Question:
The other night the fire alarm of my building went off after midnight. My cat Rusty was sleeping but he stayed calm. I was still up and quickly put on my coat and put him in a lightweight carrier. He stayed calm and quiet and we took the long way down the stairs as I live on the 15th floor of a highrise building. Good thing Rusty only weighs 8 lb. He remained quiet in the carrier throughout. The firemen came and checked things out. Guess it was another false alarm as I didn't see any smoke or fire. Afterwards we took the elevator back upstairs. I wasn't going to take Rusty back up the stairs. He got a treat for his good behaviour. Wish he behaves like this when I take him to the vet. Maybe I should switch to this carrier instead of the more sturdy but heavier carrier. He probably associates the heavycarrier with vet trips even though he sleep in it. I saw other people in the building took their dogs downstairs. But I don't see any cat. Wonder whether the cat owners didn't bother leaving home or just went downstairs without their cats. I always take Rusty with me just in case.

Answer: That was such a touching story. I have a big old tom cat I call Patches. We found him cowering in the middle of a state highway laying in the middle of two lanes directly over the yellow line. Cars and trucks were everywhere on either side of him. Someone had dumped him off. My son-in-law ran out and got him. I had just lost a family cat, Babe, to what appeared to have been cancer, so I was not in the mood to take on another one, but as I held him with my left arm with his warm nose in the crook of my arm, he shook so much that I couldn't resist him! He was so afraid but so trusting once I held him.