She was about to begin her senior year at Tulane University in New Orleans.

But the week before the fall semester was scheduled to begin, Arden Stitzell, with ties to Sebago, took advantage of an opportunity to vacation in Canada.

She left her two cats, Loki and Mr. Pete, in the care of her landlady in the French Quarter of New Orleans, left most of her belongings in her apartment, and left her car in the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

On the Saturday before the hurricane hit, Stitzell’s landlady called her in Canada to warn her. While so many people were trying to fly out of the city, Stitzell frantically tried to fly in to get her cats, her car and some belongings, but to no avail. The airport was already closed.

By that time, her landlady had evacuated, leaving the cats with a neighbor, Keith Wagner, who planned to tough it out through the storm. Stitzell had no idea at that time to what lengths Wagner would go to save her precious cats.

And, not only was Wagner watching Loki and Mr. Pete; he was in charge of two other cats, several dogs, two goats, 20 parrots and a few chickens, as well.

Stitzell returned to her parents’ home in Sebago in the days that followed Katrina’s landing, waiting for the chance to get back to New Orleans.

“I listened to the news when the levees broke,” Stitzell said. “I was freaking out.”

She learned from Wagner that a lot of people in the French Quarter didn’t leave, many because they had no car.

But, with no supplies available, those who had remained ran low on food and were without water in the week that followed the hurricane.

Wagner told Stitzell later that during that time, packs of animals roamed the streets looking for food in the French Quarter, their collars still on – a reminder they once belonged to someone.

Eventually, Wagner and a friend managed to get ahold of a vehicle. They decided to take the cats and leave the city.

But when they tried, they were prevented – held back at gunpoint by a National Guardsman.

In an attempt to find food and water, Wagner walked the mile to the Convention Center in the 95 degree heat. When he arrived, he was given only one small bottle of water to drink before he made his way back.

After being detained in New Orleans against their will for several days, French Quarter residents were told the next day they’d be sent to jail if they didn’t leave.

So Wagner and his friend loaded up a Volkswagen beetle with the cats, nearly all of the parrots and one bag of personal items for each of them and managed to leave the city.

But, while trying to drive around Lake Pontchartrain on their way to Baton Rouge, a bridge was out and Wagner decided he would walk the five remaining miles to his sister’s house while carrying Stitzell’s two cats and his bag.

Wagner arrived at a shelter, where he collapsed from the heat and dehydration. When he came to, he refused to go to a hospital because that would mean leaving the cats behind. He finally agreed to go after a police officer volunteered to take the cats to Wagner’s sister’s house.

A week ago, Stitzell flew into Baton Rouge to bring Loki and Mr. Pete back to Maine and to thank her neighbor for his tenacity and tender care of her cats.

Despite all that’s happened, Stitzell, who, along with her cats, is currently living with her parents, longs to go back to New Orleans to live once again.

“It’s an amazing place,” she said. “It has a sense of community I haven’t seen in any other part of the country.”

Keith Wagner of New Orleans helped rescue four cats and nearly 20 parrots with a friend in a Volkswagen beetle. Two of the cats are now back in Maine with their owner, Sebago resident Arden Stitzell.