Hurricane preparedness in January?! Yes, that’s right! Preparing for a hurricane when you have pets requires more planning and attention to detail than you might think, which is why starting now is the best way to be adequately prepared on June 1st. The time and effort invested in preparing for hurricane season can save pet parents lots of grief and stress during a hurricane or similar weather event. Today, we want to cover our top 3 tips for hurricane preparedness with pets to help get you started on this potentially life-saving task NOW!
Tips for Hurricane Preparedness with Pets: Evacuation
Evacuating during a hurricane can be scary, especially if you don’t have a solid plan for where you and your pets will take refuge. Keeping in mind that not all evacuation sites are pet-friendly, evacuation is something you want to consider long before evacuation orders are issued.
Have you seen on the news how family pets get left behind in crisis? Oftentimes, pets have to be left behind because families do not have an evacuation plan that includes them; they didn’t know what else to do and had to leave them behind. Please, don’t let that be you. You should NEVER leave your pets behind during a hurricane. You may be leaving them to die. There is really no telling how bad a storm may get and what areas will be most significantly impacted therefore plan for the worst and always evacuate with your pets
Not sure where to start looking? Talk to your dedicated pet professionals. veterinarians, animal shelters, trainers, and pet sitters. We can usually provide insight on where to go during evacuation orders. Hotels, motels, and local schools are often designated shelters during hurricanes and other natural disasters. Find out if thee closest shelters and evacuation sites are pet-friendly or not. Then, make a list of go-to shelter sites and keep your list updated to ensure nothing changes that might impact your pet-friendly evacuation plan.
Tips for Hurricane Preparedness with Pets: Emergency Kit
In the event of a hurricane, you may not have time to grab emergency supplies at the last minute. Because retailers may be closed, shipping may be affected, and supply may run low, getting your emergency kit together before hurricane season is your best bet.
Hurricane Emergency Kit for Pets
- Pet First Aid Kit
- Garbage bags, paper towels and dish soap
- 7 days’ worth of pet food and bottled water
- Food and water bowls
- Litter and disposable litter trays
- Medical records and recent photos of pets in a gallon a Ziploc bag
- Copy of rabies certificate and pet registration or license
- Over the counter and prescription medication to last at least one week
- Crate, crate liners, blankets, towels
- Leashes, collars and toys
Hurricane Emergency Kit for Humans
- First Aid Kit
- Food, snacks and water
- Batteries, flashlight, rescue whistle, portable radio
- Clothing, cash, travel size personal hygiene items
- Small tool box, duct tape, tarp, rope, scissors or utility knife
- Medication, medical and insurance records
- Emergency phone numbers
- Car phone chargers and battery banks
Tips for Hurricane Preparedness with Pets: Loss Prevention
In addition to the above, we recommend you plan ahead so your pets can be easily reunited with you if they get lost during a hurricane or weather emergency.
There are two ways that your pets can be easily identified as yours and returned to you. First, ID tags are easily visible and are great for on the spot identification. One the tag, include your pet’s name, your name, and your phone number on the ID tag. The same information can go right on your pets’ carriers or crates as well.
Especially if your pets have any known medical issues, consider a QR code tag like those from BestiesPets.com that links to an online pet profile so that anyone that finds your pet has all the information they need to properly care for them until you are reunited.
Second, microchip your pets. You can get all of your pets microchipped at a low cost. Microchips are a great addition to pets ID tags. In many pet loss cases, the collar isn’t being worn at the time of the loss or comes off during the pet’s time away from home, therefore, a microchip is an excellent back-up.
When you have pets, hurricane preparedness take a little more effort and requires more supplies. Because pets are family, their safety and well-being should never be overlooked, especially not during a natural disaster.
At Animal Admiration, we follow a very specific inclement weather protocols to ensure the safety of our team and the pets in our care. To learn more about our policies, visit our FAQs and policies pages.
We offer pet sitting and dog walking in Katy, Fulshear, Richmond, Energy Corridor, Memorial, West Houston, and Cypress. To learn more about our team and our services, contact us at info@animaladmiration.com or (281) 391-1015.
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