Hurricane!

I live on Long Island, NY and we are a mile from the water, we live in a flood zone, but from all the years living here we've only had about a foot of water from it raining for 3 days straight and the drains here got full of water and the street and backyard were filled for about a day.

Now with this Hurricane coming they are saying it might be really bad.

I dont know what to do for the strays. All the food dishes will just blow away and the houses I had built for them I assume might go under water. My strays are used to going on my garage roof, but if my family has to evacuate I wont be around to feed them, and that also depends on the severity, god forbid we had to be gone for more than a few days.

I am not sure what to do, of if there is anything I can do to protect them? Between possible down power lines,floods, fallen trees, and severe wind and flying objects they could be in danger.

I was thinking before the storm since its supposed to start saturday night just to feed the cats as much as possible so if they do have run far away from here at least they will have some food in their stomach until the storm passes if they need to hide for a day or two.

That's the only thing I would suggest. We've been wondering what to do for the ferals here. I've been telling them they need to get safe tomorrow afternoon, find some high ground and hunker down... I hope they understand me. We don't need to evacuate, we're not coastal, so we'll be here to feed them if they're here to be fed, but.... other than two of them, they usually disappear for a few days around a storm anyway.

I wish I had a better suggestion than "hope for the best."

for you, your family, your neighborhood, and your kitties.

Hi neighbor. I am on LI too

Is there a sturdy shelter where you can put dry food under and hopefully will stay dry, or at least not blow/wash away?

Cats are very cunning, I am sure they know what to do in a situation like this.

I wish I had some solid advice to offer . I don't, we just have to hope and pray for the best for all of the strays and ferals along the coast. I have been watching the weather channel and am worried about all of you in the path of this storm. My DH, Larry, is in D.C. tonight and trying to get on a plane early in the morning to get home. And I just keep thinking, what about all of the helpless strays that can't escape to safety . I am saying my prayers for all of you and that everyone will be alright. I wonder if the cats will know the storm is coming instinctively and head for higher ground . Loads of vibes coming your way for all of the kitties.

Jessica, I got this information from a long-time rescuer:

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Look for "Kitty mini bomb shelters" and put plenty of food and water in these areas- for example, concrete pipes that are half buried in the ground- anywhere that there is a sheltered area that will not budge easily. Under the house not a great idea but better than nothing. Take photos of the cats if they are still around so when you are looking for them afterward you have something to show the other people looking through the wreckage the storm created. If you can touch the cats take a small mailing label and write your cell phone number on it. Cover the top of the label with a piece of strapping tape-cover the label only. Stick the label on the cat's ear flap. You can soak it off later. Or failing that, use a pre-printed address label and print your cell phone on that (it will be small but readable) cover the label with strapping tape to keep it waterproof and stick that on the cat's ears.

Don't leave any indoor cat behind, and if you have no choice but have to leave them behind- make a way they can get out of the house and find safety. They are smart and will leave early and find a place to hunker down and go to ground. But leaving them in the house alone even with a ton of food and water just isn't fair to them. Give them the benefit of being the smart creatures that they are. If they do survive the storm- they will come back home.

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I'm really worried about my ferals, too. I'm not in a super low or coastal area so most of them should be fine, but one just had a litter of kittens that are living under a porch. When the rain is coming down in sheets it doesn't matter whether you're somewhere low -- the ground just can't absorb all that water fast enough. When I think about them I start to panic, imagining their nest flooding. I hope the momma can manage.

We will be praying for all of you in the path of the storm... and especially those that can't get away such as the ferals and strays. One good thing is that animals have a sixth sense for things like this and will more than like find shelter somewhere safe as possible. And as far as food, they will probably do just fine finding their own for a few days... the water should wash a few mice out of their holes And I am sure they will be back home in the end.

Originally Posted by Begemot

I'm really worried about my ferals, too. I'm not in a super low or coastal area so most of them should be fine, but one just had a litter of kittens that are living under a porch. When the rain is coming down in sheets it doesn't matter whether you're somewhere low -- the ground just can't absorb all that water fast enough. When I think about them I start to panic, imagining their nest flooding. I hope the momma can manage.

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Like the rest of you, I'm worried too. Each of my feral boys has had his own little shelter for years. They're constructed of wood and have some weight to them, but I'm still concerned.

Begemot, I would provide mom cat with a shelter. Though it will be makeshift at this point, it will give her & the babies a fighting chance. Use the heaviest object you can find that she can get into - even a plastic container or a cat carrier triple wrapped in plastic will do since this is an emergency. Some people have used plastic or aluminum garbage cans, securing heavy plastic to enclose the opening, then cut a cat-sized hole (5-6" in diameter) in it. Lay the can down and wedge it between two large, heavy objects, in the most protected area you can find, (ex. under a deck or porch). Try to locate the shelter close to where she is already nesting. Then please see the following additional suggestions.

If you have existing shelters for your ferals, make sure they're elevated, at least 6" off the ground. Depending where you're located, you may want to go a few inches higher. Use bricks, pavers, wood blocks or strips, stones,etc. Make sure the house/shelter does not "rock". It should sit squarely and sturdily on whatever material is elevating it. If you have stone chips or gravel, put some under the shelter to help with drainage. Turn the house so the entrance is facing a wall, boulder or tree, if possible. This will give the interior some added protection. There will be so much wind, it will be difficult to determine which direction the house should face, so just try to protect the entrance as much as possible while still leaving it accessible for your cat.

Find something heavy to put on top of the shelter. Some of the materials used to elevate the shelter, like pavers, concrete blocks, etc. , can work for this purpose too. You can put such objects along the sides of the shelter as well if you have enough of them.

Keep your shelters in their usual place, unless it will be dangerous given the storm conditions. Now is not the time to find a new location for the shelter, unless absolutely necessary. You want to keep things familiar for your cats.

Keep to a normal feeding schedule for as long as possible. When the weather deteriorates, the cats will become more concerned with staying safe and dry. Food will be secondary at that point. I think the storm will cause havoc in each area it touches for almost 24 hours. Well-fed adult cats can go a day, even two, without eating. Begemot's situation is more difficult because she has a mom cat with kittens. If you know where they are holed up, try to provide food if you can get to them.

Prayers for all the feral/stray kitties and their caretakers, and especially to those kitties who are out there on their own.

I can only wish luck to you all that are there, hopefully all cats will be okay after the event.

There is not much of any such big events here, but I would think that as storm itself is only short event, it would be most important to focus on recovering from it, having food quickly after the storm would help to relax and recovery of cats too, having dry safe place right after the storm would be like heaven for them, during the storm thing will happen what will happen, there is much to do about it, only to prepare, there was good tips on this thread for that alredy, but I think at this moment there is no much anything to do as there is no time anymore, but planning things to do right after the storm and getting on with plan after the storm has passed would be good way to help ferals, imo.

KTLynn, thank you so much for the advice. Unfortunately I don't see any way to provide shelter for them at this time because they are on someone else's private property, in an open, public area (that's highly trafficked). The space under the porch is enclosed, so they will at least be sheltered from rain and wind, but I'm still worried about the rising waters. I feed them at 5:30am, at which time we're predicted to have torrential downpours here, but I'm going to go anyway. At that time I have yet to see anyone coming and going from the building that they're living under, so I'm going to just go ahead and put some stinky food on the porch and see if she'll come out for it (her ingenious way in and out is actually from on top of the porch at the edge -- hard to describe, but it's protected from the rain so she could still eat without getting wet if I put food on the porch itself).

A cat's tendency when things get rough is to find shelter and hunker down--so, I am pretty sure the cats will be as well off as any wild animal could be in a hurricane. They are small; so they have less surface area for the wind to push against. A human would be tumbled around by the same wind that a will prompt a cat to simply find a cranny to hide from. Ferals are smart, too; they have to be or they don't survive. You should find most or all of your cats alive and well when you get back--though I suppose some of them will have been displaced out of their territories, and some from other territories displaced into yours.

The ferals were here when I put the food out this morning. Several of them are usually here all day and come running if we're out and about (one is a stray, one was a feral baby last year that's come to trust me completely), and two of them are also almost always around - watching us interact with the other two.

As of this afternoon - no one's around. So hopefully they know the storm's on the way and have gone to wherever they go. After a bad thunderstorm, they usually show up a day or two later, all nice and dry.

Hope everyone's strays/ferals are safe and come home.

Sorry,I have no advice hun but I just wanted to send vibes and prayers to you and all of those affected.xx

I am watching the weather channel and my heart is sad thinking of all of the feral/stray cats along the coast. I really believe that they have that sixth sense and can predict a storm coming, especially of this magnitude. I also worry about the people who had to evacuate and might have left their cats behind and . I would never in a million years do that, but I know some people might have. Prayers for all of the abandoned pets, stray and feral cats.....

I fed all the cats really good today. Right at dusk the wind picked up and now were having heavy rain the cats all dispersed and I was able to see them hiding next to houses or under thick bushes in neighbors yards. I agree they are smart so they probably have hiding places they know are safe.

I put food under our back steps where the winds wont reach but a cat can fit under, so at least during the night before the worst of the storm they can eat more.

As of now we do not have to evacuate, but now we heard a possible tornado warning so well have to see tomorrow early what to do.

All the regulars were here this morning! It got very windy with some crazy heavy rain for a while.

But all the kitties this morning were dry (except their feet and legs). There is a LOT of water LOL. Don't know if the others will show up, but I often don't see them anyway. Put out food for all.

for all the other kitties (and people and animals) affected by the storm!

Sorry I didn't notice this earlier. I once had a feral cat anticipate a tornado a few hours before it struck and moved her kittens out of the woods (which were severely hit by the tornado) to the back of my house. We saw a bad storm coming and quickly built a shelter out of plywood and cinderblocks for the kittens. The mom disappeared for about 12 hours and returned to where she left her kittens with another kitten.

I strongly believe that cats can sense weather conditions in advance and they do make an attempt to hide it out.

I'm hoping that everyone's ferals on the east coast are riding off the storm safely!!!

We had some heavy wind and rain but luckily no damage,flooding, or power outage. All the cats are fine and came back to eat today. Thanks for caring everyone and I hope everyone else is safe too.

Originally Posted by jessicaromano

We had some heavy wind and rain but luckily no damage,flooding, or power outage. All the cats are fine and came back to eat today. Thanks for caring everyone and I hope everyone else is safe too.

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So glad to read your post that all is well. What a relief

Yup, they're very sensible animals. You have to give them credit, those ferals. You forget sometimes because they're small and they look so cute; but they're adult creatures and they have a lot of street smarts. Cats have been adapted to living in human communities, ever since they took care of mice for the Egyptians.