Amazon CathyScott.com Amazon.com Wiley Category:  Mainstream Publisher: Howell Book House ISBN-10:  0470228512 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 244 Copyright: June, 2008 ISBN-13: 9780470228517 A chronicle of the rescue effort of pets left behind on the Gulf Coast and the largest animal rescue in American history. Foreword by Ali MacGraw.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many animals had to fend for themselves because their owners lost them or were unable to care for them. In Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned, Cathy Scott documents her experience working with the Best Friends Animal Society triage center to rescue lost animals and reunite them with their owners. Over two hundred stories with accompanying photos describe dramatic and challenging rescue cases with details about the rescues, the examinations, treatment, and follow-up care by the selfless volunteers who worked to save beloved best friends.  Excerpt After Hurricane Katrina hit, animal rescuers found this handwritten note taped to an apartment door in a building from which residents had been forced to evacuate without their pets: Our names are Fifi and Cici. We are both cats, one boy, one girl. Please take us to a shelter. Our doctors are located at the Cat Practice. If you find us, we are in the restroom. We have enough food to last us 5 days. Please contact our parents, Daryl and Tasha, who love and adore us very much, at [and the phone numbers were given]. Please, we need your help! Volunteer rescuers found the note and the cats a week later. Even though it was 11:00 at night, they called the number. Through her sobs, a grateful Tasha said, "It's my birthday. It couldn't be a more perfect gift." As this book details, most people did everything they could to give their beloved pets a chance to survive in the chaos after Katrina. Thanks to the efforts of organizations and volunteers from all over the country, it's estimated that approximately 15,000 animals were rescued. The staff and volunteers at the animal refuge facilities set up by Best Friends Animal Societyhelped to rescue between 5,000 and 7,000 terrified, abandoned animals and reunited some 1,500 pets with their people, most of whom had lost everything. This book details the rescues, the nonstop care given at the shelters, the reunions, the adoptions, the triumphs, and the tragedies. It celebrates the powerful bonds between pets and their people and those that develop between strangers who despite all kinds of obstacles, share an unwavering commitment to a common cause.

My Pet World
This is an unforgettable account of the courage and boundless energy of people who realize that we human beings have an absolute obligation to help the other creature of this planet. In seeing these images and reading the accounts in this book, we are reminded of the very best behavior of which the human heart is capable."

Scott covered the hurricane for Best Friends Animal Society. She handles the description of what happened as a journalist with the sensitivity of an animal lover. These stories are so riveting that simple, straight-forward narrative works fine. Hopefully, lots of lessons were learned as a result of Katrina, and reminding us of these lessons is good. Warning: Tissue is required for this reading, though the book abounds in happy endings.
--Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services

Pawprints of Katrina
Pawprints of Katrina includes nearly 200 heroic rescues, heartwarming reunions, and stories of selfless efforts of strangers brought together by a disaster to save animals at the Best Friends Animal Society triage center because their owners were unable to. The stories and photos included in this book will bring the experience of pet victims to life for the reader, from the first moments when the animals are rescued, to when they’re examined, treated, and cared for by volunteers, until the day they are reunited with their families or placed in new homes. The reader will also meet the volunteers who made the rescue efforts possible. Author Cathy Scott worked beside them, not only writing about the animals, but also helping to rescue and reunite them.
--Publisher's Weekly

Canine lives
Journalist Cathy Scott came to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to write about -- and work with -- the Best Friends Animal Society, which helped to rescue thousands of animals and reunite them with their owners. They set up headquarters at the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Miss. "Pawprints of Katrina" describes the work of rescue in the flooded cities, paints vivid portraits of the animals and the rescue workers, and celebrates some of the joyous reunions that were made possible by Best Friends at what became known as Camp Tylertown.

There are so many stories, so many unforgettable animals -- Red, a paralyzed pit bull; Nola Vie, a cat who won hearts; BayBay, rescued by Police K-9 handler Cliff Deutsch (the duo who appear on the book jacket); and rescued tarantulas (!), pot-bellied pigs, rabbits, even an iguana and an emu. Clay Myers' color photos provide an up-close and personal view of the animals, and their rescuers and families.

Scott ends her tale of this "remarkable collaborative effort" on a note of hope: Katrina raised awareness about how important it is to incorporate caring for animals in disaster planning, and she offers helpful suggestions for pet disaster preparedness.
--Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune