By Adelia Ladson
When you’re prepping for SHTF or a natural disaster, you make provisions for every member of your family but don’t forget to prep for your four-legged members of your family. Whether you’re bugging-out or sheltering-in-place, if you want your pets to survive, you need to make sure you have all of their survival essentials, too.
Store And Carry
Basically, you are putting together an emergency kit specifically for your pet or pets just like you have for your family. When you are prepping for a natural disaster like flood or hurricane, store your pet’s survival essentials in a water-resistant container like a hard plastic tub or storage box. When you’re prepping for SHTF where you are going to bug-out, you need to prepare a bug-out bag for your pet just like any other member of your family.
Food And Water
The most important keys to survival, just like a human being, is going to be adequate supplies of food and water. When you’re planning out your water rations for your family, include your pet’s water rations, as well. On average, a dog needs to drink one ounce of water per pound of body weight and the same goes for cats. However, it’s better to overestimate a little to account for factors like excessive heat that may cause your pet to need more water than normal. In your food prep, stock-up on food for your four-legged family member. Make sure to rotate it out just like you do with you own food store. Dry food will last about a year unopened and canned food will have an expiration date to go by.
Hygiene
If you have a cat that uses a litter box, you need to stock-up on extra kitty litter because it’s definitely not something you want to run out of. Especially, if you’re confined to your home because of flood or hurricane conditions. When it comes to your dog, add “puppy pads” to your prep for when circumstances keep you from being able to let your pet out to go to the bathroom. If you have a pet, you also should double your supply of cleaning products like bleach and disinfectant spray. It’s doubly important, in a disaster or SHTF situation to keep your living environment clean to avoid the chance of disease and illnesses. Also, along those lines, you need to make sure that you stock extra bath supplies like pet shampoo because your pet needs to stay clean, too.
Pet Meds
If your pet is on medication, you need to secure extra supplies for them just as you’re doing for yourself and your family. Heart worm medicine, allergy medicine or anything that your pet needs to stay healthy is essential to your pet prep. Include treatments for ailments like ear mites and hair balls. Also, make sure to stock-up on flea prevention tools as they can be a nuisance for both animals and humans. In a natural disaster or SHTF situation, an infestation of fleas can turn into a health hazard.
Miscellaneous
Especially, if you’re bugging-out or temporarily evacuating from your home, you need to have an extra collar or harness and leash for your dog. For your cat, don’t forget to have its carrier ready to just grab and go. Also, make sure that you have your pet’s papers in your prep and proof that they have all of their required shots. When planning for evacuation to a shelter during a flood or hurricane, you need to verify ahead of time that your pet is allowed to stay, too.
