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Emergency Readiness for Dogs?

I'm finishing up my required courses for my involvement with our local Community Animal Rescue Team (CART) and one thing they kept drilling into our heads is the need for pet owners to be prepared in the event of an emergency to deal with their pets.

For example: I live in an area where hurricanes are likely. I have a Ready Kit of personal supplies for each member of my family as well as for my dogs and cat. I have a list of all pet friendly hotels from here to several "safe" areas should we have to evacuate. The dogs' kit includes pet food, medicines, brushes, extra leashes and collars, pet first aid kit, water and food bowls, etc.

I also have a fire escape plan to include the dogs.

What are some of the things you have prepared for?

Public Comments

1. We really do not experience many natural disasters in our area..
But some things we are prepared for is to be snowed in.. or a terribly blizzard.. heat going out.. electricity going out.. etc.
Basically anything that has to do with a snow storm.

We have 2 bags of 17lb food for each dog. (a 17lb bag lasts a week with each dog)
We have milk jugs with purified water.
We have non-outlet heating blankets.
We have several pet first aid kits and water/food dishes.


I also have a fire escape plan that includes the dogs as well.

Thats all I can think of right now.. I will get back to the list when I remember everything else. lol.

Great Question
Starring!

2. Living in Southern California we have to be prepared for wildfires.

I credit that preparedness for saving my moms pets, and all but one of my pets when a wildfire raged towards our horse ranch driven by 100mph winds.
I had both homes ready with evacuation cages. For my house that was enough crates for seven dogs, three cats, and five birds. By having those crates ready and available and only having moments to grab the animals we got them out. I went back to my home for the last bird, but my house was engulfed in flames. We lost two homes that day and very posession we ever had. All we got out were our pets and the clothes on our backs.

Wildfires are a constant problem. We always have the crates at the ready. That to me is the most important thing, being able to get out in a hurry.

3. Well, our area just had the worst blizzard since 1968...and I've only lived here for 3 years. Prior to this I lived in Florida where I was born & raised, so this was kind of a new experience. I learned this weekend about the importance of keeping enough supplies on hand to last at least a week or so, if we are snowed in.

Luckily my 'hurricane readiness' knowledge gave me enough common sense to go stock up on food & make sure I had enough dog food before the storm hit. Good thing, too....I have been stuck in the house since Wednesday.

Next year, I'd like to have a snowmobile....It was a bit of a concern not having ANY option to go for help, or call help to me, if I'd had an emergency. There are drifts outside 7-10 feet tall....so if something HAD happened, we'd have been out of luck.

We also get tornadoes & severe weather in the summer months. I have a basement, and a room within my basement that is surrounded by cinderblock. In the event of a tornado I've got leashes for everybody handy, and we'd all just run down to the basement & ride it out.

I keep plenty of first aid supplies on hand, medications, food & water, batteries, etc.

One other thing I do...since my dogs ride in the car with me a lot, I keep spare leashes & information on each dog in my glove box. This includes photo, name, vet records & who to call in the event I'm in a wreck while the dogs are with me. I picked that tip up when I used to drive a semi & my dogs rode with me. Have seen enough nasty wrecks on the road and I know when people are injured, the welfare of any pets in the car is secondary concern. Most times, if nobody is conscious to give information on the animals, the animals are caught (if possible) and taken to a local shelter until the owners are stabilized. And if the owner should happen to die, it's possible for the pets to get lost in the "shuffle" of paperwork and end up being processed thru the shelter....Family members dealing with the tragedy often don't have the wherewithal to ask after the animals.

4. Oh heck, Erika. I live in Florida. When we remodeled this house we had corrugated steel shutters made to fit every single door and window in this house. Reinforced garage door. Double pane windows.

When a hurricane is a possibility, I stock 3 months supply of dog food, cat food and litter. Also any medications including 4 different types of antibiotics. I have an emergency kit with vet wrap, suture material, the correct needles, subQ liquid bags which will be filled at the proper time.

I also have kennels for all of my animals. We also installed a huge generator and a propane tank.

We can run electric and a/c conservatively for a minimum of a month. Being in the plumbing business, we have water heater tanks ready to be filled with water for the animals.

I also stock up on paper towels, cleaning supplies, poop bags etc.

Our plumbing shop was built 5 years ago of steel and concrete. With have window protection for every door and window.

We also have generators there and water supply. Our shop is available for our employees or friends in an evacuation zone. They can bring their pets as long as they have kennels, food etc.

Our chain link fence is sunk in 3 feet in concrete.. My husband has all materials available to repair.

We will stay in our home. We have animals to take care of and when the disaster is over, we have a business to run. Believe it or not we have precise plans for both to cover every aspect.

We are also prepared for looters.......