What would these responses have been like if the story had not been colored rosey by the story of the cat? I came here expecting to find the oft times criticism of why people chose to live in southern La. But, it has turned into a cat story about Fluffy. Good for Fluffy. My heart is just as warmed as are most others at the knowledge that little Fluffy got rescued.

My sister lives down there, and she has been telling me of the sad fate of so many wild and domestic animals that she has seen between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The highway is littered with the bodies of birds, gators, raccoons, etc.

People have been calling this area home for a long time, including some of my own and my husband's family. They bristle at any suggestion that they live elsewhere. Most of the time, it is not a problem.

Many parts of the continent are bothered by natural disasters. I shudder to think what it will be like when the big quake hits the West coast and all of California falls into the ocean! There are earthquakes in the West, tornadoes in the middle, and hurricanes in the East. LIfe is not perfect!

We are all happy for Fluffy! Seriously.

Don is an amazing example of a person who loves his "children" I would DIE for my pets and would totally go back for them if I could not take them with me (although...it would take Satan to pry me from the dwelling where my children live)...

Unemployment is over 8%, the massive stimulas spending seems to have went to other countries, and what was spent here wasn't about creating jobs. This NBC web site is really doing all it can to distract people from the REAL news. The real news is the fact that obama has serriously FAILED in most of what he has done while in office. It's nice that the cat was rescued, however; reporting the issues that the obama admin. prefers to keep quiet would be more worthy for a news web site.

the entire government has been a failure for decades, where you been? obama is a crook romney is a crook ,nomatter who u vote for a crook will win, all that ever runs are crooks its a requirement bc the crooks have all the money and they bought all the votes they can on both sides to win and thats that unless our military wises up and quits workin for crooks and opens fire on congress nothing will change

Thank God this man had the guts and the tools to go do this himself. Waiting for 211 help would have killed his kitty (are you listening, Mr Romney?). On the other hand, weren't there any able-bodied younger men relatives who could have come along to give him a hand??(barring the camera crew, etc.) P.S. news camera guys, I hope y'all gave Mr.DuPlantier copies of each photo so he can give them to his insurance company.....

Beautiful home it Was--No doubt a lifetime of hard work. Insurance--doubtful. Easy for people to say bad things about not taking the cat --Ever try to find a hiding cat? At least he went back after it. The house--Might be history. Looking out for family (Finding a dress) Bless this man and his family, along with the others who have lost so much. Blessings and prayers for those who have lost to Western fires as well.

ok a collective boo hoo already jeez louise, if you live in an area that is rutinely wiped out yr after yr , you 1 get flood insurance and be prepared for total annihilation every single year, if you dont youre an idiot, and dont gimme the they cant afford flood ins they gotta pay home owners a cpl hundred more needs to be a necessity otherwise , no house, no mortgage no nothin for you, duh

Hey psttttttttt, Why don't you blow it out your backside! Oh ya your statements did get blown out of your backside! Why make a natural disaster a political platform? Grow up!

I'm glad he went back to get his cat! Seriously tho, he left it behind to fend for itself? I would have never left any of my animals behind, just makes me sick!

This is clearly a two-story house. Very likely, the cat was left in an upstairs room with several days of food & water; unless the house had floated away, this was not a bad choice (especially if there were no motels available & the family needed to go temporarily a shelter that would not allow pets). So don't assume the cat was just left behind.
Yes, the man did have to use a boat & then wade through a bunch of muck to get it moved to the family's replacement home. That was likely the plan all along.

Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes in the south,earthquakes on the west coast. Try as we might mother nature is a force to be reckoned with. Floods are probably the nastiness of them all as the mess they leave behind.

A prayer for everyone that areliving through this event and those who are critical of the good people that call Southeast Louisiana home.

We lost a home in Ivan, but it did not look like this poor man's house...looking at the pics makes my heart so sad for you and your family. Best Wishes for an insurance settlement that you can live with, good luck, and I hope you get settled somewhere so you can start to pick up the pieces...it's aint easy folks...if you haven't been there, quit judging!

He is as stupid as he looks. Who would live in such a location?

I have read here about people who evacuate without their animals. When Bush signed the Pet's Act into law after Katrina each county is supposed to have a CERT (County Emergency Response Team) AND a CART (County Animal Response Team). Some people here spoke of being forced to evacuate without their animals. That should not be happening! The CARTs and the CERTs should be working together. People should contact their county EMAs so they know what is in place for them AND their animals in case of a disaster. Additionally, they should have an evacuation plan in place for themselves and their animals which they can enact before the disaster creates a problem for them. (e.g. "We are going to Aunt Clara's, which is well out of the area of the disaster.") We have to keep working at this so that NO animal is EVER left behind!

When he left, why didn't he take the cat with him?

How stupid and how cruel--then he acts like the hero on the internet and gets photo's of going back

and rescuing his animal companion that he left to possibly drown--

It's time to tear down all the houses in the low areas of Louisiana and rebuild them on stilts, like they do on all the shore homes here in South Jersey. Typically they are 8 - 10 feet above ground level and you can park your vehicles underneath... this would help solve total home flooding in those areas and minimise home repair damage. When stoms dumps multiple inches of rain in an area that sits below sea level, there is no area low enough for the water to drain away... it simply has to be pumped or evaporate which could take weeks and months.

How awful. That looks like it was such a lovely house. Amazing the damage just a little water can do. I had a slow leak in my kitchen from the dishwasher. It seeped under the (new) hardwood floors, destroyed the subflooring and leaked into the basement. The kitchen had to be gutted as well as part of the basement. Mold had already begun growing. I can't imagine a house that filled with water could even be saved, it is probably a complete tear down job. Hopefully he has flood insurance.

We know he has great flood insurance, he's smiling from ear to ear!

I don't get why he didn't take the cat when he evacuated. If I were in that position the first thing I would when packing to evacuate would be to grab my cat. Could never leave my baby behind when lord only knows what could happen during the storm. Material things can be replaced, my cats can't.

I love the smile on his face as he leaves with kitty and the bridesmaid dress, but it underscores the difference between most men and most women. I'd be upset over losing my beautiful home and furniture, the family pictures that probably were not saved, my clothes, etc.

Not a guy. If he's got his kid's dress so she's happy and his cat, so he's a happy man.

I watched a news report of the California wildfires years ago. A woman was in tears over losing her home. A man standing there was asked if he had a house there. "Yes," he replied, "That's mine burning now." The reporter asked, "But, aren't you upset?" The man said, "No, I got my wife and my dog out." That's all he loved and he had that- so no problem.

From what I can gather from the local news media (I am in Midstate, not in the southeast, btw), this fellow is a beloved veterinarian who stayed behind because there were some animals in his clinic who could not be moved. His own human family evacuated earlier. He himself was one of the last people the Shaffers (AKA "the Cajun Navy") picked up. I imagine Lovey had hidden someplace odd and couldn't be found or coaxed out at that time.

As for those telling New Orleans to just pick up and move: 1) this is not New Orleans. Plaquemines and Orleans are two separate parishes. 2) after Katrina, most people thought it could not happen again. Things that random seem improbable to repeat. It's like that scene from _Garp— in which Garp decides to buy a house right after a plane had flown into the side--because, he says, after one random horrible event, it's unlikely that there could be another. This may be faulty reasoning, but it's probably instinctive on some level and probably confers an adaptive advantage in many instances. 3) human beings have monkeyed with the river and made areas begin to "sink." We can't lay the blame totally on Mother Nature.

To ElegiaLeung: Ignore the hateful people. Everything you stated in your comments is in all the other comments from other people one way or another. You are passionate about animals, so am I. I just don't understand with advanced warning to get out of Dodge, why the cat was not taken (and yes it could have been hiding, but there was advanced notice).

Lovey meows from his/her kennel, not it's kennel. Whoever wrote this is obviously not an animal lover.

if u live where it the rule not the exception, that nearly every year either a tornadeo hurricane flood or earthquake will total an entire city, build homes with steel dont buy expensive goods unless u can insure them for at least what theyre worth, put all your momentos pictures in a safe or in something so when youre sifting through the rubble you have good chance its intact even if its in the next county up a tree, if u have a cat try to find it w/o risking your own life bc then kitty would just be an orphan, cats can climb most likely survive a flood for a cpl days till you can get back, providin kittys still there, im surprised lovey was, dogs and caged animals are different story, if you dont take them with u as u would a child, theyll most likely be found dead