This week, the cat home safety rules I knew were turned on their head due to a cat sitting assignment with Max the cat.
I knew remodeling was underway. On Monday, I walked into the house unprepared for what I found. If you’re familiar with the TV show Dexter, you’ll understand when I say the house looked like Dexter’s kill room.
Cat Home Safety and Remodeling
Floor to ceiling plastic wrap covered everything. Equipment, chemicals, and doors opening the closing constantly, all reasons to close Max in a safe part of the house.
Max, a typical cat, was not happy in the basement behind closed doors. He had access to food, water, litter box and had room to roam. This setup worked great……..until Wednesday night.
It rained all day Wednesday and the entire night. I awoke Thursday morning, and first thing I saw was a flash flood warning on my phone.
Cat Home Safety and Flooding..Is Max OK?
I arrived at Max’s house at 7:30 Thursday morning. When I walked in, I looked down and saw several feet of water. My first thought………Max is in the basement, is he OK?????
The rain had stopped by this time, thankfully, and water was slowly draining from the basement. It still wasn’t safe to go down to get Max.
I went outside, found a window and looked into where Max would be. Couldn’t see him, but did hear him meowing, a good sign, he was there and ok.
Since it was going to take a while for the water to drain, I decided to exit the remodel area and return later. Midday, I went in and saw the water had drained. The carpet was saturated and electricity was still on. I asked a neighbor whether it would be safe to go down to retrieve Max.
Rescuing Max
Luckily, the neighbor was a retired firefighter. He had wading boots and gloves to help with grounding when opening metal door knobs. We headed into the bedroom. Max had climbed onto the bed, where he was safe and loudly meowing. The neighbor grabbed him, handed him to me, and upstairs we went to safety.
I put Max into an upstairs bedroom to keep him safe. Unfortunately, all of Max’s supplies: litter, food, water were in the flooded area. So I bought him a disposable litter box, some food and found dishes for the food and water.
Lessons Learned
It’s a good idea to have a litter box and food/water station on every floor if you live in a multi-story home. It’s convenient for your cat in cases like this, and ensures he will still have access to essentials if a disaster occurs.
Have an emergency kit for your pet in the event conditions are severe enough that you have to evacuate.
For more information on cat home safety and disaster planning, check out this article on petMD.com.
Max had a lot of stressful conditions to deal with this week. He was quite the trouper, though, and is happy his people are home again.
Have you dealt with a cat home safety issue? Please comment and let us know your experience, we’d love to hear from you!
Written by Karen
