Katrina's Pets Ready For Adoption

Thousands of pets have been rescued from very stressful and trumatic conditions along the hurricane zone in the Gulf Coast. While many have loving owners that will take possession of them as soon as possible, a great number of these displace animals need loving homes.

So what should you do if you are interestd in adopting one of the hurricane pets?

The Early Show resident veterinarian, Dr. Debbye Turner says it is important to remember what these animals have been through. She says the ones in the Gulfport Shelter in Mississippi, for example, survived a roof collapse, the shelter flooding, and seeing half the animals drown to death. Then they waited for days for someone to be able to get to them to rescue them. After, they were driven six hours to one staging area, and another six hours to a different staging area. In the case, of the pets from the North Shore Animal League, Turner says they were driven 17 to 20 hours from Alabama to New York. "All of these animals heard the storm, saw the water and have been shuttled to multiple locations, handled by throngs of 'strangers,' and are now in new unfamiliar surroundings.

That said, Turner explains dogs and cats process stress in different ways.

Dogs - Most dogs are pretty resilient and ultimate display, what is considered, normal behavior once the stressor is over.

Cats - Cats may be a little more skittish and jumpy after being in a frightening situation. But even cats can rebound and become calm, loving pets.

Turner points out in most shelter pets have more than likely been through some terrible event anyway. That's probably how they ended up in a shelter. So Katrina may not be a big deal for many of these pets. They'd seen hard times any way.

The ways an animal might manifets effects of experiencing trauma depends on the animal. But Turner says those that have been abused or frightened in some significant way may be skittish and very fearful.

Dogs process their fear in a wide variety of ways. Some dogs just retreat and try to hide when afraid. Other dogs will lash out and display aggression out of fear. The same basically can be said of cats. So when choosing a hurricane pet or any shelter animal for that matter, it is important to observe the behavior of the pet. If it cowers in the back of the cage, tucks his tail and trembles a lot, then you may want to bypass that pet.

Here is what you should do if you want to adopt one of these pets:

• Take a few days to really think about it. Owning a pet is a big responsibility that can last up to 20 years. So you need to know for sure if you are ready for this life-changing responsibility and if you can afford the expense of feeding and providing medical care for this animal.
• If the answer is yes to those questions, find out what type of pet best suits your lifestyle and family environments.

Make it a family decision - This should be a family decision, not a surprise gift. Take time with the pets. Usually a bond is formed pretty quickly with the "right one."

Ask the following important questions

1. What's this animal's background.
   
2. What is his health history? (are there any special health concerns)
   
3. How large will this animal get?
   
4. Confirm the animal has been spayed or neutered.
   
5. Ask if the animal needs any additional vaccinations.

Take time off to spend with your pet - Turner says it's important to spend some extra time with the pet when you first bring it home. You will want to be around to reassure the pet that this place is safe. This extra time will also help in forging a bond with the pet.

Housetrain - You may have some extra work to do in the area of housetraining. Some shelter animals are housetrained, but some aren't. If they are taken out of their cage regularly and walked (or were housetrained before they showed up at the shelter), then you should have no problems. But other dogs are used to doing their business right their in the shelter cage, so it may take some work to teach them they should relieve themselves outside, not inside.

Start small - It's a good idea to confine the animal to a small part of the house, or just one room and let him slowly get accustomed to the new surroundings. Every few days, you can make more and more of the house available to the pet.

Give positive reinforcement - Be sure to give positive reinforcement when the animal behaves well. And establish early on, which behaviors are unacceptable, like getting on the couch, etc.

Making the introduction to existing pets

• Ask the shelter workers how well the animal you are interested in gets along with other animals.
• Ask particularly about the type of animals you have at home.
• Introduce pets on neutral ground. If you have a dog at home, you may ask the shelter workers if you can bring him to the shelter to meet the new dog before you take him home. Introducing the dogs to each other on neutral ground can save a lot of conflict.
• For quite some time, don't leave the new pet alone with the existing pets. There are too many opportunities for conflict, even injury.
• Reassure the existing pets that they are still loved and occupy their place in the family. At the same time, you must make the new pet feel safe and secure in their new surroundings.
• Don't invite all the neighbors over on the first day to greet the new pet. It's probably a good idea for the atmosphere to be quiet and calm at first.