Fortunately our house has held up well during two hurricanes now, Irene and Sandy. We haven’t had to deal with flooding or leaks.

Now take our pets into consideration with hurricanes and you can say we aren’t so lucky. Right before Hurricane Irene passed through the area in 2011, our Roborovski hamster Henrietta started to get sick and she passed away the night we had a tornado warning.

Just recently, my cat, Lily, started to eat less and less. When Lily was a young cat, she was diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (known as FIV) during her first vet visit in 2007. At that time, the vet told me that cats with FIV may be able to live just a few years and some even make it to 10 or 13.