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?

But what else would my cat do then? Say for instance there’s a fire downstairs, we would have to evacuate through the top window (it’s massive and opens out wide and there is something directly underneath for us to stand on) we don’t have a cat flap and my cat can’t open doors by himself. So what are you suggesting he would do to get himself out? Walk through a walk like a Casper the ghost? Suddenly develop fingers and thumbs to unlock the door?

Time searching your bedroom for your cat is time you should be using for leaving the house. Even a minute or two delay can be fatal either from fire or smoke inhalation. I would expect my cat to get out by herself and if she didn’t I would be sad but wouldn’t risk my life to search for her.

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?
So you would spend 5 or 10 minutes searching your room whilst the fire and smoke got nearer to you rather than you escaping and leaving your bedroom door open for them to escape? Every minute counts if you want to survive.

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!
You have no door between you and the kitchen? I think you need to concentrate on that as that's scary!! It wouldn't be allowed in a rental as they would insist on fire doors 😮

I'd be more worried about the impending doom of your relationship, in this batshit crazy situation!

we don’t have a cat flap and my cat can’t open doors by himself

So install a cat flap...

Are they house cats? The chances of a house fire are extremely low. I'd focus on what you can do to lessen the risk of a fire rather than lessen the risk of not being able to rescue your cat in a fire. Don't smoke, use candles, deep fat fry, overload sockets or charge e scooters or bikes over night

I assume one is a snorer. Hopefully not the one who has locked a cat in with them since cats having sensitive hearing.

I agree with others. Sort out your fire precautions of doors, smoke detectors, fire blankets and extinguishers, unplugging everything at night, don't leave a washer, dryer or cooker unattended. Get the fire brigade round to give advice and make a sensible escape plan.

This.

We have smoke alarms (which have defected the most minute amount of smoke from a fire in the past) and my dog is kept in a room with two external doors. I have the keys for the external doors next to my bed, so if we got out and couldn’t get to her on the way out we would go round the back and open the doors to get her. We have a house rabbit in another room without doors, but we keep a cat carrier in the room next to his so we have something to put him in if we can get to him. The rabbit would be the most likely casualty of a fire though.

Why wouldn’t you unlock and open the door from
the outside once you got out?!

This can’t be a genuine post.