#petpared

Through May 8, FEMA Region III (VA, PA, WV, DE, DC and MD) is holding the #Petpared Challenge. In support of the America’s PrepareAthon! campaign, the #Petpared Challenge encourages pet owners to take action and prepare their pets for an emergency. The action can be simple as:

1.      Download a Pet Preparedness App

2.      Build a Pet Emergency Supply Kit

3.      ID your pet with a collar and tag or consider micro chipping

4.      Practice evacuating in the car or determine where you would shelter-in-place with your pet.

5.      Create a buddy-system with a relative or friend to help each other’s pets if one of you is away from home during an emergency.

by Jay Woodford

This week we are talking about what you are likely to encounter at a County Animal Response Team(CART) emergency animal shelter if you ever have to evacuate your home due to some natural or man made disaster.

Let me preface this by saying that CARTs are not in every community. It's important that you do your research now to determine what your community's emergency management agency has done to provide a safe place for your pets during an evacuation. Thanks to the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act(PETS Act, Public Law 109-308), developed after Hurricane Katrina and signed into law on October 6, 2006, any state seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) assistance is required to accommodate pets and service animals in their plans for evacuating residents facing disasters. To find out what your local government plans to do in a disaster, contact your local emergency management agency. Don't wait for a disaster to happen to find out, call them today!

Whenever possible, we like to operate what is called a "Co-Location" or "CoLo" shelter, which means that the emergency animal shelter(EAS) shares the same general location as, or is in close proximity to, the human shelter(usually being operated by the American Red Cross). The optimum scenario would be to set up the EAS in a different wing of the same building as the Red Cross shelter. Another option is to use a separate building that is within walking distance of the Red Cross shelter. This allows the pet owner to assist with the daily activities in caring for their pets, and allows the CART to operate the EAS with a small staff.

When you arrive at the shelter, you should check your animals into the EAS before you visit the human shelter. Signs or personnel should direct you where to take your pets. When you enter the EAS, you will come to a registration, or "intake", table. There a shelter worker will fill out a form that records vital information about you and your pet. A unique identification number will be issued, and a ID band will be attached to their collar. If you don't have a picture of you with your pet, one will be taken. You will be given a copy of the paperwork. It is very important that you do not lose this paperwork, since it links you to your pet and will make it easy to access the shelter and also to reclaim your pet. Included in this paperwork will probably be a copy of the EAS rules, and the hours you can visit the shelter to feed, walk and spend time with your pet.

Once the registration, or "intake", process is complete, another shelter worker will take your pet back to the appropriate section of the shelter for housing. You can then go to the Red Cross shelter. Unfortunately, for health and safety reasons, you will not be able to take your pet into the Red Cross shelter(unless your pet is a service animal).

If the disaster requires you to remain at the shelter for any length of time, then part of your responsibility to your pet will be to visit the EAS at the designated times to care for your pet. Shelter workers will be there to assist you with the feeding, watering and walking(if necessary) of your pet. This will give you time to visit with your pet, which is as much for your benefit as theirs. Remember - their whole world has been uprooted, too, and they have no idea why. Your presence will add a small amount of normalcy and familiarity for them, which will help to ease their stress. Knowing that your pet is safe should help to ease your stress as well.

When the authorities have determined that it is safe to return to your home, you can go to the EAS and claim your pet, which involves presenting your paperwork and signing a form. A shelter worker will bring you your pet and you will be able to return home.

I hope this gives you a bit of an idea what to expect if you ever have to visit an emergency animal shelter.

An important point I think I should close with is that when you take your animal to an EAS, YOU ARE NOT SURRENDERING YOUR PET! We are there to help you take care of your pet during this stressful situation, not to take your pet from you!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. You can ask here, or visit www.schuylkillcart.com 

by Jay Woodford

Having to evacuate your home in a disaster is scary. The stress of having to leave your home, not knowing when, or if, you will be able to return, and what you may find when you do is enough to freak anybody out. But, with a little planning and preparation, you and your pets can get through it.

If your reading this, you want to be prepared, and being prepared means having a plan. You plan the work now, so you can work the plan when the time comes. Your plan should look something like this:

Get your disaster kits(yours AND your pets) and place them in your vehicle. Whether you use a wire crate or plastic carrier, if it's the size of a overnight bag or smaller, leave it in the house. Otherwise, open it up on the seat(or the rear cargo area if you have an SUV or station wagon). Leave the car door or hatch open.

If you don't have a vehicle, you need to make arrangements now to ensure you can safely get to the shelter. Ask a couple of your neighbors(the more, the better) if they will take you and your pets with them to the shelter if an evacuation is ever ordered(this will get THEM thinking about evacuation safety as well!). Since we can't pick when a disaster is going to happen, there's a chance that whoever you made transportation arrangements with may not be around to take you. If this is the case, then you have no choice but to call 911. Explain that you are in the evacuation area, but have no way of getting to the shelter. Be calm and direct. Follow the instructions of the dispatcher or call taker. Be sure to tell them that you have pets. They will get someone out to help you.

Get your pets in the vehicle. Small pets with small carriers(as mentioned above) should be put in the carrier and taken to the vehicle. Larger pets with larger carriers should be walked out to the vehicle on a leash, then loaded into the crate or carrier that is already in the vehicle.

Multiple pets. Multiple pets means multiple carriers and multiple trips to the vehicle. Start with the smallest and go from there. If you have more than one small pet, put each little one in their respective carrier, then start moving them to the vehicle. After you load the first pet into the vehicle, close the car door, and do so after every subsequent trip. Also, before opening the car door, take a quick look to make sure the pets that you already put in the vehicle are still in their carriers. You don't want to open the door to put Fido in the car, only to have Kitty dash out into the street because she escaped the carrier while you were going back to the house.

You should have a separate carrier for each pet. A lot of people that have more than one cat often only have one carrier because they take each cat to the vet individually. This won't work in a disaster situation. You will most likely only get one trip to the shelter. Going back before the evacuation order is lifted will not be an option. I'm not saying that you need to buy expensive plastic carriers for each cat. Many pet stores carry cardboard carriers for under $10 each. These are great, especially for storage in a home or apartment where there is not a lot of space, since they come flat and are unfolded when you need them. It's a good idea to open them up when you first get them to make sure you know how they work, then fold them back up to store them with your kits. As an absolute last resort, you can put each cat in a soft, cloth pillow case to get them safely to your vehicle, although this is not recommended.

You may have noticed that in the instances above, the pets were being put in carriers for transportation to the shelter. Letting your pet loose in a vehicle while it's being operated, especially in an evacuation, is dangerous. When in a vehicle in motion, a pet in a carrier is a safe pet, for both of you.

Finally, the most important thing you can do is remain as calm as possible. Your pets know when you are tense, stressed and afraid, which will cause them to be tense, stressed and afraid. The more stressed you are, the more stressed they will be, and a stressed out animal is an unpredictable animal. This is why any pet not in a carrier must remain on leash at all times. It's as much for their safety as everyone else's.

Okay, so far we've covered why you need a disaster kit and how to make one, what you should do to make identifying your pet easier, and now, how to get you and your pets safely out of the house and to the shelter. Next week, we will see what you can expect once you get to the shelter.

by Jay Woodford

Let's talk about identifying your pet in a disaster shelter situation.

Being able to identify your pet, especially in a disaster situation, is extremely important. Taking a few preventative measures now will significantly increase the chances of you reuniting with your pets in the event you get separated during an evacuation, or even if they just get loose anytime.

I'm going to give you a scenario, and you see if you could do what "John" did.

John owns a black lab named Apollo. While John is at work, a tornado touches down near his home. There is a lot of damage in his neighborhood. A large tree is uprooted and crashes through the front window, allowing a frightened Apollo to jump through and run down the street. Due to downed power lines and ongoing rescue operations, John cannot get home and is directed to a American Red Cross Shelter set up at the local high school. As he is entering the shelter, his next door neighbor tells him about the tree and about Apollo getting away. The neighbor tells him that the County Animal Response Team has set up an emergency animal shelter next to the high school, in the middle school building, and that they might be able to help. John rushes through the parking lot and into the CART shelter. When he gets to the intake table, he explains his situation to the lady behind the table. She tells him that CART members in the field have brought several animals in from the streets.

"What kind of dog is he?", she asks.

"A black lab that answers to Apollo" John replies.

"Can you describe him? They've brought 3 black labs in, so far."

"Sure. He is all black, except for a white diamond on his chest, and some greying around the muzzle. He has very little hair on his stomach and three white hairs on the back of his neck. Oh, and he has a black spot on his tongue about the size of a nickel. He was wearing a red collar with my name and number, and his microchip number is 933955. I have a picture of him and me right here on my phone."

Would you be able to do for your pet what John just did? How much detail could you give?

Let's break it down.

First, your pets should ALWAYS HAVE ON A COLLAR WITH ID TAGS THAT HAVE YOUR PET'S NAME, YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER(preferably a cell phone). If there's room, put your address. It's also a good idea to have a phone number of a relative that lives out of the area on the tag, too.(Sometimes it is easier to make a call to a number outside the disaster area.) Even if your pet is an "indoor" pet, the above scenario shows that they can become an "outdoor" pet at any time. The only time my Samson's collar is off is for a bath, and as soon as he is dried off, it's back on. A dog license may provide the info to a law enforcement or humane officer, but is no substitute for an ID tag.

Second, microchipping. One of, if not the, best way to identify your pet is a microchip. When a vet "microchips" your pet what they are actually doing is injecting an RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) tag under the skin between the shoulder blades of your pet. The tag is about the size of a grain of rice, and the procedure is painless. The way it works is, when a special tool called a scanner is waved over the back of your pet, the tag sends a code to the scanner. The scanner beeps and the tag number and manufacturer is displayed on it's screen. The operator can then call an 800 number for the manufacturer, who will look up the tag number and be able to give the shelter worker your contact information, PROVIDED YOU HAVE KEPT THE INFORMATION UP TO DATE. It is very important to update the information whenever you change address, phone number, etc. If you adopted from a shelter or rescue, they may have chipped the animal for you, which is great. However, it is up to you to contact the chip company to bring the contact information up to date. It is extremely frustrating to scan an animal, find a chip and call the company only to have them tell you that the only information they have is for the rescue where the animal was adopted from, and a call to the rescue provides an address for the adopter that is no longer valid.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture of you with your pet could be worth a life. If you have a smartphone, take a "selfie" of you with your pet. Otherwise, a regular picture will work just fine. It is important that all of the family members be in the photo. Just a picture of your pet doesn't prove that he or she belongs to you, which might cause problems when you try to claim your pet if you have no other means of identification.

Last, but certainly not least, make sure you know your pet. This is especially important if you own a popular breed, as the above scenario showed. Know every distinguishing mark, no matter how insignificant it may seem. In the above scenario, those three little white hairs, or the black spot on the tongue, could've meant the difference between having Apollo safe in John's arms, and a long, drawn out process of claiming ownership.

Each one of these things will increase the likelihood that you will be reunited with your pet. If you do them all, you're hedging your bets that your furry friend will be back home with you in the event that they get lost.

So tonight, take ten minutes and write down all of your pet's distinguishing features and snap a few pics. If you have a smartphone, set up a contact for each pet with their picture, identifying marks and microchip number. The next time your at the pet store, pick up a collar, leash and ID tag. And when you have your pet at their next check up, get them chipped. Your pet will thank you for it!

For more info:

Schuylkill CART

and

PASART

by Jay Woodford

In this installment, we are going to talk a little about a disaster kit for your pets. You don’t have to go all “Doomsday Prepper” and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a commercial disaster kit for your pet. Gathering a few simple items and putting them in a plastic tote will go a long way towards helping your pet survive a disaster or evacuation.

Why do I need a kit? I can grab what I need if we have to evacuate.

In the adrenaline filled rush to evacuate a home, chances are you are going to forget something. By putting a kit together now, you can be assured that, if the time comes that you need to leave your home in a hurry, your pets will have what they need.

So what do you need in your pet’s kit?

First off, let me say that everything in your pet’s disaster kit should be in addition to what you have for you and the rest of your family.

1. Food - You should have at least three days of food for each animal. Obviously, the amount will depend on the type and size of the animal. You know your pet’s eating habits, so there is no need for some fancy, scientific formula. If you normally feed Fido a cup of dry kibble or a half of a can of wet food a day, that’s what you go by(even though, in an emergency shelter situation, your pet may be too stressed to eat as much as he or she does at home). Since food has a shelf life, you want to make sure that it gets rotated out on a regular basis. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to accomplish this is to swap out the food in your kit every time you bring the pet food home from the store, using the food from the kit for the next few days first. This way, you know the food in the kit is fresh, and you don’t waste any by having it go stale or rancid.

2. Water - Once again, this will depend on your animal. A good rule of thumb is an ounce of water for every pound of body weight per day. So a gallon of water would take care of a dog that weighs 42 lbs. for three days(42 ounces X 3 days = 126 ounces/1gallon = 128 ounces). A gallon milk jug will work just fine, although I recommend using one with a screw top as opposed to a push on top which could easily pop off and spill water in your kit if the sides of the jug are squeezed hard. It wouldn’t hurt to throw a piece of duct tape over the lid, just to be sure.

3. Medication - If your pet requires any medication, keep three days worth in your kit. Swap it out the same as the food so it won’t expire.

4. Pet First Aid Kit - A simple first aid kit can be assembled and kept in a gallon zipper bag to protect the contents, which should include: gauze bandage rolls or vet wrap, gauze pads, first aid tape, scissors, antibiotic ointment, and saline solution(contact lens solution also works well). It is also a good idea to include a pet first aid book as well.

5. Extra collar with ID tags and leash - Your pet should always wear a collar with ID tags(we will get more in depth with ID tags, and identification in general, in a future article), but it is a good idea to keep a spare in their kit just in case. A strong leash, not too long, is also important, especially if you don’t have a crate or carrier for them. And speaking of a crate…

6. Crate or carrier - A crate or carrier is the best way to safely transport your pet to the emergency shelter. We will cover crates and transportation in a future article.

7. Documents - Your pet’s medical records are vital. They show what vaccinations your pet has, what surgeries or illnesses they’ve had, and what veterinarian has treated them. Keep hard copies in a zipper bag in their kit. Include a picture showing you with your pet. Also, if you have a computer and the capability to scan documents, you can put all of this on a thumb drive(but keep the hard copies in the kit as well).

8. Litter/litter box - If cats are part of your family, be sure to include some litter and a litter box.

9. Familiar item - Familiar items can help reduce stress during a disaster situation. A toy or bedding that has been replaced due to wear is great to keep in their kit, instead of throwing it out. You can grab their new one if you remember. But, if not, they’ll at least have something familiar to comfort them.

OK, you’ve gathered everything for their kit. Now what to put it in? It’s a good idea to get everything together first, so you have an idea how big of a container you need. Plastic storage totes work really well. The have handles to make them easy to carry. And when you put the lid on, all of the contents are pretty well protected. The big box stores usually have a pretty good assortment of sizes at a reasonable price. Use some duct tape and a permanent marker to put your pet’s name and your name, address and phone number on the lid(if the lid is not attached to the tote, put the same information on the side as well).

I’ve got my Pet’s disaster kit. Now, what do I do with it?

You want to keep your pet’s kit somewhere that’s out of the way, but easily accessible in a hurry. The best place is a closet on the first floor of your home, preferably near to the door you normally use to exit the home. If you have a garage,and actually park your car there, that is a good spot as well. Wherever you decide to store your pet’s kit, make sure it is easy to get to in a hurry. The kit is no good to your pet if it is tucked away in an attic or shoved in a basement, and you couldn’t get to it to use it.  Another important reason to keep it easily accessible is if you’re not home and you need to enlist the help of a neighbor or friend to get your pets out of your home. Being able to tell them that your pet’s kit is, say, on the floor of the coat closet by the front door, will make it super simple for them to evacuate your pets for you.

So that’s it. For a few bucks, and an hour or so of your time, you can rest assured, knowing that you’re ready to keep your pet safe in a disaster. Maybe you will never need it. BUT MAYBE YOU WILL.

For more information, please visit:

ready.gov

and

www.schuylkillcart.com

and

pasart.us

If you and your pets had to evacuate your home right now, could you do it? Better yet, could you do it safely, remembering important documents, medication, Rover’s favorite toy?

Worse yet, what if you weren’t at your home, and now you couldn’t get there to get your pets? Have you made arrangements for someone to care for your pets in an emergency?

Maybe you’re a farmer. If a natural or man-made disaster was threatening your farm, how would you move your herd from harm’s way?

We all like to think that it will never happen to us. People in New Orleans thought the same thing. And then…Katrina.

The steps you take to prepare NOW just may save you and your animals if what will never happen to you happens. That is the purpose of this blog, to get you prepared just in case it does happen to you.

My name is Jay Woodford, and I am the Coordinator for the Schuylkill County Animal Response Team(SCART). SCART, and our parent group PASART(Pennsylvania State Animal Response Team),is an all volunteer group that provides emergency shelter and rescue to animals in times of disaster.

The tips you learn here will help to minimize the stress on both you and your animals if you ever need to evacuate. I will do my best to make these posts as regular as possible. If you ever have a question about a technique or procedure discussed, please don’t hesitate to ask.

If you would like more information on SCART, please visit www.schuylkillcart.com.