Disaster Preparedness With Pets: Part 1 -- Identification

Every year about this time I start getting asked to give my talk about how to prepare for a disaster when you have pets.  Everyone who has read this blog, or spoken with me knows that Pug Hollow went through an F-4 tornado in May of 2011 resulting in the loss of all our physical property.
We had one fatality and one critical injury out of 22 dogs, and we were able to quickly locate all but one of the surviving dogs. He came back the next day.
It could have been much worse. It usually is much worse.

The first step is to be aware. Disasters can happen to ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. They can be large scale natural disasters, and impact a whole neighborhood, town, county, or even state, or they can be small and just impact one house (as anyone who has ever lost their house to a fire can tell you). Taking some steps to ensure safety before hand is just good sense.

So let's talk about where I like to start with prepping for unhappy circumstance...

Identification

 I like to have my pets tagged 6 ways to Sunday, and it doesn't just stop with the dogs. It's the cats and the horses too.

1. Microchip:

The most certain way to get your dog or cat tagged is to microchip them. They can also microchip horses and other equines. Collars, harnesses and halters can come off. Rabies tags can get lost.A microchip is going to be there as long as there is a body left.

Microchipping is done at your vet, just like giving a vaccination. It's a one time fee, and there are a number of free microchip registries out there you can use rather than paying for a yearly subscription. Some rescues microchip their pets before sending them out to new homes.

 2. Rabies tag:

A rabies tag is also a point of identification. It provides veterinary information that hopefully links to the owner of the pet. You can also go one step further and engrave your contact information into the back of the tag. A small hand engraver will cost you about $20 to $50 depending on what and where you buy.

3. Identification tag:

These are the simple hanging tags that attach to your pet's collar or harness. If your dog has a medical condition this is a good way to let people know as these can be double sided with engraving.  If you do double sided engraving I suggest your pet's name, and medical condition(s) on the front side and at least 2 contact numbers on the back. Make one of the contact numbers a land line number to someone outside of your immediate household, and preferably outside of your neighborhood. It can be a friend, family member or your veterinarian. This will ensure that even if everything around you including your cell phone is destroyed, there will still be one valid number on the tag.  I prefer to use both of our household's cell phone numbers and my father's land line number.
The downside to id tags is that they can be pulled off of the collar or harness and lost just like a rabies tag.

4. Collar plates:

Collar plates come in three types. Rivet attached, sliding, and adjustable sliding.

Rivet attached plates need a little work to get them in place, but it's not anything that your average person can't do.

1. For a nylon collar you need a nail, a pair of pliers, an oven mitt, open flame heat source, rivet kit and a hammer.  
2. Use the tag to mark where you need to put holes in the collar. 
3. Put on the oven mitt and grab the pliers. 
4. Grasp the nail with the pliers near the head, and insert the other end of the nail into the heat source.  The heat source can be the flame from a gas burner, a small blowtorch, large candle, campfire... Be sure to be careful and not set anything on fire.
5. Once the nail is hot, use it to poke holes where you've marked the collar. The nylon will melt and it will stink but this is the best way to make holes.  
6. Once your holes are the correct size for your rivets you can place the plate on the collar and use the instructions on the rivet kit to set them in place.

For a leather collar you will use a leather punch to make the holes.

If you need to remove the plate from the collar you can drill the rivets loose from the back side with an electric drill and bit.


Sliding plates are easy to put in place, and easy to remove but they only work with standard non-adjustable buckle collars.

Adjustable sliding plates are harder to find but they work with adjustable collars as well as standard buckle collars.

I don't waste space on names on collar plates. I just load them up with as many contact numbers as they can fit. 

5. Embroidered collars:

Embroidered collars can be a more expensive way to ID your dog, but there is no plate or tag to lose. They are however, susceptible to being scratched into illegible fuzz.

6. Tags for Horses

You can get halter plates that screw onto a halter and halter tags that can attach to a halter or be braided into a mane.


Considerations:
If you chose an engraved tag or plate, I suggest one that has been diamond engraved. The engraving lasts longer on a tag than laser engraving.

While I've included some links to several shops that you can purchase identification for pets and horse equipment, you may want to shop around and look for cheaper prices. e-Bay can be a good place for that, but remember... you do chance getting what you pay for.

Placement of identification is important as well.

I like to put my rabies tags on my dog's walking harness.  They don't need it when lying around the house, and it keeps them from losing it in the yard.
I also like to have two rivet plates per dog... one on their collar and one on their harness near the leash ring. If the dog has a medical condition that needs daily medication or consideration (such as diabetes, thyroid conditions, hypoglycemia, seizures, heart problems, liver or kidney problems, Addison's, etc...) I also add a medical tag to both harness and collar.

I suggest a reflective breakaway halter like the Lami Cell with plate or tag for your horse to wear in emergencies and a tag braided into the mane. A breakaway halter will keep your horse from getting into a wreck if the halter gets caught on debris and the tag braided into the mane will give ID if the halter is lost.

And that pretty much covers all the possible types of identification with the exception of tattooing or branding.

Keep an eye out for "Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 2 -- Emergency Evacuation Kit" coming tomorrow.