Question:
Yesterday we had a fire in the hallway of my apartment building. It happened about 10 am and I just got out of the shower and I heard someone knock on my door. I chose to ignore it since I was nude! Then the fire alarm went off...my dogs know that sound and they ran to the door cause they know we have to go out. We have alot of false alarms (burnt toast etc.) in this building but I always leave anyway. I pulled on some clothes quickly. When I opened the door the hallway was full of smoke (others could smell the smoke before the alarm but I have no sense of smell)...so I shut the door again and grabbed my cat carriers but all the cats disappeared behind the bed (they hate the noise) so I ended up leaving them there...I made sure the windows were open in case the apartment filled with smoke...anyway, the Firemen put out the fire and everything was OK with my pets but do you guys have a plan? I know I have to get a plan together cause I just panicked and left them!! I felt really bad but I didn't know how serious it was...


Answer:
I would put my chins in a laundry bag. It would take too much time to take them out of their cages and put them in a travel cage. Cats are really hard to find in the event of a fire. You could easily die trying to find them.


Answer:
Cats are hard, hmm so I guess if you can get the cat fast then do so but if you can't then I would get out of there, I know that sounds mean but hey you have to do what you got to do


Answer:
I would also say that the first thing I would go for is my kids,,,I would open the door and i htink the dog would just go,,,,it depened on the location of the fire and how bad it was,,,,if it was upstairs away from me, I would take the time to get all the pets, if it was close and I had to get out like 10 mins ago,,I would make sure I had the kids and get out,,,,it also sounds bad but I would do what i had to do,,hopwfully for everyones sakes nobody ever will be put into that situation which I know is impossible but I think the first step is thinking it through and try not to panick,,if you panick you tend to get less accomplished!


Answer:
Interesting question.... since I only have two chinnies I would probably get them in a cat carrier and get the h*ll out of my appartment.
Last winter a breeder here lost their entire herd and house to a fire


Answer:
Right now I only have myself and the bf to worry about in case of a fire so my plan is simple, just get out of there!
But if I had pets that would be difficult to catch and take outside then depending on the amount of time I have, I'd try to get them out, but if I had less than a minute to get out and I didn't have time to wrestle with an unco-operative animal than I would leave the windows and doors open and hope that they run out.


Answer:
I just have myself, my bf and one chin, so it would be pretty easy for us to get out. I don't think that I would even bother putting Buddy in his carrier. Since I can lift his cage, I think that I would just grab the entire cage and get out as quickly as possible.


Answer:
you know I have often thought of that same question.. Im glad that Denise posted what she would do.. that sounds like a very good idea since I have 8 of them.. of course Id have to get 5 different pillow cases.. lol maybe I should put them by the cages just in case. as for Aspen.. I know he would hide somewhere.. he hates the loud noises. hopefully since he likes to go outside he would just follow us out the door.


Answer:
Bunnicula, same thing here: Cub hates being picked up so puttting her in a carrier in a hurry is out of the question. I would have to carry the cage out. Hank is easy to grab so I would throw her in her carrier & run like h*ll. Oh yeah, I might wake up bf too, but only if it wasn't his pot pipe that started the freakin fire, lol.


Answer:
Sue, you brought up a very good point...how do you catch the cats if they run and hide?! Anyone have suggestions? I never thought of this until now but my cats would probably hide if they heard the fire alarm or if there was any type of commotion.