[rightsaidfed]

Luckily, nothing happened, but the fire alarm went off in my apartment building today.

My kitten loves his carrier. It's out all of the time, and he even naps in it sometimes, but the alarm sent him under the couch and he wouldn't move. I have a bad back, but my couch isn't that heavy. I was able to drag the couch out of the way and scruff him to put him in his carrier.

Ideally, his safe place would be his carrier. I already leave treats and toys in there, and like I said - he loves hanging out in it, but this just isn't the first place he runs to when he's scared.

This whole process took a decent amount of time. This worries me if there had been a real emergency.

I only have one cat...I'd love to also hear from those of you with lots of pets - how do you handle things in an emergency? There's got to be a better way!

 

[MowMow]

I'm incredibly neurotic about such things so I have an 'emergency plan' in place.

My cat carriers are behind the couch right by the door. There is also a small backpack there with 4 days of cat food, a large bottle of water, a change of clothes for me, a pair of shoes, and an envelope with enough cash for a few nights in a hotel. I also have copies of their last vaccine info(pretty old since I don't vaccinate), microchip numbers in there, and a list of local pet friendly hotels.

My apartment is pretty small with not a lot of hiding spaces so I'm hoping it wouldn't take long to stuff them in their carriers and run for it.

 

[scottd]

There were tornados on the ground near my house about a month ago and I wasn't home. I had my grandparent's lock my cat in the bathroom with the cat carrier in there incase they had to quickly go to the storm shelter. I believe she put the 3 dogs in there with her.

I normally have a soft sided cat carrier out all the time because Tina occasionally sleeps in it. Truthfully, I could be more prepared.

 

[rightsaidfed]

I'm incredibly neurotic about such things so I have an 'emergency plan' in place.

My cat carriers are behind the couch right by the door. There is also a small backpack there with 4 days of cat food, a large bottle of water, a change of clothes for me, a pair of shoes, and an envelope with enough cash for a few nights in a hotel. I also have copies of their last vaccine info(pretty old since I don't vaccinate), microchip numbers in there, and a list of local pet friendly hotels.

My apartment is pretty small with not a lot of hiding spaces so I'm hoping it wouldn't take long to stuff them in their carriers and run for it.

Having a bag packed like that would go a LONG way towards cutting down time. I had to take the time to get myself ready to leave as well as chase down a terrified cat.

Even if I have a hard time getting to him, having my own stuff all laid out would make a big difference.

 

[MowMow]

Yar, thats why I even put shoes in there. I figure even if I have to run out in my skivvies it's better than leaving the cats behind. I could always dress later.

 

[rightsaidfed]

There were tornados on the ground near my house about a month ago and I wasn't home. I had my grandparent's lock my cat in the bathroom with the cat carrier in there incase they had to quickly go to the storm shelter. I believe she put the 3 dogs in there with her.

I normally have a soft sided cat carrier out all the time because Tina occasionally sleeps in it. Truthfully, I could be more prepared.

This is exactly how I feel. The carrier it out. He uses it. Getting him in it with a super loud alarm going off is another story.

This served to show how woefully unprepared I was for myself, let alone my cat!

If I work a late shift I usually hang out in my bathrobe after showering until it's time to go to work if I have nothing else to do that day. I wasn't even dressed when the alarm went off!

 

[JasonBond]

I live in Florida and we have a lot of hurricane warnings.. I also live in Tampa Bay which is the lightning capital of the world and with the lightning comes pretty nasty storms. We don't have basements in FL or cellars for protection. So during the really bad storms/hurricanes, we put things in the bathroom that we need for transport and evacuation purposes only.. We have our collapsible nylon crate that fits my moms mini poodle mix, her shih tzu mix, and my bassett hound mix. Then we put two large carriers (good for animals up to 20lbs) that are plastic air-plane approved and a smaller one for the rabbit. We also will include our car keys, our purses, our fire-box, vaccine records, and our phones.

I am very well aware of how under-prepared this seems. However, if we have to evacuate with no notice, we have four cats, four dogs, and a rabbit to relocate.

I'll be living with my BF soon, and we'll have three dogs, four cats, and a rabbit.

Since I have four cats in two bonded pairs they go in carriers two at a time. The rabbit goes in a carrier. And the dogs are leashed. In practice, it takes us 10 minutes to be backing out of the driveway when the animals are not hiding and are calm. I have several fire-rescue-my-pet stickers on our front door, window, and back door and back window. In case of fire, we will open the back door, the front door, and the garage door as well as bust in windows once we get ourselves outside. The dogs will follow us out hopefully.. the cats are going to have to be rescued or escape on their own. The rabbit will most likely not make it and would pass away from the smoke before I even get out the house but I'll grab him if I can get to him... I love my babies, but if I'm dead then the chances of any of them surviving is even lowered in a fire.

 

[minikin44]

Hmm I just have carriers... I guess I should put together an emergency kit, just to be safe. I do have a sticker by the front door like Thai mentioned.

 

[jadis]

Yeah I have two kids, two dogs, and six cats in my care right now. It would really depend on how much time I had. If I had 15 mins of calm I could get everyone except the feral cat out, but if I had to get out immediately like in a fire, I would only be concerned about my kids. I would leave the doors open and hope the dogs followed me and the cats figured out how to get out.

 

[scottd]

This reminds me I need to buy a fire extinguisher for the kitchen. I replaced the batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors a couple weeks ago. I'm going to have to move one because I'm apparently a terrible cook and it alerts the monitoring company every time I turn on the stove.

 

[rightsaidfed]

The other thing that scares me is that I don't know at what point I'd just say forget the cat and get out myself. I'm pretty sure I'd have to see flames in my apartment for that to be the case.

We don't typically have severe enough weather for this to be a regular occurrence just infrequent floods and hurricane warnings a couple times a year, but only get hit bad once every couple of years.

Anyway, i recently bought a HUGE gorgeous vera bradley tote bag that I really didn't need -- I think I found a use for it now!

 

[MowMow]

I had to face that many years ago in a barn fire. We had 9 horses trapped in their stalls. I'm pretty confidant in how far I'd go to save my furkids.

 

[marie73]

If the fire was threating her food, Charlee would put it out herself.

 

[Claude Hispaudus]

i've spent the better part of a year developing a form of communication with bunkin in case of just such an emergency. to wit:

1. if i raise my hands above my head it means i'm gonna getchoo
2. when i walk within 30 feet of the fridge it means time for ham
3. if i lay down on her couch in the afternoon it means bite my feet until i give up and sleep on the floor

using these sophisticated communication techniques i think if there were ever a tsunami or something bunk and i would be able to teamwork our way out

 

[Penguin_Dreams]

@scottdd - I've got a mini-extinguisher I'll trade for cat food. I guess it's nice to know that it's under my kitchen sink but I have no idea how to use it. Mostly, it's just taking up valuable space.

@Claude Hispaudus - you plan sounds similar to mine. Mostly it involves rattling the last of their kibble in the little plastic container, (which has been relegated to the fridge for long term storage), and they'll go practically anywhere I need them to so they can get their kitty crack.

Yeah, I should probably work on my emergency plan just a little.

 

[Arianwen]

I have a loose plan but, let's be honest, until it happens I don't know how any of them would react and a lot would deend on where the fire or emergency was actually located. Since I live two thirds of the eway up a mountain, I should at least be safe from floods!!

 

[3furbabies]

Wow this is something I never thought about. I don't have a plan at all. Two of the three cats are skittish and so is my dog. In case of a fire is have to leash the dog and drag her out. Two of the three cats would probably hiding in a tiny space somewhere and I would never be able to get them out. I have three carriers but they are in the basement storage so not much help but there's no other place for them.

There's really no tornados or hurricanes where I live so I think fire is the only possible emergency but when the cats are scared you can't go near them so chances are ill have to leave them behind.

 

[kty78]

That reminds me, I need to get a second cat carrier. I know I need 2, but I haven't had to take them both to the vet at once yet, so I've been making do with one. I keep it out in the open where they can go in it, had a blanket in it but the kids took it for their dolls... occasionally I toss a treat into the carrier so they'll go in and get it, seeing it's not evil, but they don't ever really go in on their own and hang out in there. I never have a problem catching them so I don't think that would be an issue, if it was I'd just get out some food or open the treat bag and I'd probably not have an issue getting them in the carriers. I do need to pack a bag for them though, good idea. With my kids in the house, the cats are used to loud noise and commotion, they're not skittish at all so I don't think they'd really hide if the fire alarm went off. They'd probably try to investigate where that sound was coming from. This weekend my husband and 2 friends were working upstairs and using a table saw, a drill, and an air compressor, a hammer, all of which make a lot of noise. Both cats ran right up there to get in on the action.

 

[GhostTown]

Jeez.... reading this thread sends tragedy and horror through my mind. Very unpleasant thoughts.

My dog would fine unless she were trapped. Loud noises would scare at least my youngest cat to where he'd try and hide.

I don't know what I should do honestly. I always have a large soft sided carrier close, and it fits all three of them. But I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about getting them out of a fire situation. It's a horrifying thought.

 

[Carmel]

The most likely thing around here would be a fire or earthquake. Neither give you any time to prepare...

Earthquake:
There's a large freezer downstairs with food and water. There's a first aide kit or two somewhere around here, the house is 50 years old, I'm sure we've amassed a few. The better question is would the island be hit by mass liquefaction or is that more of a myth? Good thing we have a small cabin cruiser boat in the yard (30 years old and never used)? We certainly aren't keeping it around for that reason, though. We just can't be bothered to get rid of it. If that actually happened though, I doubt we'd be alive.

Fire:
As far as a fire goes, everything is unpredictable; could I get myself out let alone the rest of the family or the pets? Who knows. If I could, I really doubt I'd be running around with a carrier trying to shove my animals in - ain't gonna happen. I'd have to carry them. There's a dog kennel or two we could use, if we needed too (much easier to shove a cat in something larger). I also don't think my first thought would be to rush downstairs and grab an emergency kit, I'd just want out with as many people and pets as possible. If it's at night, I can throw whatever animals happen to be on my bed to the roof below me... a cat could safely jump from that distance, a dog might break something, but they'd likely still be alive. A window downstairs is usually open enough for a cat to get out, too. Plus there's the cat door Blacky can use at all times, we could shove a smaller dog out it too. There's also a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen and one in the basement. My house has four exits, not including windows. One upstairs and three downstairs.

In short, I don't think they're the type of things you can plan for well, so I'm not going to prepare for every little scenario, especially when an animal - or you! - could go ballistic in such a situation, but a few basic things in place are good, instinct will do the rest.