Billy-Boy the cat “came out walking” when he was born 10 years ago beneath Katherine Lloyd’s bed.

Lloyd knew instantly that she would raise him as her pet because “he had more spunk than the others.”

But for the past year Lloyd and Billy-Boy have been separated. Lloyd, formerly of New Orleans, was in the hospital in that city when Hurricane Katrina struck one year ago today. Billy-Boy became stranded in her apartment after the person that she had arranged to care for him had to evacuate.

Rescuers evacuated the hospital and Lloyd came to Athens to stay with her brother, Owen Lloyd. After three weeks, animal rescuers evacuated Billy-Boy from the dark apartment and he went to a foster family in Wisconsin.

And therein lies the problem: nearly 600 miles separates Lloyd from the Billy-Boy and she wants to find a way to reunite with her pet. Because of health and income restrictions she cannot afford a suitable apartment in Athens that will accept pets and she can afford.

“I couldn’t get back to my apartment on the west bank (of the Mississippi),” recalled Lloyd of the confusion after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans. “People in the neighborhood had been evacuated by helicopter, looters were coming into the apartments. I got on a plane and flew to Huntsville with two pair of jeans, two shirts and a nightgown.”

During that time, Billy Boy remained in her deserted apartment without food or water. The only available water was in the commode and that was contaminated by backed up sewage.

“I was in shock when I first got here, but I was constantly thinking about Billy-Boy,” she said. “I thought he was alone or dead or whatever. ..I was upset with God because he was letting Billy suffer and because I believed he was not answering my prayers.”

Lloyd said she stayed with her brother for two weeks until he found her a place at Elmwood Apartments. In the meantime, Lloyd and her brother sent in a description of Billy-Boy and an address and phone number at which his owners could be reached if he were found. They continued to check Internet sites with photos of recovered pets, but Billy was not among them.

“After I had been there for about three weeks, one night around 12:30 a.m. I heard a banging on my door,” she said. “It was Owen. He said, ‘let me in! They’ve found Billy!’ I couldn’t believe it.”

They had been contacted by animal rescuer Caryn Majeskie, founder of Operation Bring Animals Home, who told them that Billy was living with a foster family in Wisconsin.

“She said that when they went into the apartment to get him, he fought like crazy,” said Lloyd. “He had been hiding because I had always come back to get him.”

Majeskie told how Billy remained in the basement of his foster family’s Wisconsin home, refusing to eat or letting anyone pet him.

“They took him to an animal psychic who told them that he was ‘missing his mom,’ and she said he would eat Science Diet (brand cat food) or tuna. They got that for him, and he started eating.”

Lloyd’s joy at hearing the news about Billy was soon marred when she suffered a heart attack and had to be hospitalized for a month. Majeskie wrote her and told her if she could find an apartment that would accept a cat, her organization would pay the damage deposit.

However, Lloyd has been unsuccessful in finding a place she can afford.

One woman, who has her own cats, offered to share a house, but Lloyd, who is on a fixed income, found the cost prohibitive. She is still looking.

“As soon as I find a place to live they’re going to bring Billy back to me.”

Lloyd said she used to work as a medical transcriptionist for doctors at LSU Medical School and even wrote columns for a small newspaper. She said she is willing to go to work again to pay for a place for Billy.