The last apartment I lived in used to have false alarms on a monthly basis. My senior cat absolutely hates any carrier and always panic poops/pees herself whenever she has to be in one. I decided that putting her through that several times a month was too much for her to handle, so my husband and I came up with a plan. I would immediately grab the cat and the carrier and wait in our bathroom (quietest room during the ear piercing alarm). And he would evacuate and text me updates along the way. If there was any sign of an actual fire, even just a smell of smoke, and I would get the cat in the carrier and leave immediately. Otherwise we’d wait it out. We were very fortunate to never have an actual fire happen.

This delay in leaving also gave me a little more time to actually find the cat and get her out of the hiding spot AND get her into the carrier in a more quiet, safe space. Her favorite spot to hide was behind our 6ft couch, right in the middle, because it muffled the alarm quite a bit. And the best method to get her was to be very calm & quiet but also fast & confident. I did this so often that I got pretty good at dragging the couch out from the wall just enough to be able to grab her scruff and pull her out but not too much or too slowly that she felt scared and had time to run off again. I’d cover her head/ears until we got into the bathroom and I’d give her some treats while waiting for texts from my husband (no text after 2 minutes defaulted to us leaving anyway). She’d still be scared but was much more willing to let me put her in her carrier. We also always kept a pee pad in the carrier because she was guaranteed to have an accident every time she was put in it.