Thursday, October 27, 2011

Critical Survival Tips for Your Dog or Cat

By Regina T. Roby


Disasters are a normal happening across the U . S ., but not enough people sufficiently consider the possible effect on their pets. Crisis situations come in many forms, and could require anything from a quick absence from your home to a permanent evacuation. As Hurricane Katrina taught us in 2005, the turmoil of a sizable catastrophe can have a terrible effect on pets and their owners. Being prepared is the key to getting through stressful circumstances from hurricanes to severe snowstorms and all things in between. Therefore the most sensible thing you can do to safeguard your pets and your self is to establish a disaster plan to avoid a possible tragedy. Let's examine some emergency survival strategies for your pet.

Nominate a Pet Foster Parent

No matter if it's an upcoming emergency or a normal hassle, it's smart to pick a pet foster parent to help you maintain your pet in case you are unable to get home promptly. While this might be something as simple as looking in on on a pet when delayed at work or during your vacation, it may also include rescuing your pet whenever a disaster strikes. Therefore when picking a temporary caregiver there are specific criteria you may want to think about. First availability is essential, so locating someone like a stay-at-home is ideal. Second, area is important, so you need to only consider those near your home. Dependability is also of great importance because you must make sure that your pet will be taken care of while giving that individual access to your residence. Finding a pet foster parent is a good idea to get through any potential emergencies.

Pack Some Emergency Provisions

Disasters come in many shapes and sizes, but making a pet emergency kit will be valuable no matter what the situation brings. Whether you've got a cat, dog or exotic pet, your kit should be packed before any situation and contain both essential and non-essential items. Among the crucial items you should include are: pet first aid kit, seven days of water and food (in simple to open containers), pet I.D. tags, necessary medicines, feeding dishes, blanket and litter box supplies. These items are the bare minimum and should be included in every disaster kit. Some non-essential items that are strongly recommended include duplicates of medical records, garbage bags, paper towels, liquid dish soap and a permanent magic marker. While not absolutely necessary, these materials provide an extra layer of protection. Obviously, having both types of emergency supplies on hand and ready to go will raise the likelihood that your pet will get through the incident without complication.

Staying at Home in an Catastrophe

Pictures of people evacuating disaster areas regularly call to mind the difficulties associated with leaving one's home, but staying at home throughout a disaster can also generate problems. Unfortunately staying at home often enables pet owners to fall into a false sense of security, but there are a number of tips you can follow to ensure that challenges don't arise. The purchase and use of a rescue alert sticker is one of the first things any pet owner should pursue. A straightforward sticker indicating that pets exist at your home will alert emergency workers in case of a fire or mandatory evacuation. Making sure that your pet has identity information is crucial too. Whether it be a basic collar, ear tattoo or microchip, it's wise to ensure that your pet can be identified in case you become split up. Finally bring your pet into the house at the first sign of a serious event, because pets can easily become confused and wander away. By making use of these steps, your pet should be safer when dealing with an emergency situation around your home.

Evacuation Tips

In a disaster situation evacuation is a worst case scenario, but stress can be lessened with some basic preparation. Well before any catastrophe, the first place to start is to speak with your vet about emergency preparedness for your pet, since they can provide essential tips to make sure that you don't omit a critical point. Identifying potential safe havens in case of an evacuation is required and also a wise decision. This includes the homes of family and friends, as well as area boarding kennels and hotels that accept pets. Service animals who assist people with disabilities are the only pets permitted in Red Cross shelters, so it's critical to determine which shelters do and make one of them a shelter of last resort. Whenever possible, have a pet crate accessible to allow your pet a comfortable space to go both during transportation and once relocated. You'll find that this will decrease stress for both you and your pet. No matter what, advanced planning can make unforeseen circumstances much easier to handle.

Recent events have demonstrated that calamities certainly do not take a holiday, so by following these pointers you ought to be able to reduce the impact to both you and your pet.




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