• Behavioral Issues
• Child Care
• Cleaning Up After a Storm
• Communication
• Deciding To Stay Or Go
• Evacuation Shelters
• First Aid & Medical
• Flood Center
• Food and Water
• Help the Relief Effort
• Insurance Center
• Lighting & Power
• Pet Care
• Preparing Your Home
• Special Needs
• Storms Explained

Pet Owners: General Evacuation Tips

 

Find a Safe Place Ahead of Time

When preparing your family for hurricane season, don’t forget to include each of your animals. Make sure you have adequate pet disaster supplies (including a pet evacuation kit and pet first aid kit), identification, and copies of necessary documents for each of your animals. But before the evacuation order comes, determine what your best options are, ahead of time.

• Contact hotels and motels outside your immediate area to check policies on accepting pets. Ask about any restrictions on number, size, and species. Inquire if the "no pet" policies would be waived in an emergency. You can also visit PetsWelcome.com to locate lodgings that are pet friendly.
• Make a list of animal-friendly places and keep it handy. Call ahead for a reservation as soon as you think you might have to leave your home.
  
• Check with friends, relatives, or others outside your immediate area. Ask if they would be able to shelter you and your animals or just your animals, if necessary. If you have more than one pet, you may need to house them at separate locations.
  
• Make a list of boarding facilities, kennels, and veterinary offices that might be able to shelter animals in emergencies and include 24-hour telephone numbers.
• Ask your local animal shelter if it provides foster care or shelter for pets in an emergency. This should be your last resort, as shelters have limited resources and are likely to be stretched to their limits during an emergency.
  
• Consider shelters that allows pets. Some communities have pet friendly shelters. Make sure to check their policies in advance; you don’t want to get stuck. Typically, if pets are allowed, it is restricted to dogs and cats that must be brought in cages, and you will have to pre-register your pet(s). Visit your county's web site, under their animal services section, to see what you will have to do to register your pet and what supplies you will need to bring along with the animal. For more information on this topic, visit our article, "Pet-Friendly Shelters: What You Need to Know."
  

 

In Case You're Not Home When Disaster Strikes

An evacuation order may come, or a disaster may strike, when you're at work or out of the house.

• Make arrangements well in advance for a trusted neighbor to take your pets and meet you at a specified location. Be sure the person is comfortable with your pets and your pets are familiar with him/her, knows where your animals are likely to be, knows where your pet's disaster supplies are kept, and has a key to your home.
• If you use a pet-sitting service, it may be able to help, but discuss the possibility well in advance.