So now that you have assesed what constitutes an emergency, what your reactions to different situations might be, and where you can go if you have to get out, next we look at what you need to have ready to grab as you go out the door. The most important thing, obviously, is your pet(s). Why state the obvious? Well believe it or not, some people don't always think it's neccessary. Also, in the first minutes of a large event there isn't always a lot of information to go on. Authorities are still assessing the situation. They are most concered with preventing people from being injured or killed, so they might order an evacuation as a precautionary measure. Yes, you might be back home in an hour or two, but you can't count on that! When a freight train derailed in the Wisconsin town of Weyauwega causing several tank cars of LP gas to catch fire and the fire chief ordered the town evacuated, people were generally told it was "until the fire is put out." That's all anyone knew at the time. What does that sound like to you? A few hours? Maybe a day? This was in 1996, and back then the common thought was to leave the pets with two days food and water and they'll be OK. people were not told to take their pets with. As the tank cars continued to burn and the pressure inside them built to the point where they could explode, it was deemed too dangerous for the firefighters to continue fighting the fire until more of the contents had burned off, lowering the pressure in the tankers. The evacuation lasted for 18 days. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, people had been through it all before so many times that they thought they knew just what to expect. Either it wold be another false allarm and they would be back home in a day, or the hurricane would blow through and in two or three days they would be back home. Everyone I talked to, no matter what their story of why they did or didn't evacuate or could or couldn't take their pets, all ended their story with the same line; "Nobody counted on the flooding." So if you are told to get out, ALWAYS take your pets, no matter what you think of the situation or how long you think you will be gone. Better a dozen false allarms than than one major case of regret.
So next comes HOW. You put the pet in the car and go, right? But what if you don't have access to a car? What if you don't have room in the car for all the pets and people? What if you're not home at the time? What if you have too many animals for one trip? What if you have animals that are difficult to transport (like horses, or tropical fish)? And what do you need to take with to care for these animals? These are all things you need to consider. All this in addition to what you have to consider for evacuating your kids, seniors, etc. See why pre planning is so important?
Dogs are probably the simplest. To their wild ancestors, the pack represented safety, so they wanted to stick with the pack. For domestic dogs, their people are their pack. "A car ride? Cool! Let's go!" You will need to have a secure collar and leash, and I don't mean a retractable leash. If your dog requires a harness or halter to control them, keep it ready to grab in a hurry. If your dog is small enough to ride in a carrier, I strongly recomend it to keep them safe and controled. Carriers are also the best way to keep them safe if you have to shelter in place. If you have to be evacuated by bus there might or might not be rules about having pets in carriers, but either way they will be more welcome and be safer if they're contained in some way. With cats, a carrier is a MUST! They're not generally good travelers, and all the noise and confusion could panic them. Likewise a carrier is the best solution for ferrets, rabbits, chinchillas, sugar gliders, hedgehogs, gineapigs, rats, birds, and some lizards, snakes, and tortises. Reptile experts have told me that larger reptiles can travel well in plastic tote bins. For tiny pocket pets like hamsters, gerbils, or mice you can buy a small travel cage or make one out of a plastic shoebox. Much easier than trying to cram that whole big habitrail in your car. Likewise tiny birds can be transfered to a small birdcage if their house cage is too big. Don't do like the fellow who brought his Aftican Grey parrot to the bus evacuation point for Hurricane Gustav in it's large house cage. We didn't have a hardside cat carrier to transfer it to, so we managed to cram the large cage into one of the bus seats, but the bird almost ended up riding in the truck with the larger dogs. Horses require a lot of preplanning, as well as a trailer to haul them in, and you have to train them to load into the trailer. Fish I will leave to the fish experts on this forum in another instalment.
Make sure that everything that can wear a collar, harness or halter is also wearing identification! It also helps to add a temporary tag with the address and phone number of where you will be staying or an alternate phone number outside the area that can relay a message to you. The kind of key tags you can write on work well for this. Animals in cages or carriers should have this info on their enclosures. Horses should have ID on their halters, or write it on their side with a livestock crayon. And people, I can't say this enough; MICROCHIP! Yes, it takes a scanner to read it, but that's the one form of ID your pet can't lose. If possible, have an alternate contact (your vet, or someone in another town) on file with the chip company along with your own info. And even if your pet has been gone so long that you are sure you will never see them again, keep your info up to date with the microchip registry. There are many stories of pets that showed up months or even years later. That chip is also your proof of ownership if there is ever a dispute. A lot of the heartaches after Katrina could have been avoided with michrochips.
Future instalments will cover what else you should bring and other considerations.
