Cats in emergency situations
There was an earthquake in the Canterbury region on 6 March 2025 and it made me think.
When you’re a Wellingtonian, earthquakes are as much a part of life as the wind so today’s education with The Cat Carer is about how to prepare to care for your cats in the unlikely event you have to evacuate your home.
I am 33 years old and I have never had to evacuate my home due to an earthquake but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about the possibility because in Wellington, that possibility is so very real.
The SPCA website states that if it is unsafe for you to stay in your home, it is also unsafe for your pets to stay in your home so if you are evacuating your home, you need to bring your pets with you.
For me, and I’m sure for most of you, this is a given but after years volunteering in rescues, unfortunately this is not something some people would think of.
So, things you need to know if you’re evacuating your house –
Firstly, it is important that you have enough cat carriers in your house to accommodate all your cats. For me, this means I have 10 cat carriers in my house – 7 for my cats and 3 for my foster cats.
Honestly, the chances of being able to get my timid cats and my timid foster cats into carriers is something that fills me with dread, however, in theory, I have enough carriers should I have to pack my cats up and evacuate my house.
Your cat carriers should have your name, address and contact phone number on them.
An article I read called Caring For Your Pet In An Earthquake Zone says it is useful prior to an emergency to ensure your cats are comfortable in and around their carry cages to make it easier to be able to put them in the carrier when it is necessary. This advice is helpful in general, not just specifically for emergencies.
This article also recommends carrying Feliway with you in your emergency kit to spray in the carriers to attempt to relax your cat.
Secondly, when you’re packing your emergency kits for the event of an earthquake, ensure you have everything you need not just for yourself but also for your cats.
This means ensuring you have enough food for them but also that you have any medications your cats regularly take. You may also want to keep your cat’s vet book in the kit as well.
It is important that you have a supply of water, not just for you but also for your cats. If you can’t drink the water due to contamination, your cats can’t drink it either. You should supply at least a cup of water per day per cat.
It may also be helpful to add a litter tray and a small bag of litter to your emergency kit so that if you and your cats need to stay in emergency accommodation for a few nights, you are prepared for that.
On that note, before an emergency happens, it could be useful to research if there are any pet friendly motels/hotels near you so you have an idea of where you may be able to go if you need to leave your house.
Thirdly, microchip your cats and regularly check your cat’s microchip details are up to date on the NZCAR website and the microchip is functional. This is good advice in general, not just in case of an emergency.
Ideally you should be checking both these aspects at least annually. Your vet can help with this but so can I – checking microchips is a free service I offer.
The SPCA website also says you should include pictures of your animals in your emergency kit, although I don’t know many people who don’t have hundreds of photos of their cats on their phone at any one time 
For a lot of us our animals are our family, so it’s really important we think about them like family in an emergency situation. I’m sure you have emergency kits for yourself and anyone else you live with, so please make sure not to forget your animals and what they may need if the worst happens.
Finally, if there is an emergency and you don’t have to evacuate your home but you can’t get home to care for your cats for any reason, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to help.
“I have nipples, Greg, can you milk me?”
Education time!
One of the most hilarious posts I see on cat forums are posts from people worried about these “dots” they’ve found on their male cats’ tums (as modelled in this picture by Babeh Will).
These are their nipples, or “nip nops” as I like to call them when talking about cats
Men have nipples, so do male cats. They’re not at all useful but they’re present. Nothing to worry about.
These posts do make my day though. Having a cat with a growth you haven’t noticed before is really scary, so seeing someone worried about nipples is is a nice moment of levity. People feel very silly to learn that something they’re worried about is normal but hey, how can we learn if we don’t ask?
Life and death
I know a lot of people don’t want to think about death – whether it be their own or their pets’ but even in my short time professionally caring for cats, it is something that has come up multiple times.
I have learnt that caring for cats is one of those “in sickness and in health” situations and the term “care” means in life and, far too soon, in death.
On 15 August 2023, I had to make the hardest decision of my life, to have my cat Mandy put to sleep.
Mandy was the love of my life and she was only 8 years old but she had a very fast growing cancer so by the time it was found, it was too late to save her.
I am sharing Mandy’s story today because I hope through sharing my own painful experience, perhaps I might be able to help others and helping other humans (and their cats) is why I started The Cat Carer.
When the time comes for you to make the same impossible decision I had to make (in consultation with your vet), I can assist by driving you and your cat to the vet for their last visit.
I don’t want to intrude on your grief so I will wait in the car outside the vet clinic for as long as you need while you say your goodbyes and then I will drive you home.
It is difficult to drive and think about logistics when you’re emotional so my service can take that aspect out of the equation, allowing you to focus all your energy on your cat and what they need in their final hours.
Everyone reacts to grief differently so I am happy to take your lead on what you need from me – whether it’s a listening ear, some laughs or someone to just drive and play your favourite music on the car stereo, I’m here for whatever might make you feel a little better on that terrible day.
My life is much sadder and emptier without Mandy in it. I’m not going to sugar-coat how incredibly awful it is to lose a pet. It’s unimaginable and time doesn’t necessarily help. But you are not alone.
The harsh reality of pet “ownership” is that putting our pets to sleep before their suffering becomes unbearable is the last kindness we can give to them.
No one wants to be in this situation, in this terrible club but love means ensuring the one you love is not in pain.
I hope I personally always have the strength and courage to do the right thing when my cats need me and I hope I can support others to do the same.
Rest in peace, my love 🖤
Caring for long-haired cats
When you have a long-haired cat, it’s impawtant to have the right tools to care for their fur.
A standard brush often won’t make any impact for a long-haired cat, as it will only brush the top layer of fur, leaving the bottom layers untouched.
If you don’t brush the under layers of fur, your cat will end up with knots, which will eventually become mats and then you won’t have a choice but to get the mats shaved out.
The comb pictured is a “moulting comb” which is great for use for long-haired cats because the shorter teeth of the comb gathers up the loose fur.
The comb is also good for being able to comb out knots before they become mats.
Regularly combing your long-haired cat not only prevents mats but it will also ensure your long-haired cat always looks and feels soft and floofy.
Long-haired cats are beautiful but they can be super hard work in terms of grooming, in ways domestic short haired cats just aren’t.
Furballs
At the moment, your cats have likely fully grown in their winter coats. This means they’re looking all gorgeously plush and floofy but when the cold weather finally leaves us, all that fur has to go somewhere.
As you likely know, cats are obsessive groomers – always cleaning themselves at every opportunity, which means when they shed their winter coats for warmer weather, we will be faced with dreaded furballs!
Furballs, hairballs or trichobezoars are a mass of swallowed hair/fur that accumulates in a cat’s stomach. They are eventually dramatically ejected by the cat, usually onto the nearest carpeted surface 😂
Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether the deposit on your carpeted surface is a 💩 or a furball as they’re usually a similar shape.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of a furball on or under your bed, I won’t post a picture but they are described as: a small, wet, cylindrical wad of compacted fur, often with a slightly slimy texture due to digestive fluids. The colour usually matches the cat’s fur, and it can be accompanied by liquid or bile… 🤢
Brushing your cat every few days (even if they’re a short-haired cat) can assist your cat in furball prevention, as the loose fur can be collected on the brush and then disposed of so your cat doesn’t have to ingest the fur.
There is also food you can buy for your cat, which provides the cat with extra fibre, meaning instead of all the fur accumulating into a ball in your cat’s stomach, your cat will be able to 💩 out the fur.
Another option is to give your cat a “hairball lubricant” like Catmalt (previously known as CatLax), which provides relief from furball-related issues by lubricating the digestive system and aiding in the natural passage of furballs in the cat’s 💩.
In my experience, cats usually like the taste of Catmalt so it can be used as a treat that can be offered to your cat on your finger and licked off.
If you have positive experience with other methods of furball prevention, please post them in the comments so everyone can benefit from them 😻
Claw trimming is not declawing
It’s time for education with The Cat Carer! Today’s lesson is about the difference between claw trimming (which I do) and declawing (which I don’t do and most vets won’t do either).
This post may be graphic to some, because declawing is DISGUSTING and I am going to describe it so you understand.
I was advertising about claw trims on community pages (as I do) and was getting some angry reacts.
I didn’t understand why but when I thought about it, I made a comment to clarify that claw trims are not declawing.
That inspired me to make this post, in case people don’t understand that these are two VERY different things.
Declawing a cat, also known as onychectomy, is a painful surgical procedure that removes an animal’s claws by amputating the last bone of a cat’s toe. It’s the equivalent of cutting off the tips of a person’s fingers, just after the nail, at the first knuckle.
Declawing a cat goes against their natural behaviors and instincts. It is done because humans are terrible. People don’t like cats scratching their things, so rather than training their cats not to scratch their furniture or providing their cats with scratching posts etc, they do something completely inhumane and disgusting to an animal they should love.
According to the New Zealand Code of Welfare: Companion Cats released by the Ministry of Primary Industries: “declawing of cats is a restricted surgical procedure, and therefore can only be carried out by a veterinarian.
The declawing of cats to alleviate social or behavioural problems should be contemplated only when retraining has proved ineffective and euthanasia is the only alternative”.
In English – the Act says you should only declaw your cat when the alternative is that your cat be put to sleep.
Many vets will refuse to perform an onychectomy and it is a procedure banned in some parts of the world.
The side effects of declawing include nerve damage, phantom pain, pain from bone fragments left behind, arthritis and pain related behaviour issues like inability to use a litter tray and biting.
On the other hand (or paw, if you will), claw trimming is a grooming procedure that involves clipping a cat’s nails.
It’s the same as the way we, as humans, trim our nails and although some cats are dramatic and may act like this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to them, it doesn’t hurt a cat, just as it doesn’t hurt us.
However, caution IS needed because if you are inexperienced with claw trimming, it is easy to trim too much of a cat’s claw and trim to the “quick”, which IS painful for them, so it’s best to learn how to trim a cat’s claws before you try it yourself.
And although it takes money out of my pocket, I’m happy to teach people how to trim a cat’s claws if it means people learn how to do it safely without harm to cats 
If you hear your cat’s claws clicking when they walk on lino or wooden floors, your cat’s favourite activity is climbing up your legs/body, your cat is scratching your furniture, your cat is getting their claws stuck in blankets or your cat has accidentally scratched you when feeling a little rambunctious during playtime – A claw trim could definitely benefit you and your cat.
So, now you know the difference between claw trimming and declawing.
I know that the followers of this page know me and they know I would NEVER do anything to harm a cat, it’s against everything I believe in, so no one here would ever confuse declawing with claw trimming but for people who don’t know me, you would think if I call myself “The Cat Carer” purrhaps amputating a cat’s claws might be against my ethos? 
Conversations with cats
I strongly believe in talking to cats – whether they’re my cats or cats I’m caring for professionally.
We don’t speak the same language but I feel like they definitely understand us on some level. Maybe they understand our tone or cadence more than our words?
Maybe this is why I’m usually able to win over most cats, even if they’re timid – I just talk softly, kindly and calmly to them until they learn I’m a friend and don’t want to hurt them.
I often find a lot of cats enjoy contributing to the conversation, sometimes it’s because they’re hungry but sometimes even when all their needs are met, some cats are just keen to chat.
It is often speculated that cats only meow to communicate with humans, to let us know they want or need something, or as a way of getting our attention.
Apparently they don’t need to meow to understand each other, as they communicate with each other through body language and smells.
There is a lot that humans still don’t know or understand about cats but if it is true that cats meow for our benefit, it’s only polite that we reciprocate in that conversation.
Next time your cat meows at you, go ahead and have a chat!
From free-feeding to schedule feeding
Let’s talk about free-feeding.
Free-feeding means a cat has unlimited access to food at all times.
I don’t personally believe in free-feeding (although it wouldn’t work in my house anyway because Babeh Will would eat til he exploded…) because I’ve seen it lead to obese cats.
Schedule feeding is the opposite to free-feeding and is, as you would expect, defined as feeding cats meals on a schedule, usually twice a day.
Schedule feeding is beneficial because cat guardians can closely monitor the amount of food their cats are eating, ensuring in a multi-cat household that one cat is not eating more than another.
It also means cat guardians can ensure their cats are eating the same amount every day, as lack of appetite can be one of the first obvious signs of health issues in cats.
Schedule feeding can also be used as a great way to make indoor/outdoor cats come home every night, because they get to know what time they’re fed and their hunger will guide them home.
However, it’s not all bad news if you’re someone who really believes in free-feeding.
In a world where microchip feeders are now readily available, they can be used to make free-feeding work for cats who are grazers but it is important that you only provide enough food in each microchip feeder for a day, no more.
As always, happy to hear your opinions and experiences 
After the previous post about free-feeding, I thought it might be helpful to make a post about how to transition cats from free-feeding to schedule feeding if you have found that your cats are getting a little chonky from free-feeding.
Cats like having a routine so schedule feeding is a good way to create a routine. Once a cat is used to eating at the same times every day, their body becomes conditioned to expect food at those times – so much so, you will never need an alarm clock for morning wake up again 
For most cats, two meals a day will be sufficient, usually 8-10 hours apart.
Although at the start of the transition from free-feeding to schedule feeding, offering meals three or four times a day can be helpful to ensure your cat doesn’t feel like they’re starving to death.
One way to begin to enforce your cat’s new feeding schedule is to put your cat’s food out for a short amount of time each meal time, so they start to learn that unlike before, food is only available at set times and they need to eat while it’s there or they lose it.
15-20 minutes should be long enough for your cat to eat before you take away the food til the next scheduled feeding time.
As for how much to feed your cats every feed, that’s a bit more complicated. In theory, you should be able to read the feeding recommendations on the back of your cat’s usual food bag/box, however, some of these recommendations read as if they were written by cats themselves – for example, your cat definitely does not need 4-6 pouches of wet food per day
Most of my cats get about two tablespoons of Royal Canin dental biscuits morning and night and that’s enough to keep them satisfied – they don’t begin their screaming for food ritual until around an hour before they’re due for their next feed.
Angry Pants, who is on a wet food only diet has a pouch of wet food morning and night, mixed with about a quarter cup of warm water.
Some cats are more active than others so that has to be taken into account when working out how much to feed them. Active cats need more food than inactive cats because they will burn it off with their activity.
Beginning schedule feeding will involve a bit of trial and error.
The safest way to begin the process is to consult your vet and they can guide you on how much food is appropriate for each meal to ensure your cat eats enough for their individual needs.
This is particularly important if you are giving up free-feeding due to your cat’s weight, as weight loss should be guided by a professional.
There may be some protesting from your cat about the new system, so if you’re not strong enough to ignore the potential screaming between meal times, this change may not be right for you, however, guidance from your vet will hopefully help in ensuring the transition goes smoothly for you and your cat.
Don’t flush your litter
In this business, I’m learning new things all the time. Learning new stuff is the way we grow so I’m always open to it.
I’mma be talking about 💩 in this post, so if you’re eating dinner, probably wait til later to read 😂
While I’m caring for people’s cats, I like to do things in their homes the same way they do them, I don’t like to go off half-cocked and do things the way I think is best because I believe people get to decide how they want their home to function. Even when the people who live in the home are not around, I believe in conducting myself in a way in which they would find acceptable.
However, I’ve recently been asked a few different times to flush cat pee/poop from litter trays down the toilet. I am uncomfortable with this because it’s not something I’ve ever done, personally.
So, I did a bit of a Google about it and basically found that if a cat has toxoplasmosis, the eggs are in their poop and if the poop is then flushed down the toilet, the toxoplasmosis ends up in the sea, which then (long story short) kills dolphins.
Also, any litter stuck to the pee/poop can clog your plumbing.
I have decided that in the future, rather than doing what I’m told and flushing poop because that’s what the people living in the house do, I’m going to bring my own poop bags and just dispose of the poop in the nearest wheely bin.
Just something for you to think about if you are someone who flushes your cat’s pee/poop.
Keen to hear thoughts about this and all other things though, because I like knowledge and am always keen to learn so I can improve myself and my business, for the good of the cats and the planet.
Pine litter trays
Another learning moment with The Cat Carer – You might be using your cat’s litter tray all wrong!
I have volunteered at a few different rescues who use pine pellets as their litter, which familiarized me with “sifting litter trays”.
There is a video here to show how these are supposed to work.
As I have been making my way around various homes, I have noticed some people using these litter trays very differently, including using different types of litter that are not effective with these litter trays (eg: clumping litter means the clay gets stuck in the holes).
If this is the case for you, you may be using more litter than you need to be, which is literally flushing litter “down the toilet” (although from the last post, we know we shouldn’t be doing that ).
No one teaches us how to be cat pawrents so don’t be too hard on yourself, we’re all just learning as we go along. I just want to be able to educate where I can to make life easier for you and your feline friends
Microchipping
Microchipping your cats is so important.
If your cats are indoor/outdoor cats and they’re microchipped, if they get lost, hurt or killed while they’re out and about, myself, an animal rescuer or a vet will be able to let you know what happened to them as soon as we find them.
Even if your cats are indoor only cats microchipping is necessary because escapes can and do happen more than any of us indoor cat pawrents want and it is more likely an indoor cat will get lost if they escape.
It is also very important that if you have cats who are microchipped, you keep your details up to date on the NZCAR website, so that if anything happens to your cat, you can be contacted easily. This is something you can do yourself online.
One of the services I am proud to offer is in-home microchip implantation. I will also register your cat on the NZCAR website, which is the most important part, as this is where your details are linked to the microchip in your cat.
I charge $42 for this service, as there are a few costs involved.
However, I offer microchip scans free for anyone who needs them – whether you want to get your cat’s microchip checked to ensure it’s still functional and your details are up to date, or you have a random cat hanging around your house and you want to find out if they have a home, I’m happy to come and help.
Back when I first started in rescue, microchipping wasn’t as common as it is now and it definitely made our lives a lot harder when it came to identifying lost cats so I’m a massive advocate for this amazing technology, we just need everyone to use it!
Entropion Surgery
A few days ago, one of my cats, Babeh Will had his second Entropion surgery – a surgery to correct the inward rolling of the eyelid to prevent the eye from being rubbed by hair.
As you can probably imagine, hair rubbing on the eye is irritating and leads to weepy, painful eyes, meaning I had to administer eye drops to Babeh two to four times daily.
Sometimes the eye drops would work and the eye would stop being gunky but then, a few weeks after I stopped the eye drops, the weepy eye would begin again, so it became apparent that surgery was the only option.
Babeh the same surgery on his other eye late last year and as you can see, it has healed really well and he is no longer getting weeping in that eye.
I have lived with cats for most of my life and have been involved with rescues for a lot of my life also and until I brought Babeh into the vet for his weepy eye, I had never heard of Entropion surgery, or bottom eyelids rolling into the eye.
That’s why I’m posting, I guess it’s a bit of an education lesson for y’all, to inform you about a thing that can happen to cats sometimes. Who knew?!
Advice about water
When I’m caring for people’s cats, I will sometimes give people advice about things I think will improve life for their cats.
One major thing I have a lot of feelings about is the amount of water people provide for their cats. I find a lot of people just don’t give their cats enough water.
I find it really strange that when buying a water bowl for cats, the range of bowls available are usually small or shallow, so I don’t blame people for using those bowls but my preference is to give my cats “dog bowls” for their water.
In hindsight, I think this whole obsession with cat water came about when I was volunteering at my first rescue. Someone said to me that they fill the water bowls up to the top every day because if there was a situation where we were unable to get to the rescue (like a natural disaster) the cats would still have water til someone is able to get there.
I know it seems like cats don’t drink a lot of water but if it’s there, they will be drinking it and water is a vital part of keeping cats healthy – especially male cats who are prone to urinary crystals, bladder stones and urinary blockages.
A little tip if you think your cat is not drinking enough water is that if your cat eats wet food, you can add a couple of tablespoons of warm water to their wet food every meal, so they’re unknowingly ingesting the water.
So, if I’m caring for your cats and I see you have a shallow water bowl or not enough water bowls, it’s likely I will suggest you provide your cats with more/better water sources.
You are free to ignore my advice, however, I hope you understand that to me, being The Cat Carer is not just being a provider of food. I see my role as literally a carer of cats, which means caring holistically about your cats, so if I see a way a cat’s life can be improved in any way, I’m going to suggest it.
Cat Breeds
Today’s Cat Carer lesson for y’all is about the cat breed the Maine Coon.
I have met a few of these ‘Gentle Giants’ in my work and it’s been super fascinating because they are not like any cat I’d ever met before.
What irks me is I sometimes see people on cat pages claiming their fluffy tabby is a Maine Coon and it’s just blatantly incorrect. Just because your cat is fluffy, does not make it a Maine Coon.
You can visually identify that a cat is a Maine Coon by a few of these features –
One: THEY BIIIIIIIIG. We’re talking 7-15kgs big and usually a lot of it is muscle. Your standard house cat is around 4-6kgs.
Two: A square jaw.
Three: Ear tufts at the tips of their ears.
Four: Floof.
Five: Some Maine Coons may have polydactyly, meaning their giant paws contain additional toes.
I am a rescuer at heart, so none of my seven cats are pedigrees of any kind. They’re all just generic domestic moggies, rescued from various places and that’s okay!
It’s totally okay that your fluffy cat is probably not a Maine Coon.
Dog people can get very hung up on the specific breed of their dogs but most cats are not pedigrees so unless you’re showing your cat in a cat show, their breed is usually pretty irrelevant.
What I’m saying is, just love your cat, whether they’re a rescue or a trash goblin. Let’s stop classifying random cats as particular breeds, unless you’re certain of those breeds. It just doesn’t matter as long as they’re loved.
Rainbow Collars
I have always maintained that part of my role as The Cat Carer is education so today’s lesson is about what I call “The Rainbow Shakespeare Collar”.
Apart from the sound a cat makes when they’re about to vomit on your freshly clean carpet, the other sound that brings a feeling of dread to a cat person’s heart is the meow a cat makes when they’ve got a bird in their mouth that they’re bringing inside for you.
A lot of people put bells on their cat’s collar in hopes that will prevent their cat from catching birds but cats are such smooth hunters, they can learn how to move without the bell making a sound.
Fortunately though, there is something cat guardians can do to prevent their cat from catching birds – “The Rainbow Shakespeare Collar”.
Birds are genetically predisposed to look for bright colours when hunting for food so they’re more likely see a brightly coloured collar and not end up as a cat’s second dinner.
Not only are these collars helpful in saving birds, they’re also a fashion accessory for the kitties who wear them, making them look VERY handsome and pretty, as demonstrated by Billa (black) and Millie (tabby)
Here is where you can get one of these collars for your cats.
Desexing
Desexing, also known as fixing, or speying/neutering is a very important part of cat care.
If a female cat is not desexed and is let outside there is a high possibility she will get pregnant.
But male cats are not off the hook in this situation, although they can’t get pregnant, male cats are more prone to fighting and spraying if they are not desexed.
Cats can get pregnant from the very young age of just FOUR MONTHS old but they can be safely desexed from the time they weigh just over one kilo (usually around 8-10 weeks of age).
Don’t let your kitten have kittens. There are too many unloved, unwanted cats out there in rescues as it is, there is no reason a cat should be reproducing.
If you need assistance with desexing your cats, message me and between myself and Feline Fix, we will work out a way to help you and your cats.
