PREP 101: Part 19, Prepping for Pets

Many of us have pets, and we consider them integral parts of the family if not furred/feathered kids. But too often emergency considerations for them are overlooked.

Keep in mind that if your plans include going to an official shelter, most if not all do not allow pets. You may be able to put your critters up at a boarders, if the crisis isn't geographical, but without current vaccination records, you may be out of luck. My boarder won't accept anyone without papers

For the very basic emergency level, a bug out bag for your pets is a must. You'll need:

Carrier/travel cage/crate - one for each animal
Tie out cable for large dogs
Muzzle if your dog is a fear-biter
Leash & collar - spares never hurt
Copies of vax records with vet info
Food for 3 days at least - sample sizes are great for tucking into corners
Water - small 1/2 liter bottles also fit in odd corners (I filled empty nooks in my car up with them too)
Dishes - food & water for each critter (for my parrot I have a screw on hamster-type water tube that will fit the water bottles I packed)
Treats/chewies/catnip/toys - your critters have no clue what's going on and will be cramped bored and cranky.
Prescription meds
Rescue Remedy - an herbal drop that calms most animal species
First aid supplies - this will vary and you should customize it based on your pets' species. I have styptic powder for stopping blood flow, and a basic human-type kit.
Travel/disposable litter box and extra litter
Plastic bags for poop and trash
Handy wipes
Newspaper
Towels

If you have room and money consider adding these items:

Small tent - Our kitties do not like change or chaos and won't 'go' unless they are comfortable. Having a small tent to put the carriers in keeps them shaded, dry, isolated, contained and we can give them 'out' time for pottying and stretching their legs.
Folding wire exercise pen - mine makes a 4 x 4 square, folds to a 2 x 2 x 2" size. I keep one at work for my puppy to hang out in - great for small dogs!

For bird owners (parrots) keep their wings trimmed. It only takes a split second for them to take off and never be seen again. If a cage is their emergency carrier, have some kind of clippy handy to secure doors.

For aquariums - You obviously can't run out the door with the tank under your arm so keeping a battery-powered air pump is a must for power outages. Ours plugs in and only comes on when the power goes out. We don't have a back up heater right now, so if anything worse than a power outage happens, I'm assuming our tank is a loss.

Livestock? Our plan is to shelter in place in our tent or shed and stay on site to care for our critters. We're in the process of setting up rain barrels to collect water from every surface, but a pond or non-chlorinated swimming pool is a great source of emergency water for farm animals. Most folks keeping livestock also keep food, supplements and medications needed on hand. Check your expiration dates. Feed stores carry the most widely used antibiotics, so if you don't already have some, ask your vet what is best to keep handy. We just nursed a goat through a respiratory problem and I learned to give subcutaneous shots. Good to know if the vet is closed or the roads impassable.

Here are a few 'official' type links with more ideas -
Don't Forget Your Pets During a Disaster or Emergency
Preparing Your Pets In Case of Emergency


Remember - your critters will be in panic-mode. They won't understand, your kind words won't calm them. They won't automatically head for home if they escape. Having a carrier for each one is the first step to their safety in a crisis.

Hopefully this will give you some starting points to customize a pet prep plan for your own household. And hopefully you will never need to use it.

--PrepNut

THANKS, PREP NUT!!!!

That's wonderful!

More parrot/cat preps

Posted with permission of the author, zazzu -

Our parrots and cats are probably more prepped than we are.
For the parrots we purchased the type of animal carrier that the airlines use and fit each one with a perch and handle, and feed and water cups that attach easily to the inside of the door. Layers of newspapers are stacked on the bottom and each one has its own cover. They have their own BOB that includes cage wipes, paper towels, a spray bottle, bottles of water, vacumm sealed seeds, pellets and treats, and a few toys. Their medical kit contains ornacycline, furazite (both antibiotics), ornalyte (like Pedialite in powder form), silver nitrate sticks and Stay ( for external bleeding), sterile eye & skin wash, blunt tip scissors, gauze pads, iodine swabs, locking forceps, blunt tip pliers (if a feather must be pulled) a towel for confinement, directions for meds and a copy of The Complete Bird Owners Handbook which pretty much covers everything about birds.
The cats have the same type carrier set ups except they each have a small litter box. Their BOB's contain cage wipes, paper towels, sealed food & treats, water, catnip and toys. Their med kit has Amoxycillin, eye & skin wash, scissors, swabs, antibiotic eye ointment, neosporin, rectal thermometer, tube of hairball remedy, gauze pads, forceps, blunt tweezers, directions for meds, and a towel.
The meds for the birds and the cats, and the silver nitrate sticks were samples given to me by my vet. All I had to do was ask if he had any samples

The carriers for both the cats and the birds are way bigger than you would normally buy for travel so they have room to move around.
Their carries are set up ready to go in their room and of course if we had to leave at a moments notice with all their cages & gear we would have to take both cars. And since shelters will not take pets we also have a tent & gear already packed in the trunk.

zazzu
(Praying she will never have to use any of the above as she envisons a nightmare scenario)

Something I recently made sure I did to prep for my pets..

We use the year round heartworm and flea meds on all of them. I went to vets and purchased enough for 7 months ahead.

Be it hearts 2 in 1 collars, or Frontline...you dont want your critters getting fleas if they are hold up in close quarters with you for long.