This Is a Total Disaster!

In our previous piece, we discussed a handful of common emergencies that can strike even the most cautious household—lost pets, unexpected health incidents, unavoidable delays. These relatively minor events can turn your life sideways, but what about a Genuine Disaster? For our purposes, let’s define that as a substantial event that harms a large number of people who have not been formally trained to address such situations. Some examples might include flood, fire, massive power outages, chemical spills, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks. Again, we all feel confident it won’t happen to us… right up until it does.

Are you ready to brace yourself for The Big One? Some people make a hobby of this, but you don’t have to be one of them. Just familiarize yourself with a checklist of some things you’d find useful if you had to evacuate your home. Then decide which components you want to prepare and how difficult they’d be to maintain. For example, items such as food, water, and medicines all have expiration dates. Each of those things would need to be rotated and refreshed on a regular basis, perhaps two to four times a year. Special dietary needs such as prescription pet foods will tend to complicate the situation since they are more difficult to obtain. You may not want to devote quite that much time and space to your disaster kit… so let’s start with something easier: travel and hygiene necessities.

For safety, you will need a durable leash for each dog (with slip collar or harness that is impossible to shrug out of), and a crate for each smaller animal. Those who have only transported one cat at a time will need to obtain enough sturdy pet carriers to load them all up at once. It is always a good idea to get cats comfortable with their crates well in advance, so that they won’t vanish at the exact moment you need to move them into the car. Because even the most well-trained animals become fearful and unpredictable under stressful conditions, you must ensure that all travel gear is totally escape-proof. If you have multiple dogs, one or two tie-out stakes will allow you to have your hands free without letting any of them off leash. Include a bowl for the pets to drink from; they will need water before they need food.

For hygiene, cats will require a small pan with litter and a scoop. Pack a generous supply of plastic grocery bags to clean up dog waste and some hand sanitizer. It would be smart to include a stack of towels and a spray cleaner, since stressed-out dogs and cats can be somewhat accident prone.

An emergency situation dire enough to uproot you from your home is not a fun topic, and planning for such an event is probably not your preferred hobby. Yet if you assemble just a few items and take mental note of a few more (maybe even print out a checklist and stick it to the fridge...), you and your pets will be better equipped for anything that comes your way.

Dr. M.S. Regan