FIRE: Christmas Eve catsitting scary story

**phesina** · 12-24-2010, 08:28 PM

I work some as a petsitter. Tthe big family holidays are times when you are very busy, because those are the times people go somewhere and need someone to look after their pets..

So among a few others I have this one now, a house with 12 cats. The owner is a lovely retired widower whose wife was a long-time volunteer at our shelter. I've looked after their cats for years. He and his new lady-friend are in England and Portugal for a couple of weeks.

So I was coming up towards the house this afternoon.. saw all these fire trucks down the street..

THE HOUSE WAS ON FIRE.

Long day, very nerve-wracking and tiresome.. too long to go into the story now.

BUT... THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO TELL YOU NOW:

ALL 12 CATS ARE SAFE AND SOUND!!!!!

More later.. when I am more up to it.

Cheers! and love

,
Pat, Sydney, Poppy, Elmer, Bob, and Sparkler

P.S., MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hug and schmoozle and skritch your beloved fur kids right now, because you never know what might happen...

**chocolatepuppy** · 12-24-2010, 08:46 PM

Oh no, that's awful! Thank goodness all 12 cats are safe!

**katladyd** · 12-24-2010, 09:29 PM

Thank God all those precious furbabies are safe! Is the gentleman on his way home now? I know I would be!

**phesina** · 12-24-2010, 09:53 PM

Between the firefighters, the police, the emergency vets, the neighbor and good friend, and myself, everything is under control. One of the cats, Lavinia, was slightly singed and is at the emergency vets' overnight. I took her in. She's stable and okay for now, but they want to watch her for smoke inhalation and any other damage that might not be immediately apparent.

Simon (the owner) and I will be talking more as things progress. (Aren't cell phones marvelous?!) The fire was mostly contained to one room, which the cats don't normally get into anyway.

I found 8 of the 12 cats pretty quickly, but the other 4 were still missing when Lavinia and I went to the vet's. Lavinia is being kept overnight, and we'll decide where to go from there. She is a very elderly lady with already a whole lot of things going on.

A couple hours later, after we were done checking her out there and consulting with Simon over the phone, I went back to the house to see that the others had food and water and litterboxes. During that time, the other four turned up. HALLELUJAH! OH, THANK GOD.

THANK GOD: Someone walking down the street saw the smoke and called the fire department RIGHT AWAY. The house is a big old wooden structure and would have gone up like a bonfire, cats and all, if it had had much more time to burn.

**Grace** · 12-24-2010, 10:11 PM

Pat, I just read about that in A2.com. What a nightmare that must have been for you and those poor kitties.

It said one of the cats was at the Vet Emergency. But the other 11 - where are they now?

**phesina** · 12-25-2010, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by Grace

Pat, I just read about that in A2.com. What a nightmare that must have been for you and those poor kitties.

It said one of the cats was at the Vet Emergency. But the other 11 - where are they now?

Gretchen, I didn't know we made the news!. I just looked at a2.com but couldn't find it. Do you have a URL for it?

The other kitties were all in different parts of the house. I found the four I hadn't seen earlier when I got back after leaving Lavinia at the vet's. I shut off the areas they shouldn't go to and let them free in the areas they are used to, then gave some more food, scooped the litter, and topped off the water dishes with a soda-bottle-full I brought from the vet's.

The electricity and furnace are working, but the WATER is shut off until Monday, so I will be bringing big jugs with me to give them to drink and to clean up the dishes as well as I can.

I just talked to the vet this morning. Lavinia is doing fine and will probably be discharged today. She was on oxygen for a while (to contend with possible carbon monoxide damage from the smoke), and she's been doing well since they took her off. They put her on some antibiotics. There are other symptoms, but they are mostly from things already going on with her.

I called Simon in Portugal, and he's going to call the vet and discuss what to do next. I have two other petsitting visits this morning (one elderly cat who needs to get FOUR pills -- two huge-- twice a day, and another who has to get sub-Q fluids), and then whenever it works best for Lavinia and the hospital I can come get her and bring her back home.

I haven't heard yet the official report on how the fire started. I have no idea myself. The room it started in is shut off from the cats.

That room is completely blackened and gutted. I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO SAY HOW GRATEFUL I AM THAT IT'S ONLY THAT ROOM. Thank you, God!!!!! Again and again.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYONE, FOR ALL YOUR GOOD WISHES!!!!!

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE!

,

**Freedom** · 12-24-2010, 10:13 PM

Oh my! I am so glad to read that ALL the cats got out. Prayers that Lavinia survives this scare. Sounds like she will be ok.

Any info how the fire started?

**rg_girlca** · 12-24-2010, 11:26 PM

Wow I can only imagine how scared you were. Thank God all the cats are safe and sound. Prayers on the way that Lavinia will be okay and has a full recovery from this. Thank goodness the fire was contained to just one room and Bless the person for walking down the street at the right time in order to call the fire department right away.

**Cataholic** · 12-25-2010, 01:29 PM

How frightening! So glass all are okay. I am curious, did they let you in to find them? Did they look? Did you have crates for all? It is,as someone else said, my largest fear.

**momcat** · 12-25-2010, 11:16 PM

That had to be traumatic for those poor kitties. I'm happy to know that Lavinia is out of the hospital and doing well.

Bless you for helping these kitties, feeding them, getting vet care, and being there for them. Please let us know how they're doing?

**Anikaca77** · 12-27-2010, 09:26 AM

I can't even begin to image the fear.....my prays that the kitties will get over this just fine and I'm so glad they were all safe and sound.

This is such a happy ending, thank God for the person seeing the fire and calling the police.

Melissa

**phesina** · 12-27-2010, 03:44 PM

I just got back from visiting them today. They are all doing well, enjoying their food and being home. Some of them have gunk in their ears (I think for a while now, not the fire), and I'm going to work on cleaning some of that out.

I had hoped the water would be turned back on today, but it wasn't. The guy stopped by to get a look at the situation and layout but will send workers to take care of it later this week. So I am still bringing jugs of water with me over there for the cats to have clean drinking water and then bringing the dirty food dishes back here so I can wash them in warm water!

Yes, this is such a miracle that it has turned out as it has.. I cannot stop saying THANK YOU, GOD!!!

Oh, and in response to Cataholic's question about did they let me in.. After the fire was under control and the smoke pretty much cleared out (they had set up HUGE fans), the officials let me and Ray and the insurance guy in. The firefighters had been closing the cats in this one room when they found them. There were a couple in there, a couple they hadn't been able to catch that I got and put in the room, and I went upstairs and found three of the others under the bed. The other four were still a question when I took Lavinia to the vet's. After I was done there, I came back to check out the scene and feed them and give them some clean water.

I'd known the water had been shut off when I went to the vet's. An hour or two later, as I was about to leave, I asked the discharge person if they could possibly give me some water in some kind of jug to take to the cats.. I was told "Oh, you can probably stop at Meijer's and pick up a gallon or two." (Meijer's is a big store chain around here similar to Target or KMart, with stores around on the outer edges of Ann Arbor.) Mind you, this is now about 5pm on Christmas Eve! and sure I'm gonna drive all the way out there, or to Kroger or wherever, to fight the mobs of last-minute shoppers, then drive all the way back to get it to the cats..

Then someone there also thought twice about it and came back with a big-size soda bottle full of water. Whew! So I got back to the house, went around checking how and where things were, found one cat in the basement where it is normally closed off to them, .. the YOUNG one I'd been afraid might have run off out the door was IN the house, and the old ones I hadn't found before were in secluded spots where they felt safest. ALL PRESENT OR (Lavinia) ACCOUNTED FOR! WHAT a relief! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, GOD!

I closed off the rooms they shouldn't get into (the one where the fire took place had been quite securely shut off by the firefighters), opened up the rooms they normally hung out in, topped up all the water bowls with the clean water, scooped out the litter boxes where needed, and put out LOTS of nice yummy wet food! I wanted them to realize they were back in their old familiar haunts as much as I possibly could.

**Laura's Babies** · 12-27-2010, 07:25 PM

I have thought about those kitties every since I first read your post about this. It has haunted me so much! I will breathe easier now that you have posted a follow up and they are all ok..

It has made me think twice about even walking out the door to go anywhere leaving mine in the house alone...