It's now a month and a half since the coastal communities of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were mauled by Hurricane Katrina.

So many experiences, emotions, heart-breaking and faith-renewing stories, so much destruction: like our physical rebuilding, it will take some time for many of us to process all that our senses have experienced and finally get our arms around this cataclysmic event.

Some observations made that concern our pets during such an event.

1. PETS ARE MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY

Lawyers can argue whether pets are property or family members, but Hurricane Katrina showed that many people did not get away from floodwaters or storm surges because they could not take their pets to evacuation shelters. This willingness to put oneself in harm's way rather than be separated from a pet illustrates that the bond between pet and pet owner runs deep. Recognizing this relationship and providing alternative shelters for pets and pet owners must be considered at the local, state and federal levels.

2. Leaving your pet at home may not be the safest decision

The statement heard often in coastal Mississippi is that this home or structure "survived Hurricane Camille." Many of us, using the Camille yardstick, felt our pets would be safe at home during Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, we have been handed a new yardstick with Hurricane Katrina. Homes or buildings that withstood Hurricane Camille's wrath withered under the hours-long barrage of Hurricane Katrina.

Even leaving pets at boarding facilities or veterinary hospitals isn't necessarily safe, as nearly a dozen veterinary hospitals in the three coastal counties of Mississippi sustained total destruction or significant damage to their facilities.

3. BE PREPARED IF YOU ARE TRAVELING WITH YOUR PET

Pets feed off of our emotions and sense the anxiety and frustration we experience.

Consult your veterinarian about helping your pet cope with the "woes of travel" with the use of tranquilizers, motion-sickness products and/or antihistamines.

Also, map out your evacuation route, taking into consideration which relatives or hotels will welcome both you and your pet. Be sure to bring all of your pet's medications, leashes, collars, cat litter and litter boxes, food, bottled water and medical records.

4. GET YOUR PET MICROCHIPPED

One morning, I visited a pet shelter set up by a team of veterinarians with FEMA and saw a large room full of pets that had been found.

These pets were receiving outstanding professional veterinary care and being loved by the volunteer staff. Soon these dogs and cats will be transported to a holding facility to the north and disseminated to homes throughout the United States and will start a new life. While it pleased me to know that these precious friends were receiving such superb care with a bright and hopeful future, it saddened me to think that many of these pets were once someone in coastal Mississippi's best friend, foot-warmer, companion, exercise-buddy, active listener or perhaps someone's only experience of unconditional love.

True, some pets were there because the family simply had no home or had no ability to keep a pet at this time in their life. However, some were there because the pet had been displaced by the storm and had lost the collar or identification tag. These pets could have been reunited with their family if they had received an identification microchip.

Identification microchips provide a personal, one-of-a-kind identification number that distinguishes your pet as a special member of your family. These microchips are smaller than a grain of rice and fit into a syringe.

Similar to a vaccination, the microchip is injected under the skin of your pet, where it remains for the rest of your pet's life. If your pet is lost, animal shelters and veterinary hospitals can check for a microchip using a special scanner.

Once the microchip number is obtained, a nationwide database is searched and you, your shelter or your veterinarian are contacted to aid in getting your pet home to you. Prices for placing a microchip into your pet vary, ranging from $10 to $50. However, it is only necessary one time and could save you from frantic telephone calls and visits to humane societies, placing flyers at veterinarian offices, ads in the newspaper and possibly the loss of your pet.

Currently, there are two types of microchips, one used in the United States and one used in other countries. Problems have developed, because the scanners used for the U.S. microchip do not read the non-U.S. microchip.

Congress and the American Veterinary Medical Association are establishing a national standard for pet microchipping technology, thus ensuring that microchip scanners can read both U.S. and non-U.S. microchips.

I am convinced that microchipping pets will help prevent the heartache of losing a pet as a result of a natural disaster. Ask your pet's doctor about placing a microchip in your pet today.

You can't put your arms around a memory.