Disaster Preparedness: Biggest Worries With Dogs In Disasters And How To Avoid Them

Disaster Preparedness - By Staff Writer on Friday, August 20, 2010 - 10:54

Disasters often strike without warning an have severe consequences for the community at large including the animals.  While it is often the first responders job to secure the safety of humans, dogs often come with or right behind the owners.  For disaster workers attempting to help areas devastated by floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters animals pose a big worry and threat for a few reasons.

The Problem: Unintended Release of Animals
During a disaster most people flee and it is often only within their power to save themselves.  Animals are often left behind and houses are not secured.  Dogs get out and begin to roam the streets.  The difficulty of this is that workers are not sure if the dogs are friendly and loose dogs could be come injured or turn aggressive.

The Fix: Evacuate your animals quickly at the first signs of problems.  If you are unable to you should secure your dog in a safe location depending on the disaster. For example secure them high enough up if flooding is present and in a basement if tornadoes are around.   Provide enough food and water for your dog if you are forced to leave them alone. 

The Problem: Spoilage of Food and Water Supplies
Often water lines break, get contaminated or go down and electricity is off during disasters meaning there is no clean water and food will quickly spoil.

The Fix: Always have a disaster kit on hand.  Hoard water jugs and get a portable filter in the event clean water is scarce and stock up on canned food for you and your dog.  Have a few cases for your dog incase the disaster lasts a long time.

The Problem: Animal Bites
Often the stray dogs will become aggressive and angry as they look for help and food.  They are as frightened as the humans are and could lash out if not cared for properly.

The Fix: If you are in a disaster do not approach any stray dogs.  Wait for professional help from rescue organizations prepared to help animals.  If you have your dog evacuated with you make sure you watch closely their interactions with other around you because their fear and nervousness could make an other wise nice dog unpredictable

The Problem: Loss of Veterinary Care
If evacuations and disasters shut down veterinary care facilities, anyone left behind will be in bad shape if something goes wrong.

The Fix: Always have a first aid kit in your car and in your home for you and your dog.  Make sure you have all the basics and specific things your dog might need.  Always have an extra bottle of your dogs medicine and check the date often to insure it has not expired. If you are evacuating the area and have a heads up of the potential disaster, make sure to check ahead of time for the veterinary offices in the area you will be evacuating to.

The Problem: Illness Passed From Animals To People
Lack of clean water, crowded spaces, loose dogs and chaos all follow disasters.  Each element ads to the possibility that you or someone else could get sick from a dog.

The Fix: Always use clean bottled water for drinking when available.  Assuming you have hoarded water bottles and have them in your car and home you should drink that before drinking from a tap.  Tap water could get contaminated in a disaster and no longer be potable.  In addition keep your dog and family from stray dogs and other animals to prevent illnesses like rabies.  You should also clean up after your dog as usual since someone else could become ill from your dogs mess.