Maybe it's because I'm only a few miles from one of the fires here in SoCal (no worries, it's moving in the opposite direction from my house), but I've been thinking a lot about what I would do if I had to evacuate from my house. You all probably don't live in fire zones, but the need to evacuate can happen anywhere, and it never hurts to be prepared. Please put some thought into having your cat carriers, dog leashes, etc in an easy to access place, and have pet food and water already set aside.

My pet sitter sent out the following email to all her clients a couple of days ago:

A Plea To My Wonderful Clients:

Help us keep you precious kitties safe - leave your carriers near the front door. Always, everytime you leave!!!

It's been a long night here in Irvine. I have two guest kitties in my bathroom evacuated from a home near the fire area. **** has been to other homes closing windows. We have watched the news very closely tonight. She and I will be napping in turns to be sure all is well with our homes and the kitties of our clients who are still gone.

In every home where we looked for carriers, they could not be found. I can't tell you how frustrated and scared we were trying to make very serious decisions. We got all kitties out that we felt had to be moved. I've lined up more carriers if we have to go in the middle of the night or tommorow.

If your kitties are afraid of the carrier, try to get them ok with it. Leave it out, towel inside and door open. Use cat nip, treats to teach them it is ok. It's a comfy place for a nap. If they absolutely are terrified when they see a carrier, leave it in a closed bathroom, closet or bedroom near the front door and tell us exactly where it is.

Please do this everytime and we commit to finding the carrier on the first visit of every service. Thanks so much for helping us with this. We do live in a area that has fires, floods and earthquakes. Thank goodness these situatons don't occur often. But we don't want to be unprepared.

Another thought - as part of a complete disaster prepardness plan - you should have a neighbor who has a key and knows where your carriers are. In a critical situation they can get your cats out before streets are closed.

Another lesson learned. All is well and we are very grateful!