Finally, Hurrican Harvey has come and gone but the damage will take years to fix. Some of the most painful pictures to watch in the flood are of animals that were left behind. I watched on the news this morning that people are going out in their boats rescuing animals off of roofs. However, there isn’t a lot of shelters above ground that can take these animals in. Some are being flown out to shelters outside of Texas. The shelters in the surrounding areas are taking the rest.

One of our clients, of The Cat Solarium, lives in Galveston. I contacted him, as I did other customers in the Houston area to make sure they were safe and to check in on their kitty cats. Wayne replied back on Friday saying they were home in their 3rd story apartment. His apartment building was built over 100 years ago so he felt relatively safe. He had taken the Cat Solarium out of the window so the cats would have a place to go to where they feel safe. He said that in between bands of rain he was going out to feed the feral cats in the downtown area. He does this on a daily basis.

As the days passed, the stories grew worse. He was afraid some of the cats were gone. He found a sea gull on the side walk that had been beaten up pretty bad by the storm. He took it home and wrapped in towels then placed it in a cat carrier. A few hours later the gull had died. But, Wayne knew that the gull died warm and safe. His building was taking in water, so for 3 days, he and his neighbors fought to save their lobby in their antique building.

I shared his stories on our Facebook page. People wanted to help. So I asked Wayne to find a location we could get pet food to. He sits on the board of the Galveston Human Society. In the midst of a disaster, he gave me the appropriate way to help. This makes total sense. Houston’s shelters are closed. Galveston H.S. is taking donations and buying food and supplies as the requests come in. If a shelter in Austin takes in 20 dogs and need food, Galveston will get food to that shelter. And as the water resides, Houston will need food for their shelters. I am sure it is all under water. A $10 donation goes a long way when it comes to food for a dog. That could buy a bag of food to last one dog or a cat for 2 weeks. In this instance, a little goes a long way.

Here is the link:

Pet Relief: areas. As the requests come in, Galveston will get supplies out to families or other shelters. The post office is not running so using Chewy is not an option. Instead, use this link to donate to the pets that were left behind. https://form.jotform.com/61248655471157 and under the very first form line, tell them the purpose of your donation. They suggest putting HURRICANE HARVEY PET RELIEF so they know it is to be used for that need. They say that is the fastest way to get supplies to those who need it while not making it harder for the PO to get the mail back-up under control.

Here is a feel good story. Click the link to watch: Family Uses Boat To Rescue Pets. 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I will do my best to get them answered. Photo is from Fox 29