Emergency Preparations for Pets

       Living on a farm, our animal evacuation plans are complex and expensive.  They are the subject of another post another time.  However, many people in most of the world have pets, and pet preparations are something we should discuss.
        It is never acceptable to abandon your pet in an emergency.  Pets are family members, and not only do we have a moral obligation to them to do our best in their care throughout their lifespan, but we do psychological harm to ourselves and to our children by not meeting their needs as best we can.  A little bit of planning can allow us to do the best job possible for our pets in emergencies. The first thing you must do is get tags made for them, so that if they are ever lost, their collar has their name, yours, and a phone number in which to reach you. Sometimes you can include e-mail, cell or address. I label my animals twice in the event that the tags come off. A few of my animals came to us with microchips inside. I am not recommending microchips at this time, as different vets may use different readers, and this may have limited value depending upon your location.
    In most nations, pets are not allowed to accompany you to a shelter, so it's important to make advance plans with friends or with family in order to bring your pet with you, if you must evacuate.  Make sure you contain your pet the wisest way possible.   For a cat, a cat carrier is essential.  For a dog, a portable kennel is a good idea, but is not always possible.  A leash and a collar are always essential.  The following items are good emergency items for us, or if buying them is impractical where you are, they may trigger your putting these items together yourself from available sources in your area. If you have a housecat, then think about keeping some extra kitty litter. Not only can this be used for your cat, but there are multiple uses for it also. It pays to have extra.

   These particular items are available at:

http://www.thepreproom.net/categories/Pet-Products/

This is the Portable Pet Waterboy. This could be useful to have.

These are emergency dog food (shown on the right) and emergency cat food (shown on the left) with a five year shelf life. These are available for $3.69 US each package.

Here is a kit for dog travel.   The bowl including the food and emergency water.

From ready.gov
This is a link which can go into even more detail

http://thepreproom.net/content/pets_tagged.pdf

It doesn't matter where you choose to buy the items to amass for your pet evacuation or pet "shelter in place" kits. What matters is that you make provisions for them. This is one stressor that in an emergency a little bit of advance planning can transform into an easily handled issue.