Emergency Pet Preparedness

Debbye Turner Offers Advice To Keep Your Pets Safe

(CBS) 
If You Don't Evacuate - If your family and pets must wait out a storm or other disaster at home, identify a safe area of your home where you can all stay together.

Keep dogs on leashes and cats in carriers, and make sure they are wearing identification. Make sure you have any medications and a supply of pet food and water inside watertight containers, along with your other emergency supplies.

As the Disaster Approaches - Don't wait until the last minute to get ready. Warnings of hurricanes or other disasters may be issued hours, or even days, in advance. So call to confirm emergency shelter arrangements for you and your pets.

Bring pets into the house and confine them so you can leave with them quickly if necessary. Make sure each pet and pet carrier has up-to-date identification and contact information. Include information about your temporary shelter location. Also make sure your disaster supplies are ready to go, including your pet disaster kit.

In Case You're Not Home - An evacuation order may come, or a disaster may strike, when you're at work or out of the house. So make arrangements well in advance for a trusted neighbor to take your pets and meet you at a specified location. Be sure the person is comfortable with your pets, knows where your animals are likely to be, knows where your disaster supplies are kept, and has a key to your home.

If you use a pet-sitting service, it may be able to help, but discuss the possibility well in advance.

After the Storm - Planning and preparation will help you weather the disaster, but your home may be a very different place afterward, whether you have taken shelter at home or elsewhere.

• Don't allow your pets to roam loose. Familiar landmarks and smells might be gone, and your pet will probably be disoriented. Pets can easily get lost in such situations.
  
  
• For a few days, keep dogs on leashes and keep cats in carriers inside the house. If your house is damaged, they could escape and become lost.
  
  
• Be patient with your pets after a disaster. Try to get them back into their normal routines as soon as possible, and be ready for behavioral problems that may result from the stress of the situation. If behavioral problems persist, or if your pet seems to be having any health problems, talk to your veterinarian.