ATLANTA — A liver-transplant patient and his wife had a tearful reunion yesterday with the four pets they left behind when they were evacuated from a flooded New Orleans hospital.

"My girls! My girls!" Valerie Bennett cried to the two dogs, cat and guinea pig she left at Lindy Boggs Medical Center last week.

The Bennetts, of Slidell, La., were brought to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after Lindy Boggs, where Valerie Bennett works, was flooded by Hurricane Katrina.

The Bennetts were told they could bring only one item; they took the plastic tub containing the medicines Lorne Bennett needed to survive.

They fed their guinea pig and left food for the cat. The dogs were left with a doctor, who stayed until Monday, when the animals were evacuated, said Steve Campanini, a spokesman for Tenet Healthcare, which operates Lindy Boggs.

The animals were taken to a veterinary clinic in Texas.

Jeff and Lydia Caldwell of Houston read about the Bennetts on the Internet and volunteered to drive the animals to Atlanta.

Until Lorne Bennett is released, the animals will stay with hospital workers.