When Disaster Strikes…

You’ve got to roll with it.

Advance planning for disaster preparedness can help you through these difficult times. Consider the needs of your furry loved ones in your preparedness plan.

Our French models are demonstrating the latest in pet preparedness kits. These beauties are showing how easy it is to gather a few items in advance to make a traumatic event a little less devastating.

· Water

· Food

· Manual Can Opener

· Treats

· Medication

· Updated tags on collar

· Leash/Harness

· Carrier

· Litter Box/Waste Bags

· Litter

· Dishes

· Toys

· Blankets

· Photograph of your pet in case you get separated

· Veterinarian Records

· Thundershirt to reduce stress (these are available for dogs and cats.)

In addition, you should ensure that your pet:

• Has been spayed or neutered
• Has current immunizations
• Has been micro-chipped

You may also want to periodically take your pet for a ride so that ushering them into the car in the case of an emergency will be less stressful.

As part of your evacuation plans, you should be familiar with hotels/motels in your area that accept pets, because some temporary shelters may have restrictions that do not allow animals.

You may also want to place stickers on windows that inform first responders how many animals you have in your home so that they can be rescued in case of a fire or other emergency.

Hurricane Katrina brought to the forefront the lack of planning on the government’s part to account for pets and people’s unwillingness to leave them behind in a disaster. In many cases, people refused to evacuate without their animals, and in other instances some rescuers refused to accept animals that were not muzzled. In 2006, the Stafford Act was amended to correct this problem and the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) was passed requiring states seeking FEMA assistance to plan for the needs of pets and service animals.

So, preparedness kitty says, “Don’t wait — Assemble your kit today!”