During this hurricane season, it is important to be prepared to take care of our pets as well as ourselves! Here are some things to help you get ready.
Take pictures of every animal in the household (especially any distinguishing marks) and store these with important papers such vaccination records in a Ziploc bag. These can help in the case your pet is lost.
Have at least a three week supply of pet food and water on hand at all times for your pets. Store the dry food in air tight, water proof containers. If you feed canned food, keep the flip top cans or keep a can opener in your disaster kit. Keep treats on hand to help them through stressful times. Keep plenty of cat litter and a scoop on hand if you have cats.
Consider having your pet microchipped. The chip is an implant with a specific identification number for your pet. This permanent implant will be picked up by special scanners that shelters and veterinarians have to check for a microchip. They can call the 1-800 Hotline where your information is in the database. As collars can come off, this is the best identification your pet can have if it gets lost. It is still wise to keep a collar on your pet with a tag including your phone number and address and microchip number if they have one.
Know where the animal shelters are in your area. You may need to visit them after a disaster to look for a missing pet!
