Several weeks ago I had a reaction to one of my many medicines and landed in the emergency room in the middle of the night. (Stupid cancer.) Thankfully, my mom was able to make the hour-and-a-half drive down to help me and take care of the boys.
That experience, combined with the heartbreak of watching people across the country dealing with fires, floods, and more, got me thinking about my pet care emergency plan. Do you have one?
Some things I’m thinking about:
- I have fabulous pet sitters who my guys know really well. In an emergency, I know I could count on them and that the boys would be comfortable and happy with them. If you don’t have a pet sitter or boarding facility lined up, consider arranging something in advance so in case of emergency, your pup isn’t meeting a new person or going to a new place.
- Beyond professionals, or for an odd time of day, I know I can call my mom and my wonderful next-door neighbors anytime, day or night. Although, I asked them both if that was okay first – not everyone wants a midnight call.
- For additional preparedness, consider making an emergency kit for your car that contains a little food, leashes for each pet, and a photocopy of their shot records. If you’re ever in the unfortunate situation of being evacuated, you’ll be ready to go – with your pets.
I’m sure I’m skipping over a lot of things you can do to have a solid pet care emergency plan. What am I missing? Do you have a plan in place?
Just this weekend, my son notified the vet and now both of our names are on the vet form. Last week I spoke with a neighbor and they said I could call anytime and they would help out. And since Lucy know them, she would be comfortable with them. It really is a relief to know that there is something is already set in place incase of an emergancy.
That is a relief!!
What an interesting concept. I’m sorry about your ER visit, but glad your wheels are turning. My three teenagers know who to care for all of my critters, as does my mom, and if we had to evacuate, the van will haul everyone, including the Babies. Great idea, having an emergency prep plan.
Sounds like you have it all worked out in case of emergency!
Our county sheriff’s office has just started giving out yellow dots for people to put on their windshields to tell EMTs if they’re in an accident that there is additional medical information in the glove box.
It got me thinking that I should probably put some kind of info inside my bike helmet that would give contact info in case I was badly hurt in an accident. Nothing bothers me more than the thought of Honey being alone in the house for hours because I don’t carry any ID or other info when I ride.
Ok, you’ve got me thinking now…
Sorry to hear about your ER visit. Glad to know you have wonderful people you can count on when you need them.
The yellow dots are a fantastic idea! For biking, I’ve seen ID tags that tie onto your shoelace. I know a few runners who keep them on their running shoes. I never used to carry ID when I walked the pups – I figured it was just around my neighborhood, what could happen? – but you just never know!
Funny thing you mentioned this. Just this past weekend my dog had an emergency and I wasn’t prepared and ended up having to call 5 different vets since the ones I called were all closed.
Yikes, Megan. I hope everything is okay!
Hi, Gosh, we don’t weally likes da Vets all dat much, but Mommy says dat we has ta go when we has ta go, so I guess she knows bestest! But, we would wuv to hear your stories about your visits over at our place! It’s http://www.puppychatter.com and we would wuv it if you swing my to sniff arounds! We just started, so we are looking to add some fwiends! We put in some free stuff to, so hope to see ya! Thanks again for all da gweat info on heres! Way cool! Hope to see ya soon!
WOOFS,
Buddy & Beau
I’ve never thought about keeping stuff in my car or on me when we take walks, but now I will make an efffort to do that. We live in Mmephis, but after Katrina hit New Orleans, I now have two portable fire safes ( one for us, one for animals) with all the important paperwork in it, shoud we ever need to leave the house quickly. In the past week, our central air has gone out twice. With the temps in the 100’s the dogs are staying at the agility trainer’s kennel. They have a blast staying at “Aunt Diane’s” and we have the security that they are safe and I don’t have to worry about them getting hurt or out, when we have workmen walking in and out of the house. It takes some juggling, but it’s well worth having back up plans.
Thanks for sharing, Laura! I didn’t even think about the fire safe idea, especially keeping the dogs’ paperwork in one, but that’s a brilliant suggestion!
Very scary. I am sorry to hear you had to be rushed to the ER. I hope everything is okay and you will recover from your reaction. It’s frightening how quickly everything can go wrong. Sadly we never think of these things until we have to – or until it’s too late.
Given that we have no family anywhere close by and all our good friends have oodles of pets of their own, I have no idea what we would do if something happened. It’s something I definitely need to think about.
You know, I don’t really have an emergency plan in place for the pets other than the plan that involves bringing them along! I do have friends that I could count on to check on my pets in an emergency, but they don’t even have a key to our place if we ever had to rush somewhere and leave the pets behind. Ace has been to two different kennels, and I would be comfortable leaving him at either if needed, but I don’t have him up to date on his bordetella booster, so leaving him there wouldn’t be a last-minute option. I guess I have some planning to do!
Your dogs are so cute. Is emmitt a mountain cur? They all look like mountain curs actually. Let me know, thanks!