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Nearly 30 cats and 30 dogs are staying at the location, which means a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of bathroom events to clean up. According to NLOL staff, neither the clinic or the shelter lost power throughout the event.

“Keeping heat was kind of hard,� Henley said, noting that many of the shelter’s doors are made of metal, which is a poor insulator. “[We] made sure the dogs had plenty of blankets.�

Blankets were used to block draft points at windows and exterior doors to keep as much heat inside as possible. Other preparations beforehand to winterize both buildings were done, and board members did some grocery shopping so Henley and Hawk had some snack food.

“The first day I was able to take some on the patio. Mainly to see if they’d use the bathroom,� Henley said, and added once temperatures dropped to the low 20s, no dogs were taken outside.

Spot cleaning was done where it was needed, especially since near-zero conditions prevented the two from taking dogs outside. They tried to keep inside temperatures around 65-degrees fahrenheit and dripped faucets to keep pipes from freezing.

They stayed Saturday through Monday, Jan. 23-26, and were able to return home Tuesday, Jan. 27. By Wednesday, operations returned to normal.

“We don’t get snow days, so we jumped in and did what we had to do to keep the animals safe and cared for,� Hawk said.

Hawk brought her personal dog, named Runt, to the clinic to stay with them. Henley said he made sure his cats had plenty of litter, food and water and walked home one day to check on them.

Any medicines the animals needed were well-stocked, the clinic only missed one medicine delivery throughout the whole storm.

Henley said that music and books on tape helped keep their minds occupied.

“This is the side of animal welfare people don’t always see,� Angela Chapman, Executive Director of NLOL, said. “When the weather is at its worst, our responsibility doesn’t stop. Our staff stays, because the animals depend on us.�

Videos of the morning cat count and dog check were posted to New Leash On Life’s Facebook page.

NLOL says it remains committed to helping families keep their pets during hardship. Individuals experiencing loss of income, weather-related emergencies or other temporary crises qualify for assistance through the Paw Pantry, providing pet food and essential supplies when conditions allow.

“Our goal is to keep families and their pets together,� Chapman said. “No one should have to face the heartbreak of surrendering a beloved pet because of a temporary situation, especially during a crisis like this,�