Is your pet part of your disaster planning? Prepare for all possibilities
By Pet Connection Staff
July 14, 2010
From hurricanes to earthquakes to man-made disasters, a crisis can hit anywhere at any time. Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori remind pet owners to include pets in their disaster planning in this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature:
Just as you can’t leave preparing for your human family members to chance, you need a plan to ensure the safety of your pets. Here are some steps to get you started:Make a plan. Prepare for all possibilities, including that you may be away from home when disaster strikes. Get to know your neighbors, and be prepared to help each other out. Find out from local emergency operation agencies, shelters, veterinary organizations and your own veterinarian what the local emergency response plans are and what help they can provide for you and your pet.
Keep ID on your pets. Most animals survive a disaster, but too many never see their families again. That’s because many pets aren’t equipped with a way to determine which pet belongs to which family. Pets should always wear a collar and identification tags. Better still is a permanent identification that can’t slip off, such as an imbedded microchip. Make sure one of the numbers on your pet’s ID and chip records is your cell phone, as well as a friend or relative living out of the area. That way, if you can’t get to your home phone, you can still be reached and reunited with your pet.
Get the rest of the tips here.
From Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon, some feline dietary advice:
Most cats like milk, but milk doesn’t agree with all cats. After the age of 12 weeks or so, some cats (like some people) lose the ability to digest the lactose in the milk. For those cats, milk isn’t recommended — it can give them diarrhea. For cats who aren’t lactose intolerant, milk can be a nice occasional treat.
Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week.
Thunderstorms and tornados blew through our area today. First thing I did was leash up all the dogs and take them to the basement. They went calmly and cheerfully - training them to react to my commands this way even when I’m in a rush was the most important preparation I did.
Comment by Janeen — July 14, 2010 @ 4:16 pm
Having lived in a pretty high fire risk area in California and now the land of hurricanes, aka, Florida, we are always prepared to bug out or whatever is necessary. After the 2003 fires in SoCal where several people we knew lost houses with dogs inside, we did a lot of serious planning.
I’m a show breeder, and my ‘show rig’ is always stocked and ready to go in an emergency. We make sure it’s cleaned, repacked and prepped after each show weekend so we’re always ready to go.
Comment by Carolyn H — July 14, 2010 @ 5:01 pm