As the 10-Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches and I make plans to re-visit New Orleans, I have sadly realized that not much has improved for the plight of America’s pets some 10 years later. In many ways, things have actually gotten much worse for them.

In the six months following Katrina, we managed to rescue over 15,000 surviving, left behind pets on The Gulf Coast. Over 80 percent of these rescued pets were not spayed or neutered, and had no microchip or I.D. collar. Less than 10 percent of these 15,000 left behind pets were ever reunited with their owners.

Six months after Katrina, the pets that we had sadly not managed to rescue had now turned ‘feral’ and packs of now feral dogs and cats were taking up residence in abandoned homes and buildings, and producing more and more and more offspring which no one wanted. My good friends at The Humane Society of Louisiana are still caring for some Katrina Left Behinds, some 10 years later.

And so very sadly to me, over the last 10 years, over 80 percent of the pets that I’ve rescued from the mean streets of Chicago and its suburbs are not spayed or neutered, and have no microchip or I.D. collar. Homeless and feral dogs and cats are now living everywhere today, all across America, and no one wants them.

There are thousands of homeless dogs living on the streets of numerous cities in America today - cities like Los Angeles, Detroit; St. Louis; and Houston. And by some estimates, there are over a million homeless cats now living in and around the city of Chicago.

And these very sad days for pets, I can rarely find anyone willing to foster or to adopt the pets that I do manage to rescue from a very cruel life out on the streets, pets like the three tiny homeless ‘July 4th kittens' now in my care. I have sadly not found anyone willing to adopt them – and this is so very sadly ‘the norm’ for most pet rescuers all across America today.

And today, America’s animal shelters are all overflowing with unwanted, relinquished, unclaimed pets that so many people are still leaving behind, that so many people are still not getting spayed or neutered, and are still not micro-chipping, all across this vast nation of ours.

I have been hearing a lot of talk about a ‘No-Kill Nation’ for 10 years now, yet I sadly know that this will never happen in my lifetime. We as a nation of so called ‘Pet Lovers’ have very sadly learned very little from the lessons that Hurricane Katrina offered us some 10 years ago.

Please Spay and Neuter Your Own Pets; Please Microchip Them; and Please, Don’t Let Them Run Loose to Produce More and More and More Unwanted Pets.

And Please – Adopt, Don’t Shop – For Your Next Pet.

The Pets of America Deserve Far Better, From All of Us.