# Disaster Preparedness?



## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

How many people have any kind of
Evacuation Plan?


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## Lotu (Apr 26, 2013)

This is a good question! It will be educational to hear what people are doing. Currently, I have no plan...eek! We would most likely find a hotel that allows pets and stay there depending on the "disaster". I keep a little food/litter in stock, but maybe I should be keeping more on hand just in case!


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## ecat (Nov 18, 2012)

I posted a similar question when we had some floods in the area. It's a hard one, because most emergency shelters don't accept pets. Therefore I think the most important thing is to have appropriate carriers and either somewhere to take your pets (relative or friends out of the danger zone), or an ability to stay in your car with them. 

I think it is important to have cat harnesses and a couple of week's worth of food on hand as well as any medications. I was thinking of getting a couple of Sleepypods as it looks like they are good portable carriers that are also comfortable beds (my current carriers are very spartan as they are just used to go to the vets).

I guess it all really depends on the kind of disaster you are likely to face. For me it is floods and tornados.


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

I should have a disaster plan but I don't. If a fire or other emergency happened and I needed to get my cat and rabbits out I could throw Skittles in a carrier and just take the rabbits cage and all outside. But if a bigger disaster happened, not sure what I would do.


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## Phantasmox (Aug 3, 2011)

I guess there aren't really any natural disasters where I live so I never really thought about this. I agree with ecat that a carrier would be the most important thing. Magaera broke hers, but I want to save up to get her a nice one. I already have a harness, collar, and leash which I keep hung up right by the front door, and I keep all her care things in one basket so it would be easy to grab and go. I like to keep the litter jug full so I don't think I'll need to stock up on litter but I should probably stock up on some nonperishable food.

Luckily it would just be Magaera that I'd have to take care of. My snake sadly escaped forever earlier this year but he would've been a big hassle to care for in a disaster with his habitation needs.

I'm the one that needs more preparation in a disaster than Magaera would, though, haha! After my last move, I decided to try and live a more minimalistic lifestyle, but that's easier said than done...


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

We don't have _any kind_ of crazy weather here, or fires, or anything. In one sense, it's pretty boring; we don't even get any sort of storms/lightening. 

All we have is the threat of today, or 1,000 years from now, having an insanely large earthquake. If so, there's the possibility that liquefaction of the city would take place, as we're at sea level and the island is built on sediment created from the river... sooooo... I can't really plan for that.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Off topic- Carmel, I really like your new sig.

My preparedness is nothing more than some food supplies and a couple id collars next to the carriers. 

I know someone (maybe Marcia?) has some elaborate plans - lists of pet friendly hotels, etc. 

If you read Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, you'll see what she had to go through during an emergency of significant importance and it'll make you want to firm up your plans.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

my strategy for a fire is to put my cats in their carriers, throw them out the window and then jump after them. providing that the fire department already has that big mattress down there. or even if they don't, I guess. it's five stories to the sidewalk, which isn't great but I would rather die that way than burn. and being in their carriers, the cats would most likely not even be hurt. two of them go into the carrier without a hitch, however Baci might not get to go because he acts so stupid about it. he'll get in it and sleep, play, anything but the minute I need him in it, he scratches me and hides under the bed.

I used to be more concerned about a fire, but this whole building is dry-wall and I don't think that burns so I hardly think about it anymore.

in case of a blizzard, I have my stockpile of food, candles, batteries, litter, but it would have to be a really* big* one before I needed it.

if something like a tornado knocks the whole building down, the brown palace is only a couple of blocks from here and I know they accept pets. there are probably more within blocks because there are a few hotels per block downtown.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I have their carriers tucked behind the couch right by the front door. In the soft carrier is a couple of cans of EVO and a bottle of water. With them is a overnight bag with a change of clothes, some hotel mini soaps/shampoos, and an envelope with some cash and a list of pet friendly hotels that are local and a cab co. #. It also has a few cans of low sodium soup (pop lids), some packs of peanuts, and a few bottles of water. Right next to that is the hall tree where I keep my phone charging so I can grab it and my purse as I run out the door with the boys.

I can shove them in and be out the door within 30 seconds (yes, I'm OCD enough to have timed it).


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Great. Now I know whose house to break into when I'm low cat food, water, clothes, soap, shampoo and *cash*! :grin:

AND exactly where to find it.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

marie73 said:


> Great. Now I know whose house to break into when I'm low cat food, water, clothes, soap, shampoo and *cash*! :grin:
> 
> AND exactly where to find it.


LMAO!!

I had a co worker whose wife who is OBSESSED with a zombie apocalypse. She's had him turn their little 5 acre lot into a compound with high fences, security cams, food stores, generators, and she's a major gun nut.

I've always said that when the end comes for whatEVER reason, I know where I'm headed! Even if they don't let me in the house, I'll be fine on the compound camping out by the creek! LOL!


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

What we worry about here (Central Or) is
fire...
I keep two of my 5 gal. Jugs handy, cat food and dog food is in buckets, quick to grab.. I still need to get two more cat carriers...
Leashes, cat harnesses (like better than collars, safer, can't slip out of).
Sleeping bags (for us!)
Pet ID
Still trying to fine tune somethings!


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

MowMow, I think I'll borrow some of your ideas!

Marie73, ROFL.


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## Linsmd (Aug 7, 2013)

As someone who recently had a kitchen fire that escalated within a span of 1:30 seconds, let me be the first to warn you all, THE CATS WILL RUN! lol
We actually had two fires within the span of 6 months. One was a deck fire that started from a cigarette my dad dropped into some dry leaves. It busted the glass back door and smoke started to pour inside. That time we were able to get all cats and dogs out, but our cat carriers were in the back hallway....Right next to the fire. so the cats had to be carried. 

The second one was a malfunctioning our stove which lit grease on fire so when the smoke started to fill the house, all 5 cats ran in opposite directions. Our red nosed pit bull, however, is the biggest wuss in the world so he literally let himself out of the front door and went to sit by the car. The chihuahua followed suit. I stayed inside with my mom to try get the cats, but it was hopeless and this thick black smoke filled the house. As a last resort I opened the basement door and two of the five ran down. By that point we had to get out because of how smoky it was. One of the firefighters had the specific task assigned by me to search for the cats and if he couldn't grab them to try and get them to the basement. I found out later he is a cat lover so I'm thankful I asked him. They also smashed out all of our windows because they knew animals were inside and they needed the ventilation. They had to break them because our windows were very old and they didn't know the whole shake and shimmy trick of opening an old wooden window. Lol.
They also had to cut a hole in the roof because it turns out our kitchen tile backsplash was made of a toxic plastic mix that created very hazardous smoke. When we went in to find the cats four found their way downstairs and 1 was still under an upstairs bed, but okay. I was carrying her out and she peed on me for spite so that's how I knew she was fine. They actually had a picture of me in the paper carrying her and if you look you can see my horrified face and her stream of pee hitting my clothes. Lol. 
One firefighter told me it was a smart idea to open the basement door, since smoke tends to rise. There was very minimal smoke in the basement after the fact.
Afterwards one of the police officers told us that he's seen some pretty smart cats. They will hide far from flames and try to find windows if they feel they really can't breathe. He said he had a cat once that busted itself out of a window screen and hid in the bushes. The family was worried it died but it emerged after the fire trucks left.

So overall, if you do have a sudden fire and can't get your cats fast enough, 
- try to get them into a basement or lower level. If you can't do that either, don't risk your life, as much as you may want to. 
-Also, don't be afraid to ask a firefighter! They don't mind and will go out of their way to help you find a missing animal.
-During the aftermath, we got our cats and put them all into my car until we were ready to leave. They boarded up our house so we stayed somewhere else. I happened to have a disposable liter box with litter inside it which came in handy. It would be good practice to have one ready to go.
-When the Red Cross came to find out if we needed assistance/clothes/ect they asked if we had anyone to stay with. They offered us a hotel room AND made a point of telling us that they cater to people with pets and will get you a pet friendly hotel if necessary. This might not be the case in a natural disaster situation but I imagine with an isolated fire they will be able to accommodate you with a pet friendly hotel. We ended up staying in my grandparents vacant "summer house" so we did not need a hotel. They also asked if we needed cat food, dog food or litter boxes just in case out money wasn't accessible, but my wallet was recovered so that was taken care of as well.
-WASH YOU CATS POST FIRE. It was 1 am and I had been crying for what felt like days but the minute we got into my grandparents house each cat got a bath in the sink. One cat had soot from head to toe and I was worried about him licking himself and getting sick. We washed all of them just in case. After the fire the inside of my nose was full of soot as well so I tried to clean their noses as best I could just in case. I simply took a wet cloth and rubbed it like you would wiping a baby's nose.

I hope that none of you ever have to go through a house fire but I thought I should leave a few tips just in case!




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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Good to know, what a frightening experience that had to have been!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

You can throw all your best plans out the window when it comes to earthquakes, too. My girls run straight under the bed. Which is only really irritating because it doesn't leave much room for me.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

marie73 said:


> You can throw all your best plans out the window when it comes to earthquakes, too. My girls run straight under the bed. Which is only really irritating because it doesn't leave much room for me.


ROFL! You may need a bigger bed!!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

We get hurricanes here so usually have a bit of notice before having to evacuate. I have all the hard sided carriers in the attic. I have their collars with tags and copies of their rabies certificates in an envelope that has a list of emergency supplies written on it such as food, water, litter, litter box, towels. In the 20 years I've lived here we've had 2 hurricanes that were a direct hit but were not very bad (category 1) so we rode them out.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Linsmd said:


> I hope that none of you ever have to go through a house fire but I thought I should leave a few tips just in case!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow! What a harrowing experience! Lots of homes have basements, but not here in hurricane country. I can't imagine anything worse than a house fire! I'm glad you and everyone else is ok. I hope dad gave up smoking after that!!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

MowMow said:


> LMAO!!
> 
> I had a co worker whose wife who is *OBSESSED with a zombie apocalypse*. She's had him turn their little 5 acre lot into a compound with high fences, security cams, food stores, generators, and she's a major gun nut.
> 
> I've always said that when the end comes for whatEVER reason, I know where I'm headed! Even if they don't let me in the house, I'll be fine on the compound camping out by the creek! LOL!


Geez, I'd be embarrassed to admit what her obsession was. I'm all for security and being prepared... but _zombies_?? I'm hoping she is smarter than that. There are much more likely things to be afraid of like civil unrest when the "stuff" hits the fan after a power grid failure.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

Marcia said:


> Geez, I'd be embarrassed to admit what her obsession was. I'm all for security and being prepared... but _zombies_?? I'm hoping she is smarter than that.


as ridiculous as it sounds, there are people who are actually convinced that not only is it possible, but likely. I love zombies but I don't think for a minute that it will ever happen. if I thought there was a good likelihood of it occurring, i'm pretty sure I wouldn't like them nearly as much.

that would only be a natural disaster for me because they don't generally attack cats.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Marcia said:


> Geez, I'd be embarrassed to admit what her obsession was. I'm all for security and being prepared... but _zombies_?? I'm hoping she is smarter than that. There are much more likely things to be afraid of like civil unrest when the "stuff" hits the fan after a power grid failure.


Yep! I'm a lot more afraid of the "Living" dead!!


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## wolfheartmoon (Aug 3, 2013)

If there's a disaster, like two years ago we had a tornado, the hotels temporarily allowed pets. There's also family I could stay with.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

cinderflower said:


> as ridiculous as it sounds, there are people who are actually convinced that not only is it possible, but likely. I love zombies but I don't think for a minute that it will ever happen. if I thought there was a good likelihood of it occurring, i'm pretty sure I wouldn't like them nearly as much.
> 
> that would only be a natural disaster for me because they don't generally attack cats.


it's just so illogical! I've often been accused of being too Mr. Spock-ish though. I like logic and sound reasoning. People that buy that crap are just strange to me.


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## katdad (Jun 13, 2013)

Living in a potential hurricane zone (Houston) I have regular evacuation plans and my cat is included. As does most anyone who lives where there could be a weather disaster (hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake), I keep an emergency kit that includes catfood and a harness and a carrier nearby.

Pets or no pets, it's a good idea to have some emergency supplies handy, even if it's a flashlight and radio, change of clothes, about $100 cash, easy opening foods, maybe a firearm, vital paperwork, etc. Even if you've just got a fire nearby or a power emergency knocks out the electricity, you are best advised to have some sort of plans and supplies handy, quick to grab. Of which my cat is an essential part.

So yes, and especially with hurricane season upon us, my girlfriend and I have our plans mapped out.


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## NOLAKitties (May 30, 2013)

We have two months worth of food for the cats. Still need to get another carrier. We have first aid ready. Def still need to be more prepare than we are now considering we live in a hurricane area (New Orleans). 

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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Tornadoes here last night. Scary business. Nothing in my neighborhood, but on my commute, there was some damage.


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## NOLAKitties (May 30, 2013)

NebraskaCat, tornado scares me. You only have a few mins of warning. Glad you are ok. Hope you have a basement. 
At least with hurricane we can prep days in advance. But I want the cats ready anytime so that I can think of other things that equally important like the evac route, gas, hotel room and human paperwork. From my experience it always looks easier on paper than the reality because thousands of other people evacuate and prepare around the same time too. 

In my to do list for the cats
- another carrier, 
- their papers and photos taped in their carriers
- clean blankets in their carriers
- disposable litter box and extra emergency litter. 
- phone of pet friendly hotels or out of town friends and fam who we can stay with during disaster time


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## rayrhonda (Jul 31, 2012)

I have thought about this and I'm afraid my kitties would run to hide somewhere and I woudn't be able to get them. The dogs come when called, but you know cats! What would you do?


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## artiesmom (Jul 4, 2012)

I had a semi emergency situation in my apartment building last week.
I live in a 74 unit apartment building.
Someone below me had a kitchen cooking fire. That area of the building had smoke and water damage from the sprinklers! When the alarms went off, Artie got so frightened, he ran like a bat out of He!! under my queen sized bed. There was no way I could get him out of there and put him in the carrier.
He was so scared. After the commotion stopped, an hour later, he could not wind down and relax..
It took him a couple hours of pacing around and me putting together a make-shift 'tent' on the couch so he could hide and still be next to me!!

Got me thinking about What would happen in a really bad emergency? How could I manage to get him into the carrier??? and me ready to evacuate??

I mean, I have a "I love my cat" sticker on my apartment door, for a warning to anyone who enters--but....what if...


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## Astarael (Feb 20, 2013)

I have small animals and a cat, so it would be relatively easy for me to evacuate. I have an emergency cage for my rats, some supplies packed up inside it, a box of cat supplies (I should really stock it with more wet food; good idea keeping the rabies tag close). Mia is relatively easy to get into the carrier, and she comes when called. i'm gonna have to get her a harness since I lost my last one. I have no idea what to do about litter and boxes though. 

On the topic of zombies...Maybe not your typical brains eating zombies, but maybe mroe along the lines of 28 days zombies? ;P Virus mutates that makes people raging psychos? I could see it, hahaha.


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## ZombieCupcake (Sep 29, 2013)

Astarael, I'm so glad I'm not the only rat lover here. Sometimes people look at me like I'm nuts! A few years ago I had 2 cats, 3 ferrets, and 5 rats. I had 4 carriers and bags of food/water bowls in a closet by the door. But now I just moved to a house and my disaster plan is lacking. I have carriers for both cats and of course collars/leashes for my 2 dogs. As I live in Indiana the only thing I need to worry about is a blizzard. Usually around this time of year I grab extra litter and then get an extra bag of food for everyone. The only downside to this year is that I have 6 geckos and 3 bearded dragons now. If our power goes out and my house gets below 65 they will all die. I need to get some new candles and a lantern as well. Somehow those all disappeared in the move.


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## Astarael (Feb 20, 2013)

Definitely! I've had them for about 6 years roughly (not this particular pair lol). I've seen a few others with rats, but not many! But yeah, the rats will be very easy to evacuate. Naturally, I've collected about 8 million carriers in the course of owning them. : P You can have some of mine, lol.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

As much as people think their cats would be easy to handle, and respond to treats, in a true emergency, all bets are off. During the last sizable earthquake, I couldn't get my girls out from under the bed for a LONG time, even with their favorite treats to entice them. I imagine it would be the same in case of fire or a hurricane or tornado. Of course, now there is no *under* my bed, but if they went behind the hot water heater, I couldn't reach them. I'm working on trying to block that off completely.


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

marie73 said:


> As much as people think their cats would be easy to handle, and respond to treats, in a true emergency, all bets are off. During the last sizable earthquake, I couldn't get my girls out from under the bed for a LONG time, even with their favorite treats to entice them. I imagine it would be the same in case of fire or a hurricane or tornado. Of course, now there is no *under* my bed, but if they went behind the hot water heater, I couldn't reach them. I'm working on trying to block that off completely.


I agree with this. Cats will run when a disaster strikes. It is best to train them that when a disaster strikes to go in there carrier and stay there so you can shut the carrier door and get them out safely. Or teach them to come to you when a disaster strikes and stay with you instead of running off and hiding.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Hmmmm, you kind of missed the point of the post. You CAN'T train cats to be calm during an emergency. Under normal circumstances, my girls will come running 100% of the time when they hear the crinkle of the treat bag, but after the earthquake, I could have been shaking a live fish or mouse and they couldn't have cared less. They were terrified.


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## rayrhonda (Jul 31, 2012)

Amen Marie....I agree totally. When they're scared, there is no getting them to come. I've called, searched everywhere shaking the treat can and nothing. Really worries me, but I don't know what to do. Guess they'd just have to fend for themselves


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## kittiesmom (Aug 27, 2013)

I'll bet they would survive better than we would, cats are so clever.


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## NOLAKitties (May 30, 2013)

Yeah, I sure hope their survival instinct kicks in in emergency situation when I'm not around to help them. Another reason not to declaw cats.


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