Ah, that’s another good point. We bought this house after our old one got hit by lightning and burned a few years back, and we lost our two Dachshunds, who used to go everywhere with us. We since ‘inherited’ five housecats, all related. Now that they’ve moved back in town, we have reliable cat sitters again to take care of them when we go on vacation or travel for the holidays. They’re the only ones on her side of the family we trust enough to make sure the litter boxes are cleaned, they’re fed and watered, and they get some attention. Otherwise, we’d probably come home to five half-starved, semi-crazed feral felines and a house that smelled like the inside of a lion cage at the zoo. LOL
So sorry about your house and your pups. I have two Mountain Feists and I always worry about fire when we leave so if the weather is decent we put them in the outside kennel. It is inside their fenced yard. No cats except for a few ferals that hang around. Everybody wants to dump unwanted cats in the country. My daughter’s dog is my girls brother.