Evacuating With a Dog or Cat: Why the Carrier Decides It

When an evacuation order comes, most dogs leave on a lead and walk to the car. Cats leave in a carrier or they do not leave. That is the single most consistent finding in two decades of research on what happens to pets in disasters, and it turns a plastic box in a cupboard into the most important piece of emergency equipment a cat household owns.

What the evacuation studies found

The foundational work is a series of studies led by Sebastian Heath at Purdue's veterinary school, published in 2001.

The first surveyed 397 households in Yuba County, California, six months after a 1997 flood put them under evacuation notice. Just under one household in five (19.4%) failed to evacuate at all. Households with children were less likely to stay behind. Pet-owning households without children were more likely to, and the risk climbed with every additional pet in the home. The authors named the specific impediments: owning several pets, owning dogs that lived outdoors, and not having a cat carrier.

A companion study looked only at the 203 pet-owning households in that flood zone. Almost exactly half (102) evacuated with their pets and half (101) left without them. Pet evacuation failure was tied to management habits that were in place long before the water rose, including dogs kept outdoors most of the time and owners with no carriers for their cats. More than 90% of owners found housing for their animals without any outside help, so the hard part was getting the animals out of the house.

The third study followed a hazardous chemical spill where residents had no warning and only a few hours to leave. Of 433 dogs and cats in 241 households, 261 (60.3%) were left behind. Of those households, 49.4% evacuated with their pets, 40.7% left without them and later tried to get back in to rescue them, and 10% did neither. Cat evacuation failure was associated, again, with not having cat carriers. Nearly 80% of the households that did bring their pets stayed with friends or family.

Read together, the three studies point the same way: the households that lost their animals were mostly short of equipment and time. A 2015 review by Heath, written while at FEMA, put the wider number on it: across multiple studies of real evacuations, 20% to 30% of all human evacuation failures can be attributed to pet ownership. The same review suggested emergency managers hand out free cardboard cat carriers door to door when an evacuation is called, which tells you exactly where the bottleneck sits.

What changed after Katrina, and what did not

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 made the forced abandonment of pets national news, and Congress responded with the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, signed on 6 October 2006. It requires FEMA to make sure state and local emergency plans account for people with household pets and service animals before, during and after a disaster. It also allows federal funding for shelter facilities that accommodate people with pets, and adds rescue, care and shelter for those animals to the essential assistance the government can provide.

There is some evidence it helped. A University of Pennsylvania study of 90 pet owners and 27 non-owners in mandatory evacuation zones during Hurricane Irene in 2011 found that pet ownership was no longer a statistical risk factor for staying behind. The same study noted that many owners who did stay still gave pet-related reasons.

The law requires a community plan, and it does not put your cat in a box. Ready.gov, FEMA's own preparedness site, still warns that many public shelters and hotels do not allow pets inside, and says plainly that if officials tell you to evacuate, your pet should evacuate too.

The fast-moving disaster is the hard case

Floods and hurricanes usually come with a forecast. Wildfires and chemical releases often do not, and that is where the carrier problem gets worst.

Colorado's Marshall Fire on 30 December 2021 destroyed more than 1,000 homes in about six hours. A University of Colorado sociologist and a Colorado veterinary reserve corps member who studied the fire estimate that more than 1,000 pets died, many of them inside homes their owners could not get back to. Road closures, smoke and the speed of the fire kept people who were out at work from reaching their streets. One interviewee described a drive that normally took 15 to 20 minutes taking nearly two hours, ending at a closed road.

The interviews also contain the failure this guide is about. A woman warned by a neighbour shouting from a car ran back inside for her three cats and could not get them into their carriers. The researchers concluded that the vulnerability of animals in disasters "is especially evident among cats," and that countless cats who could not be caught or located were left behind.

The same paper records the opposite outcome. A dog was at home in a crate while its owner was out. A neighbour who knew that kicked in the door on his own way out and put the dog in his car. A crated dog in a known spot is an animal someone else can save.

The carrier plan, one animal at a time

Ready.gov and the ASPCA both put the same item on their evacuation lists: a travelling bag, crate or sturdy carrier, ideally one for each pet. The word that matters is each, and a carrier you still have to buy is a carrier you do not have.

Count the carriers against the animals. One per cat, one per small dog that cannot walk safely on a lead through a crowd, and a crate or lead plan for every larger dog. For cats, a hard carrier that opens from the top is the easiest to load in a hurry, because you can lower a cat in from above.

Store it where you can reach it in thirty seconds. A carrier in the garage loft fails the chemical-spill test. The ASPCA advises keeping the emergency kit and leads as close to an exit as possible and making sure everyone in the house knows where they are.

Label the carrier itself. The ASPCA recommends writing your pet's name, your name and your contact details on the carrier, as well as keeping ID tags current. Ready.gov adds microchipping and keeping the registered phone number and address up to date, with an emergency contact outside your area.

Make the carrier ordinary. Ready.gov's advice is to leave the carrier out in places your pet already spends time, leave the door open, feed treats near it and inside it, and put familiar bedding in it. The Purdue authors drew the same lesson from their flood data and recommended transporting cats in non-disaster times. This is the whole method of carrier training a cat, and the evacuation case is the strongest argument for starting it before you need it.

Know where each animal hides. Ready.gov tells owners to note where their pets hide so they can find them fast. A frightened cat behind a washing machine can cost you ten minutes you do not have, so write the hiding spots down for whoever might come in your place.

Size the dog crate for hours, possibly days. An evacuation crate may be the dog's whole territory in a shelter or a relative's spare room. Sizing a dog crate properly matters more here than for an overnight stay, and if the crate rides in the car it should be secured as described in what the crash tests found.

The kit that goes with the carrier

Ready.gov suggests two kits: a larger one for sheltering in place and a lightweight one for evacuating. The ASPCA tells owners to plan as if they may not be allowed home for several weeks, even when the expected absence is a day. Between the two checklists, the evacuation kit covers:

• Food and water. Ready.gov asks for several days of food in an airtight, waterproof container plus water and a bowl. The ASPCA goes further, with 7 to 10 days of canned or dry food rotated every two months, and at least seven days of bottled water for each person and pet.
• Medication and records. An extra supply of any regular medication in a waterproof container (the ASPCA says two weeks), plus copies of medical records and registration documents, on paper and electronically. Ask your vet what belongs in a pet first-aid kit for your animal.
• ID and handling gear. A spare collar or harness, a spare lead and a spare ID tag.
• Sanitation. Litter and a disposable tray for cats (the ASPCA suggests aluminium roasting pans), cage liner for dogs, bin bags, paper towels and disinfectant.
• Proof of ownership. Ready.gov recommends a photo of you with your pet, which helps you prove the animal is yours and helps others identify it if you are separated. The ASPCA adds recent photos for lost posters.
• Familiar things. A favourite toy or bedding, which Ready.gov notes can reduce stress.

The ASPCA's list adds a pillowcase, toys and scoopable litter for cats, and an extra lead, chew toys and a week of cage liner for dogs.

Plan the destination and the stand-in

Find out where your pets can actually go. The ASPCA's checklist is specific: ask your vet for boarding kennels, ask your local animal shelter whether it offers emergency shelter or foster care, identify pet-friendly hotels outside your immediate area, and ask friends and relatives outside the area whether they would take your animals. The chemical-spill data says friends and family are where most evacuated pets end up.

Set up a buddy system. Ready.gov recommends arranging with neighbours, friends or relatives for someone who can care for or evacuate your pets when you cannot. The ASPCA suggests someone who lives close by, is usually home in the day and holds a key. The Marshall Fire is the warning on this one. A couple away for the holidays had left their two cats in the care of a trusted neighbour, whose own home was among the first to burn, and the cats were never found. Another owner lost three dogs and a cat when the pet sitter drove away without them. Pick a stand-in, brief them on exactly what to take, and pick a second one somewhere else.

Let the stand-in practise. The Colorado researchers point out that a rescuer needs more than a key. The animal has to tolerate that person entering the house, handling it, putting it in a carrier and driving it away. A neighbour your cat has never met is a neighbour your cat will hide from.

Use a rescue alert sticker. The ASPCA's free sticker tells responders how many animals are inside and names your vet. If you leave with your pets and time allows, write "EVACUATED" across it so nobody risks a search for animals that are already gone.

Bring them in early. Ready.gov and the ASPCA both say to bring pets indoors at the first sign or warning of a storm or disaster, because frightened animals bolt and get disoriented.

Who this plan is wrong for

If your household is in a high-rise flat with one easygoing dog who walks well on a lead, most of this reduces to a kit by the door and a buddy with a key. The equipment burden falls hardest on multi-cat homes, homes with outdoor dogs, and owners who are out of the house for long hours, which are exactly the profiles the Purdue studies flagged.

If your pet has a medical condition that would make a long journey or shelter stay risky, raise it with your vet before the season starts.

The short version

One labelled carrier per cat, reachable in seconds and left out so it stops meaning the vet. A kit for several days at least, with medication, records and a photo of you with each pet. A written note of where every animal hides. A stand-in your pets already trust, plus a second one elsewhere. And when an order comes, take them with you, because the animals left behind in these studies mostly belonged to owners who meant to come back.

For the carrier itself, the best dog crates and best cat carriers guides cover which models hold up.

Questions people actually ask

Do I really need one carrier per cat?

Yes. Ready.gov and the ASPCA both list a travelling bag, crate or sturdy carrier, ideally one for each pet. Research on evacuations has repeatedly linked cats being left behind to households that did not have cat carriers, and two frightened cats shut in one box can turn on each other.

Will an emergency shelter take my dog or cat?

Some will and many will not. Ready.gov warns that many public shelters and hotels do not allow pets inside. The PETS Act of 2006 requires state and local emergency plans to account for people with pets, but the practical answer is to identify pet-friendly hotels, boarding kennels and friends or relatives outside your area before you need them.

What if I cannot get home when an evacuation order comes?

That is the case a buddy system exists for. Arrange a neighbour or friend nearby who has a key, who your pets already tolerate, and who knows where the carriers are and where each animal hides. Name a second person in a different area in case the first is affected too.

What is a pet rescue alert sticker?

A sticker near your front door that tells responders how many and what kind of animals are inside and names your vet. The ASPCA sends one free. If you evacuate with your pets and have time, write EVACUATED across it so nobody searches for animals that are already gone.

Should I give my pet something to calm it for an evacuation?

Only on your vet's advice. Medication for a stressful journey is a veterinary decision for your individual animal, so raise it before disaster season.

Sources

• Ready.gov (FEMA): Prepare Your Pets for Disasters
• ASPCA: Disaster Preparedness
• Heath SE, Kass PH, Beck AM, Glickman LT. Human and pet-related risk factors for household evacuation failure during a natural disaster. Am J Epidemiol 2001, 153(7), 659-665
• Heath SE, Beck AM, Kass PH, Glickman LT. Risk factors for pet evacuation failure after a slow-onset disaster. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001, 218(12), 1905-1910
• Heath SE, Voeks SK, Glickman LT. Epidemiologic features of pet evacuation failure in a rapid-onset disaster. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001, 218(12), 1898-1904
• Heath SE, Linnabary RD. Challenges of Managing Animals in Disasters in the U.S. Animals 2015, 5(2), 173-192
• Hunt MG, Bogue K, Rohrbaugh N. Pet Ownership and Evacuation Prior to Hurricane Irene. Animals 2012, 2(4), 529-539
• Irvine L, Andre C. Pet Loss in an Urban Firestorm: Grief and Hope after Colorado's Marshall Fire. Animals 2023, 13(3), 416
• Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006, Public Law 109-308