Week 3 of Kathleen Gage’s BlogPaws community challenge.
One of the best things about going to BlogPaws Conference, is the ability to connect with sponsors. I loved talking to the different sponsors to find out how they’re helping animals in the community. One of the sponsors of BlogPaws was Hills. I stopped for a chat at the Hills booth to talk about their hydrolyzed diet. (More on why we might need THAT in a future post.)
While I was there, I learned that Hills has a program that helps pets when disaster strikes. You can read more about it HERE.
In our swag bag we received a post card from Hills with tips for securing your pet’s safety in an emergency. The tips are listed in bold, while my comments are in italics.
*Use a microchip or collar ID. Personally, my dogs are microchipped, but when we travel we also use a collar. Both my online information (from the chip) and the tags on my dog’s collars use my cell phone. I am basically never far from my cell phone, and when we travel, it’s definitely the easiest way to reach me.
A decal on the door let’s emergency personnel know that I’m inside.
*Put a rescue decal on the door or window. This is more for an emergency that occurs when you are not home. We have decals on our front door, and the bedroom window. In the event of an emergency where you are not home, first responders will know to look for your pets. (Side note, I periodically use a Sharpie and freshen that decal up.)
*Know where to look for your pets, in case of evacuation. Typically my dogs are on the couch, and if they are freaked out they seek one of us out. But if your dog or cat tends to head for a bedroom or bathroom, look there first. Knowing where they will be, will save you time.
*Know where the closest pet friendly place is for you to go. While I think the tide is slowly changing, a lot of shelters still don’t allow pets. One of the BlogPaws sponsors was Red Roof Inn. All Red Roof Inns will allow one dog, while some allow more. I believe LaQuinta’s also allow pets, but I’m not sure of their policy.
*Carry a picture of your pet. I don’t know about you, but I have tons of photos of both dogs on my cell phone, and I rarely go anywhere without it. If your pet is lost or separated from you for some reason, you’ll be glad you have the photo.
*Take a pet carrier or crate with you for safe transporting. Obviously this is if you have the room in your car, and your pet is comfortable in the crate. Otherwise I suggest a good seat belt system for the car, and a double-clip harness for the leash.
One of the things I noticed when visiting the Hills website, is they also suggest having a “Go” bag. A “Go” bag is a bag you have stocked for emergencies. In a future post, I’ll list their suggestions, with some tips of my own.
Putting a little thought into how to handle an emergency, or evacuation will help make the situation less stressful for everyone involved.
Many thanks to Hills for these awesome tips.
These are great tips to keep in mind! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Great ideas. We have a sticker on the RV that says to rescue the dogs. Torrey got lost when she was way young. It was a terrifying 2 hours. After that, she was due to be spayed so she was chipped. Plus I always have a collar on her with my name and number.
The only thing I’m certain of, I’ll never my pets behind. Watching what happened to pets during and after Katrina broke my heart.
My problem is the cats. I have so many closets and places to hide in the house, I’m sure I’d never find them if they are truly frightened. 🙁
Your tips and comments got me thinking: I should really put a pet rescue decal on our boat. I never leave Honey on the boat without keeping it open so that if something awful happened (fire at a dock, dragging anchor) and someone came by to investigate they’d be able to help Honey out.
She’s so quiet that I’m not sure I could count on her to bark even if someone boarded the boat.
These are great tips! We have one of those decals at our front door too, but thanks for the reminder to freshen it up with a marker. I just went and checked it and all the writing was completely faded off!
Great tips, Jodi! I need to get one of those door decals but we definitely have the rest of them covered.
These tips seem like common sense, but the majority of people never consider them until it’s too late. A few years ago, I read a story that tornado shelters in Oklahoma banned pets from the shelters. People were coming to the shelters with their pets and being turned away … meaning the person had to leave the pet in the car to seek safety or put himself at risk to stay with the pet. I can’t even imagine making that choice – though I have no doubt about which I would choose.
One thing that I’d never considered that your post made me think about … Bear doesn’t wear a collar because he’s inside 99.99% of the time. But if a disaster struck – that lack of a collar might be the difference between him being returned or not.
Great post, Jodi! Shared on Twitter – and will share on FB and G+, too – lots of great info here that I plan on delving into when I have more time. AYK, Shadow and Ducky both eat the Prescription i/d for their IBS-sensitive tummies. I know there’s nothing in the “prescription” foods that actually require a vet’s script; but it’s the only one that doesn’t aggravate their symptoms, so I stick with it.