Revisiting Disaster Prep for Pets Part 2

Probably everyone at some point has heard of an emergency preparedness kit, and what they should have in it for their family. I'm not going to rehash what you need for people. I'm going to address the fact that most of those recommendations don't take into account our pets.

With large animals such as horses there's not a lot you can do to have a kit ready. Their needs as far as food and water are too large to be easily contained in a quick grab kit. The best you can do is have an extra halter and lead per horse.

With pets though you can make a grab and go kit, or a kit to be stored in a safe location.  It it's a grab and go kit you'll want to pack it in something portable... a duffle bag, large back pack, or other quickly portable container.
A kit to be stored in a safe location such as a cellar or basement can be contained in a plastic bin to keep moisture and critters out.

Things you'll want to have in your kit:

1. Water: As with humans you want a gallon per pet per day, and should plan on having at least 3 days worth for a go kit or 7 days worth for a stored kit.
2. Food: Again, three days worth per pet for a go kit and 7 days for a stored kit. If your pet requires specialized food this is especially important. If it's dry food you'll want to store it in an airtight container and swap your supply every few weeks to keep it fresh.
3. Can opener and something to scoop it out with if you're using canned food.
4. measuring scoop for dry food
5. A supply of your pet's medications. I like to keep an extra bottle of each med our dogs are on stored in my emergency supplies. As I run out of the bottle I am using on a daily basis, I replace it with my stored bottle and order a new bottle for the stored supplies. This keeps the meds from going out of date.
6. Copies of your pets shot and medical records an an air and water tight container. All of my dogs that have health conditions have a medical file that we keep on hand along with their shot records. This is useful if we have to see a vet that doesn't know the dogs.
7. An extra collar, harness, and leash
8. Toys and treats
9. Extra food and water bowl: I like collapsible bowls and recommend one of the rubber or silicone bowls such as the Kurgo Collaps-A-Bowl, the Ruff Dawg Ruff Bowl, or the Bamboo Pet Collapsible bowl
10. First aid kit for dogs and first aid guide book for pets
11. A list of emergency contacts and veterinarians around your area, and around the area to which you will most likely evacuate.
12. Extra ID tags
13. Proof of ownership: good clear photos stored in an airtight, waterproof container
14. Extra towels and blankets, and/or a bed
15. kitty litter or pee pads
16. Collapsible cat litter box, such as a Sturdibox or Go Kitty Go.
17. A kennel or crate if needed. I like to keep a pop up kennel in my kit in case I need to contain a dog somewhere. Be sure that you've acclimated your dog to the confinement.
18. drawstring trash bags and small trash bags for clean up and lining the kitty litter pan.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, I know, but you can vacuum seal the dry food, treats and the soft items such as leashes, towels, soft toys, and dog beds to reduce the amount of space they take up.  Pack it all into a duffle bag and you're ready to go on a moments notice.

Come back tomorrow for Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 3 -- Evacuation Plans and Training

Revisiting Disaster Prep with Pets

It's that time of year again when Mother Nature starts gearing up for another storm season. So let's revisit our article on Disaster Prep with Pets.

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.

Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 2 -- Emergency Evacuation Kit

Probably everyone at some point has heard of an emergency preparedness kit, and what they should have in it for their family. I'm not going to rehash what you need for people. I'm going to address the fact that most of those recommendations don't take into account our pets.

With large animals such as horses there's not a lot you can do to have a kit ready. Their needs as far as food and water are too large to be easily contained in a quick grab kit. The best you can do is have an extra halter and lead per horse.

With pets though you can make a grab and go kit, or a kit to be stored in a safe location.  It it's a grab and go kit you'll want to pack it in something portable... a duffle bag, large back pack, or other quickly portable container.
A kit to be stored in a safe location such as a cellar or basement can be contained in a plastic bin to keep moisture and critters out.

Things you'll want to have in your kit:

1. Water: For a stored kit as with humans you want a gallon per pet per day, and should plan on having at least 3 days worth. Have 7 if you can. For a go kit have several liter bottles of water, at least 1 per pet. 2 is better.
2. Food: Again, three days worth per pet for a go kit and 7 days for a stored kit. If your pet requires specialized food this is especially important. If it's dry food you'll want to store it in an airtight container and swap your supply every few weeks to keep it fresh.
3. Can opener and something to scoop it out with if you're using canned food.
4. measuring scoop for dry food
5. A supply of your pet's medications. I like to keep an extra bottle of each med our dogs are on stored in my emergency supplies. As I run out of the bottle I am using on a daily basis, I replace it with my stored bottle and order a new bottle for the stored supplies. This keeps the meds from going out of date.
6. Copies of your pets shot and medical records an an air and water tight container. All of my dogs that have health conditions have a medical file that we keep on hand along with their shot records. This is useful if we have to see a vet that doesn't know the dogs.
7. An extra collar, harness, and leash
8. Toys and treats
9. Extra food and water bowl: I like collapsible bowls and recommend one of the rubber or silicone bowls such as the Kurgo Collaps-A-Bowl, the Ruff Dawg Ruff Bowl, or the Bamboo Pet Collapsible bowl
10. First aid kit for dogs and first aid guide book for pets
11. A list of emergency contacts and veterinarians around your area, and around the area to which you will most likely evacuate.
12. Extra ID tags
13. Proof of ownership: good clear photos stored in an airtight, waterproof container
14. Extra towels and blankets, and/or a bed
15. kitty litter or pee pads
16. Collapsible cat little box, such as a Sturdibox or Go Kitty Go.
17. A kennel or crate if needed. I like to keep a pop up kennel in my kit in case I need to contain a dog somewhere. Be sure that you've acclimated your dog to the confinement.
18. drawstring trash bags and small trash bags for clean up and lining the kitty litter pan.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, I know, but you can vaccum seal the dry food, treats and the soft items such as leashes, towels, soft toys, and dog beds to reduce the amount of space they take up.  Pack it all into a duffle bag and you're ready to go on a moments notice.

Come back tomorrow for Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 3 -- Evacuation Plans and Training

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.