Well, cats and dogs are likely to run INTO the house. Even though it is on fire. Just as horses run into a barn. They go to their "safe" place.

I try to keep carriers handy, not in the cellar, but up here. (My house is a ranch, all one floor.) But as my pet family has grown, I have worried about this as well.

I read somewhere of a woman who grabber her cats, into a pillow case, ran out the house and put the case in the car so they could get out of the case but be confined and safe. And then there were lots of folks who thought tossing multiple scared cats in one pillow case was cruel. I just can't remember here I read this (maybe it was here on PT somewhere!)

The thing is, after you get them OUT of the house, you have to confine them somewhere or they will just run back in!

I have a label on my front doors advising how many cats and dogs are in here. So if something happens while no one is home, the emergency workers know who / what to look for. You can get the labels in many places and on line. The ones I have are stickies. But they now have window cling types as well. The fire engines in my city all carry oxygen masks for pets as well, but I don't know that it is everywhere which does this. And they put human life first, then pets.

Now my fish, I don't concern myself and don't have them listed. I don't have expensive fish, 15 or so black neon tetras and pristella tetras. I can't imagine what I could do, can't hold them in my hand.

I'd like to hear ideas from others as well!