Disaster Preparedness for Animals

We've all seen disasters on the TV news such as hurricanes, tornados, flooding, and earthquakes. Much attention (and rightly so) is given to the suffering and deaths of people, but what about the animals involved? What can people do to care for their pets in a crisis?

Here are a few guidelines:

Every household needs a basic plan to cope with natural disasters and possible evacuations. The plan should include taking pets along if the owners have to evacuate their homes. Some people may just turn their pets loose to fend for themselves in a disaster, but not only is this not in the animal's best interests, but it may cause a problem for someone else. It's better to try to take pets along in the event of an evacuation.

However, except for service animals, most emergency shelters don't accept pets. As part of the overall emergency plan, it's worth checking with local hotels to see which ones allow owners with their pets and where there are pet boarding services that may be outside of the disaster area.

If pets are to be boarded, the facility will first want to check that all vaccinations are up to date, so remember to bring the animal's veterinary records along too.

Pets will also need to wear indentification tags with contact information such as a phone number in case they are lost.

Assemble a disaster kit for pets that includes food, water, medication (if any) can opener, litter box and information on name, address, medical and behavioral issues.

For most of us, our pets are part of the family. Why wouldn't we take a few simple steps to look after them in an emergency?