Earthquakes and Rabbits...

[EricaBear]

So, a while back, after the recent earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan, I started to wonder, how will I prepare myself for an earthquake now that I have a rabbit? Of course, my first thought right after the disaster was for all the people suffering and struggling in Japan. But I live in the Lower Mainland of B.C. and we have always been due for "The Big One".. So after a couple days of mourning and worrying for friends and their families in Japan, I started thinking about this... we aren't super well prepared, even without the rabbit, but I've always been conscious of basic survival and preparedness in the event of an emergency.

So, let's discuss some things, all out of curiosity...

I remember that my family's dogs, and sometimes cats, would behave differently right before an earthquake... has anyone ever witnessed a domestic house rabbit exhibiting different or unusual behaviour right before an earthquake?

In the event of an emergency, do you have some kind of kit or pack prepared specifically for your bun(s)?

If you weren't home and there was an earthquake, would you first go home to see and ensure that your rabbits were safe?
I sheepishly brought it up with my husband the other day, and I said I would want to get Mojo safe before we did anything else(assuming for some reason we couldn't stay at our home), he told me of course we would, unless for some reason we really, really couldn't.

Any other thoughts on emergencies and rabbits? Most specifically earthquakes and/or tsunamis?

Another emergency related but not earthquake related thought I had... do any of you have something to let people know about the pets in the home, in the event of a fire? Like say if something happened when you weren't home... I know some people have those stickers that go on the window or whatever and say that there are dogs or cats in the home, but does anyone have that for their buns?

Sorry for all the questions and lengthy-ness, but I've never had "bunny people" other than my husband to discuss this with...

:bunnybutt:

 

[Nancy McClelland]

When I was in College several decades back, we had a Geology Professor that was kind of an "earthquake" nut. She said you need to have enough food for a month and water too. Wasn't a problem as we always had a lot of freeze dried backpacking stuff around. Water isn't a problem if your water heater is secured so it doesn't tip over and most are 40 gallons or better. Whenever we open a bag of pellets we buy a new one to have on hand. Most of it is common sense. Read about one of the Coastal Village Mayors in Japan that took his grandfathers tales to heart and built a seawall three times as tall as the government required--theirs was one of the few that survived the Tsunami with no damage.

 

[19psi]

I live in Indiana where earthquakes don't happen often.

One night many years ago my last rabbit Jasper went out of his mind. Running around wide eyed and thumping. He was about 9 years old and that was the first and last time I'd ever seen him do the thumping thing.
Took about 15 minutes to calm him down. About 30 minutes later, just around midnight, he started up again and all of a sudden it felt like a car hit the house.
Thought it was maybe an explosion miles away but found out the following morning that it was an earthquake.

I'm more concerned about tornadoes than anything along with ice storms that take power out for weeks. I usually have a months supply of pellets and hay on hand. Utilities are not much of a concern as I have a private well for water and the backup generator powers that along with most of the house.

 

[MILU]

I'm glad to see that people are concerned with taking the bunnies to a safe place too. I heard stories in Japan about animals left behind...
There's a good website about preparedness for disasters, I know the guy who owns it, he's very knowledgeable. It's http://thepreparednesscoach.com - there are many tips on how to get prepared in case a disaster hits... the tips are mostly for human beings, but I guess when we love our pets we can translate our needs to them, for example, the website says we should keep a bag ready for emergencies with water, snacks, some clothes, etc. - it's not hard to imagine that bunnies would need the same- a portable cage (not heavy) with water, food, etc enough to last for some time.. and so on. I hope the website is useful to you and whoever else wants to get prepared for whatever...

 

[HappyFarmBunnies]

Thought you might like this:

[ame]http://www.cafepress.com/+rabbit_rescue_rectangle_sticker,50994048[/ame]

 

[Desma]

I don't live far from you, about 50 miles away near the Canadian border in a place called Maple Falls in Washington State. I am very aware that we live in an area where we will soon likely have a very large earthquake. I speak to my pets and tell them that they are to let me know when they know an earthquake is going to happen (hee hee!) I also have 6 cats and one dog and 2 chipmunks and chickens, so, I have a large warning alert system here at home. Many years ago, when I used to have some ferrets, we had a 6.8 earthquake and they never even woke up from any of the shaking!! My Persian kitty, Lady Jane, she did start to run frantically through the house. With this many pets to take care of, I have lots of work to do everyday with keeping up on the cleaning and vacuming for pet hair as you can imagine. I'd like to get up soon to the Vancouver BC area to visit one day soon. We moved up here from the other end of the state for my husband's job. I love living up here in the mountains. The small city of Sumas is our closest border town to cross the border. I am hoping that I can buy some Cadbury's white chocolate when I go across the border.