Am I being unnecessarily concerned about this?

[TrotFox]

Me and DP sleep in separate bedrooms. We have two cats who need to be kept apart at night. Girl cat sleeps with DP and boy cat sleeps downstairs.

I have always had this niggling concern and question about what we would do if there was a fire in the night and the cat downstairs couldn’t get out or we couldn’t find him. I tried to have him sleep in the bedroom with me but it didn’t work out and he won’t settle throughout the night. I mostly just assumed that I was over worrying and it’s very unlikely it will happen. However I just saw a post on Facebook about someone who is worried about the same thing but her boyfriend doesn’t want the cat in the room with them at night.

I am now wondering if it’s a much more real concern and I should be keeping the cat in the room with me and the door shut at night? What do other pet owners do and do you ever worry about this?

Why do you presume the cat wouldn't be hiding under your bed or behind inaccesible furniture in your shut bedroom? Why do you presume the fire wouldn't start upstairs and the cat is safer downstairs?

If you are that worried then get your cat carrier trained so you can scoop him up and keep him safe once outside with all the noisy sirens and people.

In a fire you open the front door, leave and pray the cat comes out. Make sure he isnt locked in a room. Maybe close all the doors so you know he is in the hall?

Do all you can to prevent fire for everyone's sake. But if worse does happen i think you would just have to leave asap.

I’m not presuming those things I’m just saying it will be safer to have the cat with me so that I know where they are. Yes they may be hiding in my wardrobe or something but at least I have a greater chance of finding them than I do if they’re downstairs. Downstairs we have a living room, dining room/kitchen and then like a conservatory area but it’s all open plan, there’s no doors so would be tricky to find him! I do feel daft tbh writing this because it’s a situation that is unlikely to happen.. it’s just always in the back of my mind so just wondered

Not once has this crossed my mind. My cat sleeps where he wants, I have no say in the matter 😂

yes my cat is like this too, as soon as I shut the door he doesn’t like it and likes to move about as he pleases. And as you will know… you can’t make a cat do something they don’t want to do 😂 I didn’t hear the end of it all night

I was given advice from a firefighter once that if there’s a fire in the house, not to go back into the house to look for pets, especially not cats as they’re ‘excellent at getting themselves to safety’ and id be more likely to harm myself than help my cat. I have 6 and always used to worry about it lol.

Get a fire alarm, get a smoke detector, reduce the risk rather than worrying about consequences?

If you have fire alarms and smoke detectors, then why are you still worrying? Do you think you'll sleep through them? Can't you hear them from your rooms? add more so you're risk of waking to a blazing fire are reduced. In all likelihood if there is a fire, the cat will be as far away as possible from the fire, never met a cat that will run towards a live fire, they are usually good at self preservation.

I have 2 cats and never think about this. I love them dearly but in the worst case scenario I'd just have to hope they could get out themselves! Because unless they were literally right there, I wouldn't be spending time looking for them.

Unless you're particularly reckless about fire safety, it's very unlikely you'll have a fire in the night. House fires are thankfully rare.

People don’t keep their children in their bedrooms in case of fire, nevermind their cats.

good point! And kids can't jump out of windows unharmed!

See I feel like my cat would just crouch himself into a corner in the back of the pantry or something to hide, rather than try to escape the house

I have eight cats and three dogs.
After a recent issue with my C02 alarms we got a fire safety check carried out. Fireman asked if we have a fire routine. I said yes, get my adult son into the car and throw as many dogs/cats as I can catch into him via a window ( indoor cats and ex feral rescues so no mean feat) then I would open doors and hope the rest got out. He told me to get out and in most cases the animals find their own way out. He also told me to have living room door etc shut at night as that is likely to give us 20mins extra to get to safety.
I keep carriers in shed and rest in attic so I could get to shed ones easily.

Me too! Last week

Yeah but we had a talk from some firemen once that said you should sleep with your bedroom door shut as this delays the fire a bit from getting to you. If your child is asleep with their door shut and there’s a fire downstairs, they’ll hear the alarm and wake up and know what is happening etc. a cat won’t.. I can’t keep a door shut to delay anything as downstairs is all open plan and if I did manage to get downstairs to find him (I know you shouldn’t do this though and should just get out of the house asap) I wouldn’t know where to find him. I would know where my child is.. in their room

It’s not that I sit shaking and biting my fingernails worrying myself into a frenzy over this. It’s just in the back of my mind sometimes. I was only prompted to write this because someone on my local town FB group mentioned it and I wondered what other people thought

Cats are not oblivious to danger and would probably be aware of a fire much sooner than we would, and manage to keep well away.

I have kids and cats (and dogs and 11 guinea pigs at one point) and i have never gone to bed wondering what i would do in a fire.

Kids out and leave the front door open for pets is the extent of my plan.

It's not unreasonable, your post has triggered me to think what I'd do with my dogs, especiallythe elderly infirm one whos a bit deaf! My focus is warning (alarms etc.), so to give more time to escape with all pets intact. I suppose I'd also look to areas that might be "hiding" places, and see how you'd get to them if there were a fire, can you just break windows to give the cat opportunity to escape, or is there places where it'd be stuck!

1. fire unlikely
2. if it happens cat will probably escape
3. you cant make the cat sleep in your room anyway.

I think you are worrying disproportionately about this and should look to resovle that.

I have a cat flap and would expect my cat to scarper PDQ of his own accord.

How you feel about your cat's abilities and personality really doesn't have any consequences on their actual behaviour and self-preservation instincts. You may think that you yourself will behave in a particular way in a dangerous situation but it doesn't mean you actually would.
But to answer your question, no. I don't worry about my pets. Anything that is not caged, I presume to have capacity to get out.

Animals sense danger long before humans, your cat will be out the cat flap like a rocket with the first sniff of smoke

If you are being fire aware , internal doors should be shut at night - all doors.

Our cat can come and go as far as the kitchen - that door is closed at night.

Dog sleeps outside our bedroom door . Im just praying Im not the one having to carry the fat git down a ladder

How bizarre

You think any type of animal is going to sit in the corner whilst there’s a natural disaster looming?!

Honestly I despair 😩

I think your cat would probably try and get out, especially if the fire alarm is going off, that would scare him surely? Do you have a cat flap? If so, I bet he'd be out in a flash! Does he have a spot where he usually sleeps downstairs so you have an idea where he is?

I don't think you'll have any success in getting your cat to stay in a particular room if that's not where they want to be. You'll have even less success getting a peaceful night's sleep.