PET POLL - How Do You Prepre For An Emergency?

[elizabethann]

Today's Pet Poll got me thinking. How do all of you prepare to evacuate your pets in case of an emergency? I'm not prepared at all. What have you all done to prepare??? I'm going to post the same question in Cat General too because now I'm thinking I should be prepared just in case something should happen!

[lv4dogs]

I have a smaller rubbermaid tote thing that I keep all of my animals supplies in (meds, brushes, nail clippers, shampoos, flea, heartworm meds, extra collars etc..) it is always kept right near my door.

I keep my leashes hanging on a hook next to the door (and of course spares in both of my vehicles).

I have a room that is just for my ferrets & hamsters & they have all of their carriers (plus a few extras) set up on top of their cages & I keep the doors open on the carriers too, all ready to load if needed.

I also keep one carrier (big enough for both cats in case I can't get to the ferrets room for another carrier) next to the door at all times.

I have extra water/food dishes already installed on the carriers.

I have a bag (beach bag size) filled with extra toys, treats, more leashes & vitamins that I always keep with me, it goes everywhere with me!

I also keep at least one large bowl in each vehicle.

The only thing I don't have made up, ready to go is food. I tried it before & had a small bag made up in their bags but kept forgetting to change it so it stays fresh.
And now I have more animals & to have all that on hand is a lot of stuff. I guess we'd have to get to a store & get some or they'd have to live off of their treats &/or people food for a day or so until we could get to a store.

[Anita Cholaine]

I realized that I'm not prepared at all for an emergency!!! I don't even have a veterinary clinic opened all the day, so, if something happens to Anita at night, I wouldn't know where to take her!

Now I feel bad, what could I do if something happens???? I must find a vet to take her in case of emergency, that's so important... I don't know why I didn't think of that before...

[ParNone]

I honestly don't do anything special. I don't think it would take me that long though to get together what I needed for the dogs.

I'd grab my backpack for Murph, their collars and leashes, a bag of food, and fill up some containers of water. Toss all that and them in the car and they're ready to go.

I figure in an emergency you only take the essentials.

Par...

[cyber-sibes]

wow lv4dogs, you sound REALLY prepared!
My husband & I have talked about it and decided if a tornado comes through, we will have to "hand down" the dogs into the basement - It's more of a tall crawl space with STEEP steps, I don't think they'd go willingly. I also keep a jug of water, a water bowl and extra leashes in the car. I keep a carrier for my old cat handy and had to use it when we evacuated because of a small fire.
I think one of the most important things to do is to GET YOUR DOG MICROCHIPPED! Heaven forbid if anything happen, at least they will be identifiable even without their collars & tags.

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by cyber-sibes
wow lv4dogs, you sound REALLY prepared!

The main reason I am so prepared is that a lot of what I have done is also a convenience.
I have kind of limited space, or at least like to make the best of the space I do have.

My door is right near my kitchen so keeping the meds & vitamins etc... in the tote near the door is also near the kitchen where I feed them. So it's all right there.
It's also very handy even for everyday use to have all of their supplies in one place.

I also have a small closet type thing next to my door (it is a closet but I remodeled it so it doesn't have a door) so it's a nice little cubby for storage so the carrier & tote etc... fit nicely there.
There are also stray cats in my area so keeping a carrier next to the door comes in handy when I do catch a stray.

The leashes are very handy hanging next to the door, even for everyday use.

The ferrets have a huge cage (6'x4'x2') with the top being used as a shelf. The carriers fit perfect there & they are also handy.

I bring my dogs almost everywhere with me including work so to keep extra leashes, water bowls etc... already in the vehicles is also very handy & saves time. Thats why I have the tote all made up & it comes everywhere with me.

I use the carriers for vet visits & sometimes bring the ferrets to firends houses for play dates with my friends ferrets, they always need to have food & water as their digestive tracts are very short. They are also very smart & they need special bowls that lock on their cages. Being only a few dollars each it is much easier to just buy a few extras & keep them on the carriers at all times.

[beeniesmom]

I think I'm prepared too if an emergency occurs.
I am a customer at the only 24 hr. emergency vetin the area.
The nearest animal hospital is over 1 hr. away!
I keep the Beenie and Frankies documents, shot history etc in a folder and all of thier meds in a plastic container too.
All the important stuff is all in one small cabinet.
Thank you for posting this so others will think about preparedness (sp) in case of an emergency.

[Glacier]

We've done lots of prep work for an emergency. I fully expect a forest fire will hit us one day.

I keep all the medications in a tupperware container. Just need to put the lid on & it's ready to go. Leashes are always in the truck or hanging by the door. I keep the dog food in a big truck toolbox. It would just get loaded too along with the rubbermaid tub of cat food. I have enough carriers for all the cats. I have a double decker dog box that can be loaded onto a trailer or on to my truck. It holds 20 dogs. The two big dogs, Kayleigh & Heyoka, don't fit in the dog boxes so they would go in the truck with one of us. Cats would go in the other vehicle as Kayleigh hates cats.

We have an agreement with a friend who lives quite a distance in the opposite direction from us. If the fire is approaching our place, the dogs, cats and us go to his place and stay with him. If it is approaching his place, he brings his horses, dog and two cats to us. It would be a gong-show with his horses at our place, but in an emergency we could make it work.

[pnance]

I thought I was prepared - leashes were by the door, food was in containers, meds are kept in a small box, bowls were near the front door normally, cat carriers were stored in an accessible area and their were enough for all cats, we even had a much smaller rodent cage, arrangements made with a friend who was much closer to the main city and had plenty of room to stay. Then we were given all of 10 min to get 4 dogs, 3 cats, 2 rats, a guinea pig, ourselves and anything else we didn't want to lose loaded into the cars and get out as a fast moving brush fire jumped the freeway. (We were actually lucky, some people were woken up in the middle of the night and told they had to go now as they saw flames coming up their front porch!). All I'm going to say is the best laid plans...... We got everyone out went to our friends, 4 hours later we were doing the same loading as she was given about 20 min to get out. Some things I learned: 1)Your pets sense panic and may not react normally so don't assume they'll listen or do what's normal, load them into the car on a leash even if normally you don't, no matter how good a recall they have. 2) Always take your pets! Don't assume they'll be fine. It comes down to choices, the extra time you spend trying to get your scared cats from under the bed you could have saved pictures or heirlooms, but in my opinion not worth it against your pets life 3) Load your pets 1st into the car, once you don't have to worry about them you can pause and think what else do I/should I take. 4)Have a place to board your pets if needed for an extended period, preferably a few places since if it's a large scale emergency a lot of people will have the same problem as most hotels and shelters don't take pets. We spent the night in our cars at the beach, then the next day snuck everyone into my moms 2 bedroom rented townhouse. It was there I realized I didn't have a litter box or litter and had to make a trip to the nearest pet store once it opened! I spent most of that day calling around to try to find somewhere to board at least the dogs but everything was full. We were lucky our house survived, but because of the destruction in our area we had no power, phone, gas, and water was undrinkable so we didn't return home for about a week. Finding a place to stay with 4 big dogs was a nightmare. We even left the cats and rodents with my mom, but because her complex doesn't allow dogs we couldn't really hide them. All I can say is being over prepared isn't such a bad idea. Have a plan, then a backup plan or 2.

[binka_nugget]

I actually recently had a dream and it scared me so bad that I prepared an emergency bag for the dogs if I ever need it. I have a couple leashes, a few collars (regular nylon collars as well as slip collars), poop bags, dog dishes, sample bags of kibble, an extra debit card in case I need to buy food or something, nail clippers and brushes. I'm still working on it though.. I'm gonna add a couple bottles of water, rescue remedy, id tags, vet info, blankets and a couple toys.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

After hurricane Charley last year I realized I was no where near as prepared as I needed to be. It was headed on a totally different path and then unexpectedly made a turn right for us. We had only a few hours to get things prepared. It made it all the more difficult because I manage a Pet boarding facility and needed to call all the emergency contacts to pick up the animals that were with us. I also needed to call the owners of the animals to let them know what was going on. I was also house/ pet sitting 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs. I had to get all that taken care of before I could even go home to take care of my own pets and home. Justin and the girls I work with are the best! I would not have gotten through any of it with out their help and corporation.

After I got the Inn (the boarding facility) evacuated and took care of the house/ pets I was sitting for I was finally able to come home. It was already raining by the time I got home. We live in a manufactured home and according to the news there were a lot of tornados touching down in our area. We had to pack up our animals and get out. That was the hardest and most stressful day of my life. I was a mess. Justin called my dad and he and my sister came over to help us pack everyone up and get them out.

I had crates/ travel cages for everyone along with containers of food. I keep all their vet records together, I keep a bag with all their medications and a bag with their grooming supplies all together in a cabinet in the kitchen. I thought I was as prepared as I could be... I was wrong!

Now in addition to what I already was doing I now have lists. I have a list of who goes into which crate/cage. I keep the travel bird cages easily accessible near the bird whose cage it is. I keep a crate by the chinchillas and one by Wyatt. The snakes all have their travel containers easily accessible in the snake room as do the tortoises and the huge travel cage for the iguana is there too. The dog crates are lined up in the living room (they are left open for them to sleep in anyway). The cats crates are in my closet, but easily accessible.

I also have a list of supplies that I need, so I won't forget anything, this list includes things for the animals as well as for us. I keep a bag of toys, bones, extra food/water bowls in the cabinet in the kitchen, ready and easy to just grab and go. I keep clean dog/cat blankets in a rubbermaid tub that we can grab and take with us.

I have a third evacuation list- this list is things to do to prep the house. Things like turn off the water, and unplug the computers.

My forth and final list is not so much for an evacuation but is incase anything happens to Justin and me. I have a list prepared for the care of the animals- feeding instructions and such. My boss who is a very good friend is the one to take care of them in my absence.

I am much better prepared now than I was a year ago.