The Associated Press and Petside.com recently polled 1,166 pet owners about their pet safety habits. While it showed that many pet owners would go to extraordinary measures to save their pets, most are unprepared for pet emergencies.
The one question that struck me funny was “Would you perform CPR on your pet?” The answer was surprising.
Among my cat-loving friends, I’d guess the percentage who’d be willing to give CPR to their cats would be above 90%. But the poll results were much lower. 63% of dog owners and 53% of cat owners would be at least somewhat likely to perform CPR on their pets.
It’s the guys who are dragging down the average: 65% of women vs. 50% of men say they’d be more likely to perform CPR.
Some findings on pet owners:
54% don’t have a fire evacuation plan.
41% have had at least one incident requiring an emergency trip to the vet.
30% of dog owners and 22% of cat owners at least sometimes give them bones from table scraps.
20% have a pet first aid kit at home.
16% have pets who’ve had allergic reactions.
7% have pets that have eaten something poisonous.
Having emergency and disaster plans so that you can properly care for — and evacuate with — your pet can mean the difference between life or death for them. If you don’t have a pet emergency kit, you should assemble one – it’s easy to put one together on your own. Click here for instructions.
Many shelters provide CPR and pet safety training. If you don’t know how to administer CPR to your pet, here’s a video:
This week, Karen Lee Stevens of WeHo/Santa Barbara wrote about the steps taken to house feline refugees from the Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara.
Wilted by the triple digit temperatures last Tuesday afternoon, I made a quick stop at Costco for an icy-cold chocolate vanilla swirl.
Driving back home along Hollister Avenue, I noticed a small plume of smoke rise ominously in the mountains above Santa Barbara and thought, “Here we go again.”
On the other end of Goleta, tucked away in a grove of majestic trees on Overpass Road, it was just another day at the Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP).
Volunteers at the 20-year-old, non-profit cat shelter were busy cleaning cages, changing litter boxes, and making sure each of the 75 adoptable kitties felt safe and loved while they waited patiently for a new friend to come along and say, “I’d like to adopt this one!”
In just a few hours, everyone’s lives would be turned upside down.
Fueled by high winds and low humidity, the Jesusita Fire devoured everything in its path as it raced ever closer to hundreds of homes in the hills.
ASAP President, Angela Rockwell, was downtown when she, too, looked skyward and saw smoke. She immediately called Animal Services and asked if there was anything her organization could do to help. Their response: “How fast can you get here?”
Many of ASAP’s volunteers had been evacuated from their homes, but still they came in droves, ready and willing to help the cats in any way they could. They stayed into the wee hours of the morning, tidying up and making sure each kitty had a soft bed and a reassuring scratch under the chin.
During that first night, ASAP took in more than 60 cats; at one point the following day, they accepted about 50 cats in one hour.
“We were putting cats in carriers and dog crates—anything that was big enough to house a cat, a little box, and food and water bowls,” Angela said.
“We stacked carriers from the floor to the ceiling; we used every available inch of space. We did whatever we could to accommodate every cat who came through the door. We didn’t turn anyone away.”
All in all, ASAP provided a safe haven for approximately 220 cats, all the while caring for dozens of adoptable cats who were already being housed at the shelter.
In a telephone conversation on Monday, Angela told me she was “blown away by the efforts and the open hearts of people who came out and did what needed to be done.”
She marveled at ASAP’s volunteers—who didn’t have any kind of formal disaster training—as they took evacuees by the hand and walked them through the process of checking in their cats.
“Just seeing the relief on people’s faces, knowing that their cats had a safe place to go; it was…hard to describe,” Angela said, her voice filled with emotion.
“It just means so much to be able to help people and be a part of a community like ASAP.”
As I thanked Angela for all she’d accomplished on behalf of the fire’s most vulnerable victims, she was quick to point out that it wasn’t the effort of one, but the toil of many that made an enormous difference for the animals.
“Hundreds of people came together to make all this possible,” she said. “I get to brag about ASAP because we did it without the support of a national charity or a big budget. We did it from a true, community-based grassroots effort. I’m very proud of that fact.”
If you would like to contribute to ASAP’s ongoing financial needs, please send a donation to ASAP, PO Box 357, Goleta, CA 93116. Send your thoughts to Karen Stevens at karenleestevens@cox.net. For more columns, visit allforanimals.com/forpetssake.html.
Do you have a disaster plan for your cats in case of an emergency? If you’re not home when disaster strikes, your pets could survive the disaster, but might not be reunited with you if they’re not chipped and tagged. A traditional tag with a phone number or address won’t help if your home is destroyed and your phone is out of service.
The Together Tag pet recovery service, developed by Catster in partnership with the American Red Cross, is an innovative pet ID and recovery service that functions as a stand-alone solution or as a complement to your pet’s existing microchip. You can provide out-of-area contact info, medical info, and more, ensuring that if your pet is found, you’ll be reunited as quickly as possible.
The recent devastating earthquake in Italy has left more than 2,000 domestic pets homeless. Fortunately, help is arriving, although no one can help the pets cope with post-traumatic stress that’s exacerbated by hundreds of aftershocks. Here’s the story from the Associated Press:
L’AQUILA, Italy — Help started to arrive Thursday for the more than 2,000 cats and dogs believed to have been left homeless the earthquake in Italy.
The national animal protection agency, ENPA, said seven tons of feed had been delivered to L’Aquila for both domestic and farm animals.
Many pets and farm animals are believed to have died in houses and barns that collapsed during the quake Monday. Those that survived are showing signs of trauma, rescue officials said.
When the earthquake hit, the first thing Maria Grazia Broberzi grabbed was her cat, Pallina.
The cat now sits in a cage in the tent she shares with her owner in a camp on the outskirts of the devastated city of L’Aquila. She has refused to eat or drink since the quake. Every time Broberzi approaches, Pallina hisses and growls.
“She never did this before,” Broberzi said. “Sometimes we argued over who got the couch, but she was always affectionate.”
At least 2,000 cats and dogs are believed lost in L’Aquila alone, said Silvia Damiani, an animal rights official from Bracciano, north of Rome.
Fausto Cavalieri, a veterinary student with the Red Cross, was working at tent city outside L’Aquila, which houses 1,700 people, unloading dog and cat food from trucks. The supplies also included materials to build kennels and computer chip readers to identify animals in the effort to reunite them with their owners.
“There are people who lost their animals, and animals who lost their owners” Cavalieri said.
Iolanda and Sandrino Tarquini, a couple in their 70’s living now in the camp, were mourning their dog, a 10-year-old black pincher named Pisolo who died Thursday morning.
The couple could not get Pisolo his medication because the vet’s office was closed. And they believe the rain and chill in the tent city contributed to his death.
“He had a coat but he wasn’t wearing it” said Sandrino, as his wife cried.
Agricultural officials are beginning to assess the loss of farm animals. Cavalieri said many sheep and other farm animals were abandoned and will probably starve if they cannot be reached.
He said he had already seen a few hundred sheep crushed in a collapsed stall. The Italian farm association Coldiretti said it was too soon to give an assessment of how many animals had been lost.
Late Wednesday evening in L’Aquila, a Yorkshire terrier walked in circles, ignoring a policeman’s offer of a sandwich.
“I see a lot of these poor dogs looking lost and frightened” said the officer, Carlo Chipa. “You can tell they are domestic pets because they are healthy and well-fed, but they look lost and frightened.”
Do you have an emergency plan for your pets? Read the Cat’s Meow’s rundown on emergency preparedness. If you do nothing else, at least microchip and tag (and bell) your cat. Services like Together Tag not only provide identification, but also keep your cat’s medical information and the contact info for out-of-area friends and relatives online so anyone anywhere in the world can access it.
The Pet Plan and Pet Trust Guide is a 184-page illustrated book that shows you how to create a short-term emergency plan for your pets and explains what kind of legal documents are available for you to protect your pets. It even includes a legally binding fill-in-the blank trust document.
In 2003, Author Kimberly Adams Colgate published “The Everything Wills & Estate Planning” Book to help families plan for their families. Now, she’s teamed up with illustrator, Debby Carman to bring you that same expertise with “The Pet Plan and Pet Trust Guide” to help you create a plan for your pet. It’s simple, rewarding and very inexpensive to ensure that your pets are cared for according to your wishes after you’re gone.
I still have nightmares about Katrina — if I were told by rescuers that they wouldn’t take my cats, I would choose my cats over rescue.
Today, I was happy to see that the animal victims of the flooding in North Dakota are faring much better than Katrina pets did. Minnesota Catsters Winnie and Chester (pictured, right), sent me a link to a video of a rescue operation set up where families can drop off their beloved pets for safekeeping while they deal with the havoc wreaked by the floodwaters. (Even though it’s feel-good video, grab a hanky. I started blubbering like a baby when I saw the basset hound pair that was dropped off.)Click here to watch the video.
If you’re in area and are affected by the flood or would like to help, the Fargo-Moorhead Humane Society has set up an animal emergency shelter at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. The phone number to the emergency animal shelter is 701-281-1574.
They ask that if your animal(s) will be in need of shelter at the emergency animal shelter, please prepare an emergency kit prior to bringing your animals to the shelter.
The kit should include:
medications
current vaccination/medical records
food – at least three day supply, in an airtight container
current photos and description of your pets
pet carrier
sturdy leashes
familiar items, i.e., blankets, toys, pet beds
Also, make sure your pet has identification tags.
If you would like to donate to help the animals that are being housed at the emergency shelter, the following items are needed:
Cat and dog food; kitten and puppy food (any brand)
Cat litter (non-scoopable)
Litter scoops
Bleach
Toys
Bedding (old towels/blankets)
Newspapers
Garbage bags/poop bags
Treats
Bottled water
Food/treats for the volunteers
Volunteers are needed at the shelter, however, call before arriving to make sure help is still needed at that time. The number to the emergency animal shelter is 701-281-1574.
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Are you prepared in the event of an emergency? If you had to evacuate tomorrow, are your pets chipped and tagged? Do you have a sufficient number of carriers to accomodate all your pets? Click here to read our emergency preparedness tips.
If you haven’t purchased a Together Tag yet, you still have time today to purchase one and get $5 off of the regular purchase price. Just go to TogetherTag.com to find out how it works and use the promo code CATSFEB09 for your discount.*
If you’ve missed our previous coverage of Together Tag, it’s a new pet ID and recovery service, all contained within a stylish, reflective ID tag. The reflective tag not only displays your contact info, but a website URL as well. The website provides a host of additional info, like emergency contacts and vital medical info. In the event of a natural disaster, even if you can’t immediately be reached, your emergency contacts can, and Fluffy can get her medication without interuption. When your pet is lost, the Together Tag pet recovery service leaps into action to help you recover your lost pet. It automatically alerts local shelters and Together Tag members that your pet is lost. It also offers a tool with which you can automagically create and print Lost Pet posters… and more!
The thought of losing your furry friend is a disturbing one, something that we here at Catster certainly hope you’ll never have to face. But the fact of the matter is that one in three pets will get lost in their lifetime.
In response to this alarming truth, Catster, in partnership with the American Red Cross, has launched an innovative pet ID and recovery service called Together Tag. As a stand-alone solution or as a complement to your pet’s existing microchip, Together Tag is the ultimate service for keeping pets and their families together.
Visit our website at www.togethertag.com to find out how it works and why microchipping is not enough. Use the code CATSFEB09 today, and you’ll save $5 off of the regular purchase price.*
Hey, evrybuddy, Skeezix heer. Yesterday on my blog, I posted some fotos of my grate trip to vizit Catster HQ, and almost immeediutly, several cats asked abowt the Red Cross thingie on my collar. Sum cats thot it was just bling, like the pink charm frum my frends Finny, Buddy and Jazzy, or the “Dude” charm frum Jeter Harris. But no, yer wrong. This is a “Together Tag” and if I am ever lost, it will help me get back to my famly.
As many of yoo know, I am strikly an indoor cat. I’ve bin microchipped, but microchipping is not enough. The Food Lady worries that most peeple hoo find lost pets don’t know to take the pet to a vet or shelter to git scanned for the microchip. So she’s always put ID tags on me as well. When she herd abowt the Together Tag pet ID and recovery service, she ordered tags for all of us rite away. Like low-tech ID tags, my Together Tag displays my name and my famly’s contakt information. But that’s not all. A URL is printed on the tag so that the person hoo finds yer lost pet can go online to get more information and let yoo know yer pet has been found. For example, maybe yer not reachable by phone because yer home was destroyed by fire, flood or tornado. The person hoo finds yer pet can go to togethertag.com and git in touch with you. Pretty neet, eh? Well, Together Tags offer even more than that.
When yer pet gits lost, the Together Tag pet recovery service leeps into action to help you recover yer lost pet. It automatically alerts yer local shelters and Together Tag members that yer lost. It also offers a tool with wich you can automagically create and print Lost Pet posters… and more! Heer’s whut happens win yoo enroll, and how Together Tag works:
Enroll online (add info and photo for each pet)
Create your pet’s tag
Receive tag, attach to pet’s collar
Update profile and contact information online ANYTIME for FREE
If Your Pet is Lost
Report your pet as lost – include last seen information
Notice is sent to area shelters (from our network of over 5,000 shelters nationwide)
Notice is sent to Together Tag members in your area
Notice is sent to participating members of Dogster/Catster (a community of over one million pet lovers)
Use our tool to quickly and easily create and print “lost pet” posters
Still not convinced? Right now, $5 from every enrollment purchased, will be donated to the pet safety program at the American Red Cross. How can you say no to that?
With the Australian wildfires raging, we can’t help but think of the family pets killed or displaced when disaster strikes. Are you prepared? Cats have an uncanny ability to hole up in a snug safe spot and survive the initial catastrophic event, but would you be able to locate them afterward? In several recent stories on the Cat’s Meow, cats have gone missing after house fires.
Last year in New Zealand, Catster Darwin (aka “Mr D” pictured at right) was lost for six months. He wasn’t initially lost in a fire or other disaster, but because his family became experts in lost-cat-tracking, I asked Mr D and his mom to share some tips on what you can do to bring your lost cat home safely. If you think the answer is telephone pole flyers and newspaper ads, you’ve got a lot to learn.
Mr D’s mom went so far as to rent a cat suit and stand by the side of the road with a ginormous flyer. Wacky, eh? Well, it worked. It’s a remarkable story, and you can read it in the Catnip Chronicles (highly recommended reading!)
So I think you’ll agree that Mr D knows what it takes to find a lost cat. Catster members gave his mom lots of suggestions along the way, and Mr D’s mom agreed to share what they learned:
The best way to get your message out there is to talk to as many people as you can. That means DOOR KNOCKING, going to the VETS in person ( I also took biscuits around each time I visited them and they in turn kept the flyer on the wall and also told me if anyone commented on the flyers. If they mentioned any location they may have seen him). You have to visit the SPCA in person as they don’t really describe the cats that well and they are very busy themselves.
Ideas that the group has mentioned:
Use cat traps (especially helpful if your cat is an indoor scaredy cat).
Making up a smoothie of smelly cat food and leave a trail leading back home.
Use motion-activated cameras.
Create food stations.
Leave food and water outside, with smelly clothes ( with your smell on it).
Look in unexpected areas, i.e. on the roof, in the ceiling or in drains. If you can’t see into these areas use a camera at arm’s length or on a stick with time delay so you can take a photo and view it on the computer.
Post FLYERS everywhere.
Cook smelly cat food on a BBQ ( the heat makes the food smell stronger).
Walk the streets calling them — especially at dusk, dawn or 4 am in the morning when most cats are more active.
If you see a cat food bowl outside, leave a flyer near it.
Check vacant houses and garages (they could be locked in).
Any cat hoarders around? Check ‘em out.
Check stray cat feeders and feral colonies. Talk to the people who maintain those colonies.
Cats don’t normally travel more than one mile from your home, so get a map and draw a one-mile radius around your house. Concentrate on searching in that area.
A large sign on your front fence, or even dress up in a cat suit or something else to attract attention and stand next to your sign or hold it during peak hour traffic. (This is what Mr D’s mom did.)
Have any neighbours had removal trucks around or service people around? Your pet may have gone for a ride. Check areas (stop signs, stop lights) where your cat may have jumped out of the truck.
If using cat traps, use a baby monitor to moniter the traps.
You could also try using signage on your car, or a poster affixed to the back windows.
There are many more links for a few other countries in the Catster group Alfie and Mr D’s Purrs and Woofs for the missing. And we welcome any fur that would like to add to the list or be keen to join our group. We welcome all cats and dogs.
The MCA (missing cat assistance) group is a group for missing cats on Yahoo where there are a few people actively looking for their kitties. It’s a great place to bounce ideas off each other.
Thanks, Mr D!
We’d like to add some emergency preparedness tips:
Even if your cats are indoor cats, tag and microchip them. This is not a belt-and-suspenders exercise. Sometimes well-meaning people will keep found cats in their homes, and will wait to see if a lost cat ad appears in the newspaper (which could take several days). They won’t think (or bother) to take your cat to a vet or shelter to be scanned. Tags ensure a quick reunion, and microchipping is a backup when the collar is lost. Indoor cats do escape, and if you’re not home when disaster strikes, the cat could survive the disaster but be lost to you afterward. Wouldn’t you like Fluffy returned to you as soon as possible?
Take several GOOD well-lit photos of your cat at several angles. Upload high-res versions to an online photo-sharing site. If your home computer is destroyed (or you’re barred from returning to your home for several days), you’ll still have a backup photo to give to shelters and put on flyers.
If your cat is on medication, scan the labels (black out personal info) and upload them to a photo sharing site. Keep a copy of the info in your wallet or at work. If your community experiences a disaster, your vet’s office may not be open (or records could be destroyed) and your home might not be accessible. This ensures you have ready access to prescription info for your pet.
Put a decal on a front window alerting firefighters to the presence of animals in your home.
Got a multiple cat household? Make sure you have one cat carrier for each of your cats. We keep extra fold-up cardboard carriers in case of emergency.
Keep an emergency stash of food and meds (if feasible), and refresh as necessary. A minimum 3-day supply is recommended. And don’t forget water or purification drops. We live in earthquake country, so we keep kits in our cars with a stash of thyroid meds and canned cat food (which comes in handing when you encounter strays). Here are some emergency preparedness products for pets.
Get a Pet First Aid Kit and a book on Pet First Aid and keep in an easily accessible place. And crack open the book before disaster strikes.
Got an emergency plan? What would you do in case of fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, etc? For example, our home has two floors. If we were trapped by fire in our bedroom, we’ve talked through how to escape via the balcony, and how to get back into the rooms where the cats are likely to be (not recommended by firefighters, but who among us is likely to leave their cats in a burning home?)
OK, admittedly not a topic we like to discuss. But if the worst were to happen, what would happen to your pets?
When I hear stories like that of Laurel’s, whose dog and cat were saved after Laurel died through the extraordinary efforts of fellow Dogsters and Catsters, I ask myself what I would do if my husband and I met an untimely end. Would anyone know to immediately start giving Rocky his thyroid medication twice daily? Would they know that Mao and Skeezix should be rehomed together? Would they know to feed the feral cat who sleeps in the garage? Would they figure out that Skeezix will only eat Fancy Feast Sliced Turkey in Gravy or canned tuna, and that he eats five times a day to maintain his fighting weight of seven pounds?
Hazel Lucy(in photo, right), who ran “Mission Control” during the Laurel rescue produced a series of emergency cards that provide all the essential information needed in case your pets are “orphaned.” It’s a quick and easy project to complete, and could ensure that not only do your pets not get dumped at a shelter when you pass away, but that they can get essential life-saving medical care in a timely way if they are special needs pets.
Using Hazel Lucy’s cards as a template, gather all the information someone would need to care for your pets. Identify a friend or family member who has agreed to provide a home for the pets and provide their contact information. HL recommends three cards: one for the glove box of your car, one for your refrigerator (or other conspicuous spot in your home), and one for your wallet.
It’s the guys who are dragging down the average: 65% of women vs. 50% of men say they’d be more likely to perform CPR.
Driving back home along Hollister Avenue, I noticed a small plume of smoke rise ominously in the mountains above Santa Barbara and thought, “Here we go again.”
I still have nightmares about Katrina — if I were told by rescuers that they wouldn’t take my cats, I would choose my cats over rescue.
worries that most peeple hoo find lost pets don’t know to take the pet to a vet or shelter to git scanned for the microchip. So she’s always put ID tags on me as well. When she herd abowt the 
Last year in New Zealand, Catster Darwin (aka 
extraordinary efforts of fellow Dogsters and Catsters, I ask myself what I would do if my husband and I met an untimely end. Would anyone know to immediately start giving Rocky his thyroid medication twice daily? Would they know that Mao and Skeezix should be rehomed together? Would they know to feed the feral cat who sleeps in the garage? Would they figure out that Skeezix will only eat Fancy Feast Sliced Turkey in Gravy or canned tuna, and that he eats five times a day to maintain his fighting weight of seven pounds? 
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