How to Reduce Your Cat’s Distress During a Flood Evacuation
Preparing to evacuate due to a flood is a stressful situation for the whole family, as you drop everything and get ready to pack up and go. Leaving behind your prized possessions and home can be difficult, especially if you are not even sure if you will have a home to return to. If you have cats, it is important to also care for their needs. Doing so can help reduce their distress during this time. What can you do that will specifically help your cats when you need to evacuate?
Stay Calm
Just as young children can pick up on tension and stress in the household, so too can cats. It is important to try to stay calm, not just for your spouse and children's sakes, but also for the cats'.
Keep tension under control and avoid exacerbating an already stressful situation by speaking in normal tones, keeping to the same daily routine as much as possible and by continuing to provide your cats with the warm, secure environment that they are used to. Cats can sense when there is a change to their routine, so try to stay calm and keep to the usual routine right up until you have to evacuate. Doing so will help reduce your cats' distress when you have to finally dash out the door.
Offer Reassurance
Even when you have tried to carry on as normal under the most pressing of circumstances, cats can often tell when something major is going on. If your cats start exhibiting worrying signs in the run up to the flood evacuation, you will need to offer plenty of reassurance.
Spend extra 1-1 time with them, go through their toys and pull out their mouse or string and divert their attention in extra playtime. Not only will you have an extra bonding opportunity with them, but the cats' distress will also decrease.
Be Prepared
Advance preparation will help you get out the door quickly and save precious minutes when the flood warning arrives. Do not wait until the last minute to prepare a flood survival kit for your cats. Gather together a kennel, food, litter, and other supplies that you will need as you prepare to evacuate. This will help reduce your cat's distress during a flood evacuation.
There is no doubt that a flood evacuation is a stressful time for the whole family. Natural disasters do not have a set pattern, but are full of unpredictable and unexpected outcomes. But if you are evacuating with cats, one thing you can control is your attitude to what is going on. It is important to stay calm and to offer reassurance to the cats. Advance preparation can also help reduce cats' distress.
More from this contributor:
Flood Preparedness Tips for Cat Owners.
Published by Sophie Spyrou
Sophie has been writing for the Yahoo! Contributor Network since 13th May 2007. She used her previous status as a Featured Contributor (Travel, then Pets) to share her personal knowledge about the UK culture... View profile
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