September was National Preparedness Month. We didn’t write about it at the time — we got to live it. When the Butte Fire broke out on the afternoon of September 10th, mom knew we might have to evacuate. By the next morning, it was becoming a real probability so she started getting some things together like important papers and the computers and camera equipment. Late that morning she learned that we would definitely be evacuated and things got into full swing. We then had about two hours before we would have to leave.
Mom had our carriers ready and handy. She closed us in the family room and put the carriers in there with the doors open. Of course, we each claimed a carrier and went in to take a nap. Echo chose my new carrier that mom got me for BlogPaws (that I didn’t make it to) so I let him stay in it. I picked the biggest hard carrier. Mom finished getting our stuff together while we slept.
There are some important things to do before an emergency happens, like microchipping and making arrangements for a place to stay. If things are ready ahead of time, it will be much less stressful on the humans as well as the kitties.
What to do before disaster strikes
- Get your kitties used to wearing a collar with ID tags and get them microchipped.
- Make sure your cats are used to being in their carriers.
- Have a plan for where you will go with your cats. Human shelters often will not take pets.
- Have printed copies of medical records or have them on a portable drive. Store them in watertight containers.
- Have your evacuation kit packed and easily accessible.
Cat disaster preparedness checklist
Here’s a handy checklist I made for you of things to include in your cat’s evacuation kit.
So, how did mom do? Was she prepared? Well, she didn’t actually have an evacuation kit packed. The problem with that was we had no food!! She feeds us homemade raw food and we got the last meal she had prepared the morning we had to evacuate. She had planned to make us a new batch that day. This presented a bit of a problem that you can read about here. Mom is still working on finding a canned or freeze dried food that doesn’t give me diarrhea. That would not be a fun thing to contend with in addition to being evacuated. Other than the food issue, she was pretty prepared.
You can learn more about disaster preparedness here.
Hoping you never have to use your evacuation kit!
Christy Paws
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We’ve pinned this list for future reference.
Purrfect!
We know how scary that time was for you. Glad you made that great list for all of us. We hope we never have to evacuate. Can you imagine the humans trying to corral all of us. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Oh, my goodness, it would be a challenge getting all of you into individual carriers!
So glad you are all okay – thank you so much for sharing such important information!
Excellent post. I am glad you are all safe. It is good to be prepared.
Great information! It is also good to prepare beforehand because you never when something will happen.
Great post! How scary that you had to actually evacuate! What a relief that everything turned out ok. I’m sure it was very stressful and worrisome about your home.
Thanks for sharing this important information, Christy. The mom is no where near prepared for us and a disaster. She better get it together…because you never know when disaster will strike.
Well this post brings pink to my cheeks.We are totally prepared for ourselves but NOT our cats. Shameful. We do not have their vet records; nor photos attached to their crates; they are micro chipped but refuse to wear collars. I can probably get Sage to try but Savannah is relentless in freaking out with that around her neck.,Your list is so helpful as is this post. So sorry I missed seeing and thank goodness for the CWB blog post boost today!!
This is a great checklist. Our mom needs to get on it!!! We have some of these items, but not all. Glad that your mom was (mostly;) prepared for your evacuation! That must have been scary.
That’s some valuable information, Christy. I still need a badge with my name on it, but Granny has a problem with chosing one…but after this message, she will work on it with hurry 🙂 Pawkisses for a Spooky Helloween 🙂 <3
guys…thanx for sharin thiz post; N we iz sorree ya HAD ta evacuatez in de furst place….we hope ya never have two gain……we think yur mom did an awesum job….. wood be nice if her could fina a way ta kinda preserve yur foodz sum how ~~~
heerz two a driftwood catfish kinda week oh end !! ♥♥♥
She has read directions for canning my food. It wouldn’t be raw anymore but at least it would be the same ingredients. She may try it this winter to see if it works and if we like it.
Gweat posty. And altho’ we hope you find a food dat works it’s been our sperience dat any change will cause a bit of a purroblem, specially in times of stwess. Wiff me changin’ noms wight now, weez havin’ a few of those issues. No matter how fast or slow you go, da pawdee box always gets da brunt of it. And in meez case so do da bloomers. MOL
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
This is a great list! Since I go out of town for cat shows fairly often, we have most of the stuff together on the list – it’s pretty much the same whether you are traveling for fun of because of danger!
That’s a great point. Since I don’t travel much, I didn’t think of it in those terms.
That is some great advice, and the evacuation list is really good. I hope nobody ever has to use it, either, but it is good to be prepared.