Before Hurricane Isaac started affecting the Louisiana and Mississippi coast, dogs and cats from two animal shelters were shipped to North Texas for adoption.

The 181 dogs and cats that arrived Tuesday at shelters in Dallas and McKinney were being immediately put up for adoption. The animals came from the Humane Society of Mississippi in Gulfport and the Louisiana SPCA in New Orleans.

At this time, Maura Davies, vice president of communications for the SPCA of Texas, said they aren't expecting any more pets from storm-stricken areas to arrive.

"This is all we know about at this point," Davies said.

These dogs and cats were already in shelters and moved to make room for pets found after Isaac passes. Animals found after the storm will be kept in Louisiana and Mississippi in hopes of reuniting them with their owners.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the separation of pets from their owners became a huge issue when many New Orleans residents didn't want to leave their animals behind.

With the influx of new animals, Davies said, the shelters in McKinney and Dallas are "full to bursting." As a result, the shelter is offering half-price adoptions on all of its pets -- not just the ones from the Gulf Coast.

Adoption hours at both shelters are noon to 8 p.m. today. The rest of the week they will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Those interested in seeing the adoptable pets can go online at www.spca.org/findapet.

The pets can be adopted at the Russell H. Perry Animal Care Center at 8411 Stacy Road in McKinney and the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center at 2400 Lone Star Drive in Dallas.

"As of right now, we have not been activated," said Tammy Hawley, operations director at the Humane Society of North Texas.

For more information on adopting the pets from SPCA, call 214-742-SPCA (7722).

Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698

Twitter: @fwhanna

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