Exit planning

Impress on everyone that it is most important they, themselves escape. Cat rescue is secondary. While not the best outcome, it is entirely likely your cat will seek an escape route on its own, and will be found after a fire roaming the neighbourhood.

Having an overall human fire plan and exit strategy is key. Once you have a fire plan, practice regularly with your cat, including flashing lights, alarm and siren like sounds.

Gather Important Kitty Information

1) Along with the current rabies tag, engrave your cat's collar with up-to-date contact information. Add your cell number and a second way to contact you. A collar along with a microchip or an ID ear tattoo could help you and your cat be reunited should your cat decide to rescue himself.

2) Ask friends and relatives if they will care for your cat if you are unable to do so. Provide your microchip registry with the names and contact information of people who say they will care for your cat if you can't.

3) Research a place for your cat to stay if you can't go home after a fire. Many hotels don’t accept animals. Have a planned place and a backup place. That will be one less worry on your mind at a stressful time.

4) Make the effort to take some face and body shots of your kitties, and make them available to yourself, from anywhere, in online storage. You may need to use these to create lost cat flyers should you be unable to locate your cat after a fire.

Proactive Preparation

Carriers

The difficulty with feline fire planning is that cats naturally hide when danger threatens. Invest in a cat carrier. When you make it outside during a fire, having your inside cat in his carrier will prevent him from bolting, ( if he panics from simply being out of the house), and, it stops him from running back into danger. Consider fire resistance if buying a zip-up fabric one. A waterproof ‘wearable’ carrier might be best as it keeps your hands free.

If you already have a carrier but only use it to take your cat to the vet, your kitty will associate it with unpleasantness. There won't be time during a fire to hunt for, or fight with, a panic stricken feline maniac. Take the time now to make your cat think the cat carrier can be a pleasant, treat filled place of safety,
( instead of under the bed or on the top shelf of the closet!)

Keep the cat carrier close to your exit. Keep two large cotton bath towels, and a bottle of water with the carrier. During an escape, do not waste a lot of time coaxing your cat. If there is not immediate compliance, the fastest way to deal with an uncooperative cat is to wrap a large bath towel around him tightly, like a cat burrito, and then put him into a traditional carrier head first. Practice doing this from time to time. When escaping from a wide spread fire, like a forest fire or neighbourhood wide disaster evacuation, use the bottle of water to douse the second towel. Cover the carrier with the wet towel to keep flying embers from burning fur and fabric as you leave.

If you have multiple cats, have a carrier for each cat. Practice various loading strategies for loading cats into carriers until you find the quickest one with the least amount of chaos. You may want to consider purchasing a wagon. Carriers can be loaded into the wagon and pulled. If you also have multiple family members, perhaps assign each cat an escape buddy. Impress on everyone again that it is most important they, themselves escape. Cat rescue is secondary.

Cat Disaster "Go" Bag

Assemble a cat disaster "go" bag with medications, vacination records, and any special foods, toys and treats. Put in a harness and tagged collar, even if you do not ususally use one, as it may be required by a hotel, kennel or vet's office to provide service to your animal later. Include a bit of clothing with your smell on it in a plastic bag, to give a bit of comfort to your cat when you get to a place of safety. Keep the go bag with the cat carrier, or nearby, off site, at a friend's place.

Planning For If You Are Not Home

The safest place to leave your cat, when you aren't home, is confined near an exit, for easiest rescue. If you have a mud room with an outside exit door and an inner door that can be closed, that would be a perfect place to leave your cats while you are away at work. An apartment entrance hallway or foyer might be made suitable with a removable, extra tall, cat gate installed. These are available up to 72" high for detering leaping over. Along with food, water and the litter box, leave the carrier and cat disaster go bag in this area also.

If you have an alarm monitoring service, let the company know that you have cats and how many. Make friends with your neighbours and let them know you have cats. If you can't afford monitoring, you could perhaps give a spare key to someone nearby that you trust, who could at least open an escape route for your pets if you weren't at home.

Use window stickers to alert first responders that you have a cat. Make sure the stickers look new. Peel off any old stickers in favour of window clings. Fresh modern stickers tell fire fighters a cat is currently living in the home and that the sticker is likely up to date information. Besides giving first responders a chance to rescue your pet, it also alerts them to watch for a potentially biting, scratching, impediment to their personal safety.

If a Fire Occurs

Remember cat rescue is secondary, Only attempt to save your cat if you do not have to slow down your own escape. You can always leave a door open as you leave for your cat to evacuate himself. Never go back in once you have achieved your exit to safety!

Click training can be used to train some cats to come when called, to facilitate faster exiting. Or train your cat to respond to a whistle, because a whistle can be heard over alarms.

If you get outside without your cat, immediately tell firefighters your pet is trapped inside. Don’t go back in once you are outside. Call your cat in the manner you have trained him. Hopefully, he’ll hear and come running.

A safe temporary place for your cat after you have escaped, is in his carrier, in a vehicle, parked well away from the chaos of fire fighting. It is also a good, safe, place for a cat who escaped without being in a carrier.

Even if the fire is minor and your cat appears normal afterwards, have him examined right away. Smoke inhalation can be fatal. You could also take a pet first aid class and be better prepared to meet immediate cat first aid emergencies like burns and shock, on your way to the vet.

Preventing Cat Caused Fires

Here are the five major ways cats start house fires:



1. Chewing through electrical cords. -Use chew proof cabling covers or conduit.


2. Playing with incompletely extinguished cigarettes. -Don't smoke indoors. If you do, use covered ash trays to make butts inaccessible.


3. Jumping up on stoves to see if there is anything delicious to eat up there, and knocking the knobs into the ON position. -Use child safety knob covers.


4. Knocking over candles with a tail swish, or by batting at the flaming wick. -Use flameless battery candles.


5. Pushing flammable toys into the interesting crevices of space heaters. -Be vigilant when using heaters. Put cats in a separate area if you need to space heat while you sleep.

A house with a cat occupant is a house that needs a hand-held fire extinguisher! Be sure you have working smoke alarms. Alarms and fire extinguishers extend escape time, giving extra seconds for herding cats.

Professional Fire Safety Plans

Top

Author's Profile on Google

Jump to Index of Articles-> Fire & Safety Blog Home

Next Article: History of Fire Codes