The Practical Prepper

As I mentioned previously, my schedule has changed and I am unable to write new posts at this time. While I'm on hiatus, we're re-running the earlier posts from The Practical Prepper. Thank you for your patience and your continued readership!

Being self-reliant means being prepared for a reasonable range of disasters or emergency situations. But, that preparedness involves more than just taking care of yourself — it also means looking out for your family too. Of course, it's important to remember the furry members of your family in your planning. Below are some things that we've done for prepping for our dogs, but most of the information would apply to cats as well.

First, we keep a specific Bug-Out-Bag (BOB) for our dogs with these items in it:

• Food (we can sometimes find sample bags of food from local pet stores, and we use 3 days' worth)
• Water (in re-used water bottles so it's premeasured)
• Treats (a small bag of treats to reward good behavior)
• Spare leash (we also pack a short plastic-sheathed tie-out cable)
• Bowl(s) (we have one with a lid and store some of the other items on this list in it)
• Photo of each dog (one showing their ID and another photo of us with them)
• Any medications the dog needs
• Immunization/vet records (we keep current paper copies of both)
• First Aid Kit (technically, we keep our dog medicine and specific first aid supplies in with our "people" first aid kit in our BOB)
• We keep a list of pet-friendly hotels and veterinarians near the locations we may go when evacuating (in our phone and on paper)
• Toys and chew bones (to keep them occupied)
• Sanitation bags (for cleaning up after them)

While the above list is very helpful, you may also find it helpful to check out this article from Pet Sitters International about creating a Disaster Plan for your pet. This article expands on what to consider for your Pet Preparedness Kit, and it also walks you through some things and situations to consider before an emergency occurs.

We also have a good article on pet preparedness over at the Self-Reliant Info blog.

Don't forget to have a good first aid reference manual for your specific type of pet. There are many pet first aid books available on Amazon.com ; I've used the American Red Cross' Pet First Aid: Cats & Dogs  since it first came out, and it's a very useful book. It doesn't replace a qualified veterinarian, of course, but it will definitely help in an emergency.

Have you had any experience with pets and disasters? How did you prepare?

Believing that preparedness and self-reliance are key to individual freedom, Atticus Freeman is the founder of the Self-Reliant Info blog, in addition to authoring The Practical Prepper weekly blog here on Farm Dreams. Thanks for reading!