
April is Active Dog Month
The month of April is Active Dog Month. This month-long…
Flash flooding, tornadoes, fires, ice storms and power outages, all disasters you need to be prepare for, yet hope never happen. Do you have a plan in place for you and your family when that happens? Does that plan include your pet? When it comes to a disaster, the same rules apply to people and pets: planning ahead of time can save your life and the life of your pet.
Including your pet in your emergency preparedness plan is important. If you have to leaveyour home for an undeterminedamount of time, your pet willneed food, water and shelter. Always plan to take your pet with you or have arrangements made ahead of time for your pet’s safe keeping.
Planning and preparation for your family and your pet needs to be in place long before the disaster strikes. It can be done in three simple steps:
This part of the emergency preparedness plan is the most overwhelming but sets the stage for all the other steps. A few things to do now include:
Get your pet’s identification in place. Options for pet identification include:
Put together a disaster kit with supplies you need. This should include:
Seek out safe shelter options that are pet-friendly ahead of time.
When disaster strikes, it is time to put your plan into place! A few things to keep in mind:
Finally, post-disaster side effects may linger for both you and your pet.
Future storms or stressful situations may make your pet anxious or cause them to act abnormal. Keep this in mind and work with your pet during these times. Comforting them or allowing them to be in their safe spot in the house may be best. Don’t escalate the situation by becoming loud or scolding your pet for their actions.
Additional resources that may help you with planning your disaster preparedness plan can be found on the FEMA website.
Protecting your pet during any disaster is important. PetFirst offers guidelines and recommendations from veterinarians, veterinary technicians, trainers and other animal health experts on our website. For more information, visit www.petfirst.com.