This post is about preparing for emergencies–primarily for your cats! It needed an update and rewrite, so here it is!

Everyday on the television news, we see films of natural disasters. We see hurricanes. We see tornadoes. We see floods. We see earthquakes and tidal waves and war. We see failed nuclear power reactors spewing radiation. We see volcanos erupting. Wherever you live, there is something that could happen to you. Some disasters are more likely than others in the area where you live.

Where I live, the largest threats are earthquake or volcanic eruption. There is a risk when living within sight of a dormant volcano. The volcano in my neighborhood is Mount Rainier. It is 14,411 feet high.

Mt Rainier

The danger is not from waves of lava flooding over everything. The threat is from the immediate melting of the glaciers seen above on the mountain, and the flooding of the river valleys below. I am not in a valley, so I will not be washed away; however, I could be visiting or shopping in a valley town. In the valley towns nearer the mountain, they have warning sirens which they will sound, when the mountain erupts. I have heard the tests. They are very loud.

Volcano warning siren Puyallup, Washington

Roads are also marked, so that people know which way to run, in order to get to the high ground. I say run, because there would be an immediate traffic jam occurring, with no one driving anywhere, within minutes of people realizing what was happening.

My home will not be washed away. I do suspect electricity and perhaps even gas and water supplies to be disrupted.

People will need emergency provisions to get through the initial disaster period of time.
On television I often hear that you should have three days extra of food and water stored. I do not think that is enough.  One thing people forget about is their pets. What will they eat if you cannot go out and buy them food? I like to keep a large supply of cat food and cat litter.

Dry cat food

When I buy new food, I put it in the back of the shelf, and put the older food in the front. That way, I use the older food first.  I have many one gallon water containers full.

If I fed the cats a small amount, the food would last a long time. I also have about 250 pounds (113 kilogram) of cat litter (not shown). It is also convenient to have much extra supplies for cat and human alike. If I am sick, I do not have to go to the store to buy anything for a long time.

To me, this seems to be a lot of cat food looking at it in real life. The photographs do not make it look like so much. Maybe I shall go out and buy some more. People with many cats will think I am crazy if I think this is a lot of cat food!  They have an even bigger challenge!

I also keep the cat carriers nearby, so if I had to leave the house quickly, I could pack the cats up, and safely carry them out.  Any cat medicine needs to be handy as well.

Opie

I have easily 4 times the amount of canned cat food shown above. Some cat foods have said they are “human grade” which implies you could eat them. There is no official standard of “human grade” so the description is misleading. It is an advertising ploy to make consumers think the food is very healthy and nutritious. If you want to feed your cat “human grade” food, set another plate at your dinner table! In an apocalyptic situation you could heat some up with some herbs and spices, I suppose. It would give you some protein and keep you from starving. What a steady diet would do to your guts, I do not know. There is evidence mounting that the increased incidence of intestinal lymphoma and intestinal cancer in cats is caused by ingredients in canned cat food. Whether any creature should eat it is in question.  The cat food manufacturers will not address the issue.  

Some familiar blankets and toys might make your cats more at home, if you have to evacuate. Hopefully you can just hunker down at home. That is my plan. Pets would be the primary concern during evacuation.  Don’t worry about your pet photos.  You should have them all stored digitally up in the “cloud” along with your other family photos!  Any other thoughts?

(all original photos by Greg )