A great post was made by Karen Crooke of Terrificats Cattery to a Maine Coon cat group that she gave me permission to repost here. It is full of great tips for evacuating not just with cats, but with any kinds of pets. Lots of food for thought and great practical tips on what to do during hurricane season. This is a little long, but be sure to read the whole thing, you won’t regret spending the time on this.

Hurricane Readiness 2008 - Tips Gleaned from 2005 Experiences
Posted by: Karen Crooke
Date: Thu Aug 28, 2008

Folks,

It looks like we might be getting some hurricane activity soon…..
So keep the things listed below in mind if you live in one of the Gulf Coast states.

Tropical Storm Gustav is expected to develop to hurricane strength
by Saturday, move into the Gulf of Mexico possibly stall out in the Gulf so it can
strengthen over the water, and make landfall Monday night or Tuesday morning
somewhere on the Texas-Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama coasts. Of course,
we all know how reliable hurricane forecasting is….<>

So I may well be crying “Wolf” at the cat show here….but it never hurts to be
prepared. Lots of times these storms fizzle out…let’s hope Gustav does!!

TO TRACK HURRICANE ACTIVITY - WWW.NOAA.COM

For Gustav specifically,

I wrote the info below one year after Hurricane Rita. I know many others had
equally or much more horrifying experiences during Hurricane Katrina and posted
then, too. We should all remember and take heed. Most of my comments
below are directed towards the cats….don’t forget about your own important
papers, medications, records and irreplaceable momentos you want to save…
AND YOUR COMPUTER….you will need all those things. And take some clothes!

Emergency Preparation Steps: (From Karen Crooke - 08-02-06)

* Make your connections with other cat fanciers now. Get cell phone and
land line numbers and put them in your cell phone memory, plus make a
hard copy in case your battery dies. Your cat friends are the only ones likely
to be sympathetic about your need to transport and care for multiple cats!

* GET YOUR VEHICLE SERVICED NOW. CHANGE THE OIL AND THE FILTER AND THE
AIR FILTER EVEN IF IT DOESN’T NEED IT. A LONG EVACUATION IS HARD ON THE
CAR. CHECK THE BELTS. CHECK THE TIRES. KEEP THE GAS TANK FULL.

* Get some CASH. The most you feel you can afford and feel
comfortable carrying.If power is out, they won’t be able to take credit
cards at gas stations and hotels!

* Get an extra battery for your cell phone and charge it up. Keep
cell phones charged.

* Get walkie talkies if you are caravanning with another vehicle.
Cell phones don’t always work.

* Get a portable radio and fresh batteries.

* Call around and find a place to go if you need to evacuate. Study
the maps and figure out the best way to get there and then find an
alternate. If there is mandatory evacuation, the DPS often controls the
roadways after it is underway and you are required to follow their direction.

* Don’t put any more food in your freezers. Start eating out of the
freezer to limit the amount of food in them in case the power is out for a
long time. Nearly everyone had to dispose of their refrigerators and
freezers because of spoiled food in 2005.

* If you’ve been planning to shave down a cat or two and haven’t
gotten to it, do it now! Any evacuation, even in a car with a/c will be hot
and stressful. They will shed out the coat anyway from the stress. Try to
keep your show cats in the coolest part of the vehicle (after young kittens
and moms and very old cats).

* Most of these recommendations are for those who have a number of
cats. If you have only a few, it won’t be nearly as complicated to account
for them and transport them if we have to evacuate.

* Get those cat carriers cleaned up. Check that the doors and screws
are very secure. If there are cracks in any old ones you might need to use,
tape them up with duct tape or replace them. WalMart has pretty good
prices. Make sure you have enough carriers! You cannot stay behind if we
have a large hurricane with mandatory evacuation just because you can’t fit
your animals in your vehicle. That’s one thing we all need to consider when
determining the maximum number of cats we cankeep (among many others). Can
you get them all out at one time, quickly and safely.

* If you are short on room in your vehicle … WalMart has some
wonderful “soft sided” carriers for one cat that are only $15.99. They are
VERY secure and study. I wouldn’t want to use the smallest soft-sided carrier
for one cat for a long, crowded trip unless absolutely necessary. But if it was
the only way I could fit my cats in the car, I would do it.They also have some more
expensive soft crates that collapse and are held upright by metal piping
(but still reasonably priced).

* Count carriers and cats/kittens. Assign carriers to specific cats.

* Decide if anyone can share a carrier. Think about the heat….don’t
put more than 2 adults in a carrier together (minimum size 100 Varikennel
or Pet Porter) nor more than 3 kittens of any size.

* Make a list of your cats and their sex/age and any special needs
they have. Take the brightly-colored Duct Tape and label each carrier with
the name and sex of the cat that goes in it. Check off the list when you
have assigned that cat a carrier. That way if all the carriers are filled
you know you haven’t forgotten anyone that sneaked away to hide in the
confusion of packing up. Make more than one copy of your list. Double
check it.

* Use the larger carriers (200 VariKennels or Large Pet Taxis) for mom and
litters (if you have any…and remember next year not to breed any cats from
March to August so you won’t have any litters to worry about).

* DO A PRE-EVACUATION PACK-THE-CAR/VAN test. Get plenty of bungee
cords to tie down the carriers so they don’t shift. The new “flat” ones are
great and work best Be sure all your carriers will fit in the car with you
and any other humans you need to carry.

* Take a Rubbermaid bin with needed supplies for the cats (food, some litter….
you can always improvise for litter and where you are going will probably have
stores where you can buy stuff….I became a convert to the pine pellet litter on my
evacuation…light, you really don’t need a lot of it if you change it all
the time, and the cats seem to like it).

* After you get the car packed (with empty carriers) make a diagram outlining
which carriers go where and cats’ names….so you can load the car quickly
and efficiently. Put a hand towel or cut pieces of the Rubbermaid anti-slide
shelf lining to use between carriers so they won’t shift. Bungee them down,
too. Try to leave space for air circulation.

* Go to Sam’s Club and buy a box of 128 incontinent pads for about $28
and fold them in quarters and put two in each carrier (they are soft,
padded, and very absorbent. With two, my cats will wrap up any feces in the
top one and therefore stay out of any mess). Urine is well absorbed.

* BE SURE TO TAKE SOME EASILY ACCESSED AND HANDLED FOOD FOR YOURSELF.

I was stuck on the road for 18 hours with NO FOOD and no food available and
my small ice chest was buried under cat stuff (didn’t plan that well!). I
ate straight tuna packaged in the ENVELOPES (like some of the cat food
now)….it was protein; it was low fat (or good fat) and it kept me going.
I haven’t eaten much tuna fish since, but hey, it was better than nothing.
I stuffed a couple of packages of them in the side pocket of my car door
before I left, and I was glad I had.

* Make some provisions for yourself for toilet facilities…to be
blunt, those incontinent bed pads were created for a purpose. At least take a
couple of rolls of toilet paper. Many of us (please don’t laugh) have said
we’d buy Depends and wear them on the next evacuation. Now, we’re too young
to need them normally, thankfully, but they might work. The folks in other cars I
was in the evacuation line with got out and went in the woods of East Texas,
but there were more than one person in each car, and they had someone to
stay with the car, or if no pets, they could shut off the car and go. I had
to stay with the car because I was alone and I couldn’t shut off the air
conditioning for the cats….it was 110 degrees! So I left my house at 7
a.m. and used the restroom for the first time at 4:30 p.m. when I finally
arrived somewhere where there was one open and the DPS would let you stop!

* IMPORTANT: BE SURE TO TAKE A LARGE SPRAY BOTTLE FILLED WITH TAP
WATER AND SOME BOTTLES OF WATER…. If you get stuck on the road without gas
in this horrible heat, there’s not much you can do. But if you should find
yourself in that situation, at least you could spray the cats down and it
might keep them cool enough and hydrated enough to survive. That was my
greatest fear last year…that my car would die or run out of gas and my
cats would bake in the heat. Last year t he car thermometer read 110 for
most of the day (outside temp) and I couldn’t turn off my car while the
traffic was stopped in jams. I was SO worried about running out of gas.
Hopefully the evacuation routes are better and will be better managed if we
have to do it again.

* If you have time, go to the Dollar Store (Dollar Tree) and buy small
Tupperware-like clear containers that will fit in the carriers (even the
small Pet Taxi) for litter boxes. Just put a couple of sheets of paper
towels in the container with about 1/2 cup of litter on it (for this, use
plain clay litter….the cheapest and best is the Hill Country generic white
clay litter from HEB). The pine pellet litter will scatter too much and the
clumping litter could stick to the cats like cement in such small quarters.
Use just enough litter so the cat knows that’s what the pan is for. The
paper towel will absorb most of the urine.

* In 2005, Kroger (pet food aisle) had the very small plastic crocks
for 99 cents each and I bought one for each carrier. I put about 2 oz of
dry food in each of them. Once that was gone, I could have offered water had
I had the chance. If you have water bowls that will attach to the carrier
doors, so much the better.

* While you’re at the Dollar Store, get a couple of packages of
various sizes of plastic storage bags aka “baggies” in the cheap brands for
holding cat waste and containing the odor. Get a couple of rolls of regular
garbage bags, too. And some water for drinking. Don’t forget paper towels.
And Handi Wipes for your hands. And a roll of Clorox Wipes for the cages if
needed.

* Get your cats paperwork, registrations and medical records and any
meds that you have together, too. And don’t forget your and your family’s
stuff!

* Most of all, be sure you have a PLAN. And a PLACE TO STAY where all
your cats can be taken care of adequately. And LEAVE EARLY.

* Remember to plan for housing your cats at your evacuation site (a
friend’s house, hotel). The same concerns for spraying males and cats that
don’t get along that we have in hotel rooms for shows will apply, but
possibly for a longer period of time. Remember some of use were gone for at
least 3 weeks even if we had no significant damage to our homes…but we did
not have electricity or water or gas and couldn’t return home. So if you
can pack some wire cages or soft crates on the top of your van (if you have
one) or…. perhaps UNDER the carriers in your vehicle….it would be a great idea.

* Know what the facilities will be like for your cats….if you can fit in a fan to use there
in case there is no A/C in their area, bring it!

* If any of your cats are not up-to-date on their rabies shots, take
care of that NOW. Above all, they need rabies shots. Be sure you have
rabies certificates where you can take them with you.

I’m sure others will be able to add even more useful tips to this.

Good luck …Hopefully we won’t have to use any of these hints any time soon.

Karen Crooke
Terrificats