrained while in a vehicle. Think about it before you open your mouth.

Here are some links if you are interested.

http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2005/0811/Letters/

http://www.ie.pedigree.com/Pedigree/en-ie/...HideHeader=true

http://www.petsmart.com/global/articles/ar...534374302036574

[bradl]

I don't see the equivalency you draw. Life choices a person makes in one area don't disqualify them from having opinions in another.

[toomanypaws]

How can anyone on this board comment on how others try and keep their pet's safe from anything. Are you in their situation? Maybe at that moment they are thinking the safest place for their pet is where they put them. When I read or see the folks on this site and their dogs running free in their cars, that makes me sick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(sorry Brad)

To me, this is an irresponsible pet owner to even think for a minute that leaving their dogs in crates on the washer/dryer if the safest place. No matter what the situation, it doesn't take a master mind to know that that once you evacuate, you're probably not going to be let back into your neighborhood for a few days, maybe longer. Leaving a pet to slowly starve and die of dehydration, while having to sleep in his/her own feces or drown due to rising waters is NOT the safest place. My pets are part of my family. If I found I had no where to go w/ them, I'd sleep in my van before I left them behind w/ a death sentence.

As far as dogs riding free in cars, that has nothing to do with this post. I think most of us here secure our cairns one way or another when they're riding w/ us, at least I do. I do agree that they shouldn't be bouncing all over the place, but that wasn't what this post was about.

[MikeC]

I can only speak for myself, but I would never leave my little guys behind. We don't have hurricanes or tornados in CA but we do have earthquakes and my earthquake survival kit includes a two week supply of food and water and treats for Duffy and Miki as they will be with me and Jim no matter what. Just the thought of them being alone during a natural disaster fills me with dread!

Mike

[kayharley]

It sounds to me like a previous post has made it's way into this one. Although both have to do with safety, that shouldn't justify any negative input into this post having a totally different topic....just my $.02 worth.

I could not ever imagine leaving my dogs or even my gerbils behind in the wake of a disaster. I take my pet ownership seriously and would do whatever it takes to insure their safety as well as my own.

Yes, I know.....they are dogs BUT, in my world, they are family!!

[maggie]

http://www.noahswish.com/Disaster%20Prepar...Information.htm

I just happened to see this organization on TV right after seeing the previous posts. Maybe it would help if we all looked this info over and prepare in advance in case of disaster.

In the meantime lets continue to pray for the safety of all the families in harms way!

[savannahsmom35]

(Sorry) Toomanypaws - you absolutley took the words out of my mouth (almost word for word)! If you keep an anmial in a cage, house or chained up in an area that will be flooding, you are almost certainly sentancing them to death. The Weather Channel advised that if you had to evacuate and could not take your pets with you, you needed to set them free so that they could at least have a chance at survival. That would not be an option for me as I could not bear to set Savannah free OR even think that there was a possibility that she may not make it, so Savannah would come with me. If I could not find anywhere to stay that allowed pets, I would be sleeping in the car with her. At least I would know that she is safe.

Back to the topic at hand, it looks like things may have been worse in LA and MS than they originally had thought. Please continue to pray for all of those families who lost their homes and possesions in this storm. The devestation looks horrible. Anyone who lives in LA and MS, please give us an update and let us know that you are ok!

[maximus'mama]

Has anyone heard from Thela? She mentioned she was from New Orleans. My computer has been down and I have just read this thread and now I'm concerned.

Toomanypaws are you okay in the panhandle?