I've been seeing stories about this now, and it has me thinking again about pet preparedness. This is in no way intended to be a slam on the owners. In many cases, they have identified the owners, but the owners are still homeless, their neighbors are homeless, and the issue is not negligence.
I mention it because I hope that it is a reminder that things that affect you also affect your pets, and you need to be prepared. They depend on you. If you are preparing for yourself, and not for them, you do not deserve to have them. You owe your pets better than that.
If you are not preparing at all, for them or you, consider the things that can happen, and let it be an added inducement to you to take some preparedness steps. A lot of the programs that are in place that may end up saving you despite your lack of preparation will not cover your pets as well, so don't leave it to chance. Plan and prepare now.Fortunately, going through the steps of preparing for your pets is very similar to preparing for yourself, and the easiest place to start is with the 72-hour kit.
First you need to consider the needs for 72 hours. Let's start with dogs. They will need food, water, and warmth. I recommend measuring kibble into plastic baggies for each portion, based on their eating habits. If your dog eats twice a day, maintaining that pattern could help soothe a stressful situation. That is also a good reason to include treats with the kit, and maybe a favorite toy. Again, I like plastic bottles with screw on caps for water.
With our dogs, we feed them twice a day, but we leave water out, and so it may be harder to gauge how much water you should have, but a good rule of thumb (and this works for cats as well) is that they need 2.5 times the amount of food consumed. For example, for 4 ounces of dry food, 10 ounces of water. And yes, that is liquid ounces for one and not for the other, but that seems to be okay. Obviously your animals will not do well with drinking out of the bottle or bag, but there are collapsible bowls that transport well.
For warmth and shelter, I actually ended up getting some thermal pet pads, but I think they would do just as well with a blanket, which would still not be particularly heavy.
If your dog takes any medications regularly, obviously you either need to keep some in the kit, or have part of the plan be grabbing them on the way out. What I also strongly recommend is having instructions written down, not just for the medication but for food. That way, if there is a separate animal shelter set up, or a friend can take the dog, the information is written down. It will not hurt to include medical history, and vet and family numbers. Sandy may have routed entire communities, but not every disaster works that way so it might be possible to call the vet.
A small first aid kit geared towards their needs can also be good.
Obviously you will need leashes. I have seen some people travel with construction fencing (it's a kind of plastic mesh, usually orange), which could be good, but maybe less convenient. Perhaps how necessary that is will depend on your dog's leash behavior and movement needs. You should have waste bags as well.
There may be other things to think about, like coats or paw pads, where it will not be possible to predict, but if you ever find yourself thinking you should include something, you go with that.
I use a regular tote bag for the kit. I have seen dog packs where they can carry their own gear, and that is great, but do at least make sure that your kits, the pets' kits, and all family members including pets can move with everything getting transported as needed.
Let's say it's a cat. All of this is pretty similar, but you also need a carrier, and probably a harness. It may not be practical to carry a litterbox and litter, but if you can walk the cat on a harness, and give them a chance to dig a little, it can still work out. Your cat will probably be less cooperative than your dog (with ours for sure), but you still love them and need to be ready for them.
I don't know a lot about other types of pets, but there is some good information at OCEM that can get you started thinking:
http://www.ocem.org/pdf_resources/Pet_Preparedness_Take5.pdf
The kit is a good start, but there are other aspects to preparedness. I don't feel it is practical to have a year's supply of pet food, partly because we have nowhere to put it, and partly because they will be happier sharing our food than we would be sharing theirs, even though the latter may be healthier. However, I also don't believe in letter the food supplies get really low for them, and it is certainly possible to include them in the two week water supply.
Also, have them as part of the plan. Creating the kit and writing down instructions is a good start, but think about who might be able to take them, and where you might go if you needed to evacuate, and potential problems and solutions.
No one likes doing this, but have a plan for if you die. Where will they go? Usually it's family, but maybe there are friends who love them too. If it is family, but the family is not local, have you arranged interim care.
Consider training as well. Yes, sometimes there are pet first aid classes, and that can be good, but sometimes you can train animals so they can respond to things better. Obedience training can help them be more secure, and pay off in unusual circumstances. Does your dog know how to swim? One of my favorite stories from my CERT training was that one woman trained her dog to exit via the pet door when the smoke alarm went off, and she drilled with her dog. I hope her house never catches fire, but if it does, the dog will get itself out, and that is wonderful.
They need you. Don't let them down.
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