JadeIcing
Well-Known Member
What is it?
Moderator notes -JadeIcing- Sometimes emergencies aren't medical.
It NEVER hurts to be prepared. Have the carriers in ready to go on a moments notice. Practice getting animals into carriers, leashes(dogs) what ever you are using to get them out.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! I cannot say it more. Practice with family, practice alone, have your family practice alone. You neverknow what can happen. Know who is easier to catch. My husband has certain animals he gets ready, I have certain ones. The guy across the hall if home will come get my dog. We get them in a certain way. First one done gets his out the door and comes back to help the other one finish.
Have a bag with basic essentials ready to go. Medicines and things of that nature that you use have them in a container that you could easily toss into the bag. Have a few toys in there, chew stuff is great. I say that because I want my animals to feel safe and secure.
My basic bag contains peepee pads, 2 extra blankets per animal accept the trio they have 3 bigger ones and just things I know I would need. Make the bag suit your needs. Leaf pointed out to me water. It is something I have but neglected to mention. I have alot of bottled water that we actually buy on a regular basis.
Keep in mind it isn't just a natural disasters you should prepare for. It could be a gas leak, a family emergency or anything.
I have hard carriers but I also have dogcarriers the purse kind. They are alot easier to use with multiple animals. You can put the straps over your shoulder. Also duffel bags are good for bonded bunnies.
Abunny (and cat) hint from Pipp:keepa sturdy pillowcase pinned up in the vicinity of every pet and/or exitas a back-up plan. With the best intentions, the carrier or pet bag may not be where it belongs that day, or it's undera stack of booksor supplies, or it's in an inaccessible area, or maybe there simply won't beenough time.A bunny stuffed in a pillowcase can meana relatively safe and fast exit in an extreme emergency.
In your emergency kits, keep photos of your pets - showing details ofany unusual markings clearly AND -- this was really important -- makesure those photos include YOU with the pet(s). This showsguardianship of the animal. (Otherwise, you just have a picture ofan animal - with no proof it belongs with you, esp. since bunnies
generally aren't micro chipped around here).
Make sure we have hotel/motel phone numbers - in our emergency kits & cars. Make sure ahead of time which hotel/motels will allow you tobring pets or make sure you have arrangements with friends/family tostay with them.
Keep a permanent/indelible marker in your car & emergency kit. yourpet carrier(s) need to be marked with your last name AND the contactphone number where you can be reached. So, obviously, if you have toevacuate your home, your home phone number probably isn't going to bethe best way to reach you. And you might not be able to have cellphone signal/power for the duration of your "evacuation". So you'llneed that permanent marker to write the phone number of your family
or motel/hotel where you are staying.
At least keep some sort of luggage tag on the carrier with some ID info on it.
Keep maps -- good detailed maps of your local/regional area - in yourcars so that you can avoid the main arteries/highly congested roads in case of mass evacuations.
Since flooding (of all types - rivers, water main breaks, groundwaterlevels rising) is a big concern here, be sure to keep food suppliesin watertight containers as rising water levels can cause thecontainers to flip over (or a fireman's hose can cause it to flip).
Keeping the emergency kits you have stored in the kitchen area maynot be wise as the majority of home fires start in the kitchen (so you won't be able to retrieve the kit if stored there). However, youhave to assess that situation best for your own home.
It was strongly discussed how much our pets - bunnies, cats, dogs,etc. feed off our emotional states (and as bunny slaves, we alreadyknow this!) and during an emergency/crisis, if we have a plan inplace, we're less likely to be as stressed to the point that it willadversely affect our bunnies. Just something to keep in mind. And,
about 6 months AFTER the emergency, most adults will finally feel theaffects of that disaster/emergency (regardless of the plans inplace). So, it's important to check-in with those who've gonethrough some disaster/emergency stuff at least 6 months after thefact, to make sure they're still OK as that's when they're most vulnerable to depression/PTSD, etc -- not in the immediate monthfollowing the event(s).
Recommended Articles:
http://www.petsitters.org/cfincludes/MemberCenter/pdfs/DPPetOwner.pdf
Developed by National Association of Professional Pet Sitters
Disaster Preparedness Committee - October 2005
[align=left]Articles and Links[/align]Please check in your area. when looking for articles and links. I found many areas have their own tips and guides.
[align=left]http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/pets.html
http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/pets.pdf
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/animals.shtm
http://www.bestfriendspetcare.com/Pet_tips/petemergencyplan.cfm
http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_604_,00.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/prepare/pet_plan.shtml
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_EmergencyPlanning.php
http://vetmedicine.about.com/library/weekly/aa103101a.htm
[/align]Disaster Preparedness (Rabbit References)
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#disaster
Including Animals in Your Emergency Plans (HRS)
http://www.rabbit.org/care/emergency-planning.html
Going to Ground in Kansas City (Disaster Preparedness - HRS)
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-8/disaster-preparedness.html
[align=left]RO Member Threads
[/align]
Moderator notes -JadeIcing- Sometimes emergencies aren't medical.
It NEVER hurts to be prepared. Have the carriers in ready to go on a moments notice. Practice getting animals into carriers, leashes(dogs) what ever you are using to get them out.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! I cannot say it more. Practice with family, practice alone, have your family practice alone. You neverknow what can happen. Know who is easier to catch. My husband has certain animals he gets ready, I have certain ones. The guy across the hall if home will come get my dog. We get them in a certain way. First one done gets his out the door and comes back to help the other one finish.
Have a bag with basic essentials ready to go. Medicines and things of that nature that you use have them in a container that you could easily toss into the bag. Have a few toys in there, chew stuff is great. I say that because I want my animals to feel safe and secure.
My basic bag contains peepee pads, 2 extra blankets per animal accept the trio they have 3 bigger ones and just things I know I would need. Make the bag suit your needs. Leaf pointed out to me water. It is something I have but neglected to mention. I have alot of bottled water that we actually buy on a regular basis.
Keep in mind it isn't just a natural disasters you should prepare for. It could be a gas leak, a family emergency or anything.
I have hard carriers but I also have dogcarriers the purse kind. They are alot easier to use with multiple animals. You can put the straps over your shoulder. Also duffel bags are good for bonded bunnies.
Abunny (and cat) hint from Pipp:keepa sturdy pillowcase pinned up in the vicinity of every pet and/or exitas a back-up plan. With the best intentions, the carrier or pet bag may not be where it belongs that day, or it's undera stack of booksor supplies, or it's in an inaccessible area, or maybe there simply won't beenough time.A bunny stuffed in a pillowcase can meana relatively safe and fast exit in an extreme emergency.
In your emergency kits, keep photos of your pets - showing details ofany unusual markings clearly AND -- this was really important -- makesure those photos include YOU with the pet(s). This showsguardianship of the animal. (Otherwise, you just have a picture ofan animal - with no proof it belongs with you, esp. since bunnies
generally aren't micro chipped around here).
Make sure we have hotel/motel phone numbers - in our emergency kits & cars. Make sure ahead of time which hotel/motels will allow you tobring pets or make sure you have arrangements with friends/family tostay with them.
Keep a permanent/indelible marker in your car & emergency kit. yourpet carrier(s) need to be marked with your last name AND the contactphone number where you can be reached. So, obviously, if you have toevacuate your home, your home phone number probably isn't going to bethe best way to reach you. And you might not be able to have cellphone signal/power for the duration of your "evacuation". So you'llneed that permanent marker to write the phone number of your family
or motel/hotel where you are staying.
At least keep some sort of luggage tag on the carrier with some ID info on it.
Keep maps -- good detailed maps of your local/regional area - in yourcars so that you can avoid the main arteries/highly congested roads in case of mass evacuations.
Since flooding (of all types - rivers, water main breaks, groundwaterlevels rising) is a big concern here, be sure to keep food suppliesin watertight containers as rising water levels can cause thecontainers to flip over (or a fireman's hose can cause it to flip).
Keeping the emergency kits you have stored in the kitchen area maynot be wise as the majority of home fires start in the kitchen (so you won't be able to retrieve the kit if stored there). However, youhave to assess that situation best for your own home.
It was strongly discussed how much our pets - bunnies, cats, dogs,etc. feed off our emotional states (and as bunny slaves, we alreadyknow this!) and during an emergency/crisis, if we have a plan inplace, we're less likely to be as stressed to the point that it willadversely affect our bunnies. Just something to keep in mind. And,
about 6 months AFTER the emergency, most adults will finally feel theaffects of that disaster/emergency (regardless of the plans inplace). So, it's important to check-in with those who've gonethrough some disaster/emergency stuff at least 6 months after thefact, to make sure they're still OK as that's when they're most vulnerable to depression/PTSD, etc -- not in the immediate monthfollowing the event(s).
Recommended Articles:
http://www.petsitters.org/cfincludes/MemberCenter/pdfs/DPPetOwner.pdf
Developed by National Association of Professional Pet Sitters
Disaster Preparedness Committee - October 2005
[align=left]Articles and Links[/align]Please check in your area. when looking for articles and links. I found many areas have their own tips and guides.
[align=left]http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/pets.html
http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/pets.pdf
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/animals.shtm
http://www.bestfriendspetcare.com/Pet_tips/petemergencyplan.cfm
http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_604_,00.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/prepare/pet_plan.shtml
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_EmergencyPlanning.php
http://vetmedicine.about.com/library/weekly/aa103101a.htm
[/align]Disaster Preparedness (Rabbit References)
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#disaster
Including Animals in Your Emergency Plans (HRS)
http://www.rabbit.org/care/emergency-planning.html
Going to Ground in Kansas City (Disaster Preparedness - HRS)
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-8/disaster-preparedness.html
[align=left]RO Member Threads
[/align]
