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Best Friends Animal Society
5001 Angel Canyon Road
Kanab, UT 84741
Miss Watson, Jasmine and Patch
When Hurricane Katrina hit, three of my relatives lost their homes in New Orleans and my niece had roof damage at her home in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. They all evacuated to our house in Lafayette, Louisiana. Thankfully they also brought their pets and for a while we had 12 people and 27 animals (mammals, reptiles, birds).
My niece Pat's seven Chihuahua's had to stay in the back yard with their kennels where they barked non-stop. No one at our house slept for a week, but we were glad they were safe. During those first several Days after Katrina approximately 35,000 people evacuated to Lafayette; and in the middle of one of those nights, the pet population at our house grew by one more.
When Pat went out to feed her dogs one morning, there was a strange, new dog in the yard. She was small and black, that is, the parts of her that had fur. Most of her body was bald and she was covered with sores. We couldn't decide what to do with her as we were afraid she had some dreadful kind of mange that would infect the other dogs. My animal-rescue friend came right over with a magic bag of shampoo, antibiotics, salves, etc., etc.; and we bathed her in a tub on the car port where she fell asleep in our arms while we were drying her off.
We then proceeded to clip the dozens of little fur knots that covered the rest of her body and surmised that the sores were probably caused when she pulled knots out with her teeth when they became too painful. She never woke up during the entire procedure.
After a trip to the vet where she was spayed, vaccinated, and treated for fleas and other vermin, we decided to keep her. My little niece Meghan said she looked like "Jasmine" and the name stuck. We think she's a Schnoodle (Schnauzer/poodle mix) which is exactly what. she looks like. She's the smartest dog I've ever met - and the sweetest.
Jasmine now shares her world at our house with our nin-year old Bassett Hound, Miss Watson Queen of Silliness; ten cats, all rescues of different situations; and Patch (upside down in the photo), a beagle, also a Katrina evacuee. Patch was found roaming around New Orleans just two months before Katrina and adopted by my niece and nephew, who evacuated with him to our house along with their three young children, a tortoise, and an iguana.
Juanita Lopez David, Lafayette La.
