How to Keep Fifi and Fido Alive in the Apocalypse
©2016 Kari Carlisle
You love your pets, but when disaster strikes, will you be ready to care for them? A crisis can happen anytime, anywhere. If you have a 3-day power outage in the dead of winter or a full-out zombie apocalypse, there are some things you should be ready for if you want to keep Fifi and Fido in good shape and not have to eat them.
First of all, you must be prepared for your own survival. If you have ever traveled by airplane, you’ve heard the flight attendant talk about securing your own oxygen mask and life vest before your children’s, right? That’s because if you’re dead, you’re not going to be any help to your children. Same goes for pets. So if you haven’t given any consideration to how you will manage your own survival in a crisis, start there.
Okay, so you’re prepared for your own survival. Now it’s time to prepare for the care of your pets. Now I don’t know if you have cats, dogs, lizards, fish, horses, birds, ferrets, or whatever. I’m going to be as broad as possible in my recommendations, but you’ll need to translate for your own particular circumstances. Obviously, bugging out with a goldfish, if you are that attached to your goldfish, will require some specialized planning beyond the scope of this blog post. You’re on your own there. But I will address the basics here. Read on…
Step one in any disaster plan is preparing for the most essential needs of survival: food, water and shelter. Same goes for your pets. They can no more survive without these than you can.
It’s been said that shelter must be the first consideration. If your pets can shelter with you, great. If not, you will need to figure out what kind of shelter needs your pets have and make sure those needs are met. You will need to be able to keep them cool/warm, dry/wet, etc. depending on their needs.
Clean water is the most important item to ensure access to. You want a minimum of three days’ worth, depending on your ability to secure more should the situation require it. Obviously, your parakeet will need less water than your golden retriever, and it’s up you to figure out how much that is. If you have natural sources of water nearby, you’ll need to decide if treating the water for purity is as critical for your pet as it is for you.
Humans can survive with little or no food for several weeks, but for your pet, this may be a different story. Some animals cannot go long without food, and you need to make sure you have enough to keep them alive for however long the crisis lasts or how long it will take you to secure additional food. Here’s where it would benefit you to research your pets’ natural diets. It’s so easy to go to the pet store and buy dog food, cat food, hamster food, etc. But what if you run out and can’t get more?
I’ll give you an example. Cats, dogs and ferrets are carnivores. Their natural diet is raw, meaty bones. If you need to secure food for them, things such as mice, rabbits, prairie dogs, fish – basically any small game – can be caught, trapped, hunted and used as food for your little carnivore. The big problem with going this route is that your little carnivore has so come to rely on you for their easy-to-eat kibble or canned mush, you may have difficulty transitioning them to a new diet, especially under very stressful circumstances. My advice? Transition them to a species-appropriate, natural diet now. They will be happier and healthier for it as well as better prepared for a survival situation.
Once you have the survival basics covered, there are still a few things you need to work out. I already mentioned bugging out. Depending on the survival situation, hunkering down or bugging out will be the proper course of action. You’ll need to be prepared for either possibility. Shelter, water and food are much easier to prepare for in the hunker-down scenario. They will all have to be portable in the bug-out scenario.
Medicine will be important to have on hand. Even if your pet is not currently on any medications, find out what kinds of medications are safe for your pet should you need pain killers, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and other common meds. Also have a complete first aid kit for your pet to handle any injuries.
Whether you hunker down or bug out, if the crisis becomes a long-term one, you will find yourself in the position of having to protect yourself and your property from other desperate people and creatures who will think nothing of killing you and your pet to get food, water and shelter (or guns, booze, drugs, etc.). You must be ready to protect yourself and those who rely on you for protection. Seek the level of training and the types of weapons you are comfortable using, and practice using them. And my advice? Get out of your comfort zone.
A final consideration in preparing your pet for the apocalypse: your pet should be well-trained (if possible). You will waste precious moments or even hours or days if you have to coax your cat from under the bed or chase your dog down the road. Not to mention they could endanger your own safety. A good plan is to have your pet well controlled under voice command. Even better is to make them a working pet, able to hunt/forage for themselves or even assist with food hunting/collecting for you.
Consider this: disaster strikes, and you are not prepared and able to care for your pet. Your options are now exceedingly limited. Depending on your level of connection to your pet (room decoration vs. “baby” vs. working pet), you should be mentally prepared to execute an option. One option is to simply abandon your pet to their fate. If you choose this option, know this, that you are likely consigning your pet to a fate worse than death. They may be attacked, starve to death, die of thirst, become injured, or worse. They are not prepared for life in the wild, and the wilderness is not kind. You can put your pet down, i.e. euthanize. But you better know how you’re going to do this and have the necessary skills and tools to make it as quick and painless as possible. Another option is to kill and eat your pet for your own survival. Do you think you can live with yourself executing any of these options? I couldn’t. So be prepared to care for your pet in a disaster.
June is National Pet Preparedness Month. Do your research, come up with a plan, and buy your supplies. You never know when you might need them.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
You love your pets, but when disaster strikes, will you be ready to care for them? A crisis can happen anytime, anywhere. If you have a 3-day power outage in the dead of winter or a full-out zombie apocalypse, there are some things you should be ready for if you want to keep Fifi and Fido in good shape and not have to eat them.
First of all, you must be prepared for your own survival. If you have ever traveled by airplane, you’ve heard the flight attendant talk about securing your own oxygen mask and life vest before your children’s, right? That’s because if you’re dead, you’re not going to be any help to your children. Same goes for pets. So if you haven’t given any consideration to how you will manage your own survival in a crisis, start there.
Okay, so you’re prepared for your own survival. Now it’s time to prepare for the care of your pets. Now I don’t know if you have cats, dogs, lizards, fish, horses, birds, ferrets, or whatever. I’m going to be as broad as possible in my recommendations, but you’ll need to translate for your own particular circumstances. Obviously, bugging out with a goldfish, if you are that attached to your goldfish, will require some specialized planning beyond the scope of this blog post. You’re on your own there. But I will address the basics here. Read on…
Step one in any disaster plan is preparing for the most essential needs of survival: food, water and shelter. Same goes for your pets. They can no more survive without these than you can.
It’s been said that shelter must be the first consideration. If your pets can shelter with you, great. If not, you will need to figure out what kind of shelter needs your pets have and make sure those needs are met. You will need to be able to keep them cool/warm, dry/wet, etc. depending on their needs.
Clean water is the most important item to ensure access to. You want a minimum of three days’ worth, depending on your ability to secure more should the situation require it. Obviously, your parakeet will need less water than your golden retriever, and it’s up you to figure out how much that is. If you have natural sources of water nearby, you’ll need to decide if treating the water for purity is as critical for your pet as it is for you.
Humans can survive with little or no food for several weeks, but for your pet, this may be a different story. Some animals cannot go long without food, and you need to make sure you have enough to keep them alive for however long the crisis lasts or how long it will take you to secure additional food. Here’s where it would benefit you to research your pets’ natural diets. It’s so easy to go to the pet store and buy dog food, cat food, hamster food, etc. But what if you run out and can’t get more?
I’ll give you an example. Cats, dogs and ferrets are carnivores. Their natural diet is raw, meaty bones. If you need to secure food for them, things such as mice, rabbits, prairie dogs, fish – basically any small game – can be caught, trapped, hunted and used as food for your little carnivore. The big problem with going this route is that your little carnivore has so come to rely on you for their easy-to-eat kibble or canned mush, you may have difficulty transitioning them to a new diet, especially under very stressful circumstances. My advice? Transition them to a species-appropriate, natural diet now. They will be happier and healthier for it as well as better prepared for a survival situation.
Once you have the survival basics covered, there are still a few things you need to work out. I already mentioned bugging out. Depending on the survival situation, hunkering down or bugging out will be the proper course of action. You’ll need to be prepared for either possibility. Shelter, water and food are much easier to prepare for in the hunker-down scenario. They will all have to be portable in the bug-out scenario.
Medicine will be important to have on hand. Even if your pet is not currently on any medications, find out what kinds of medications are safe for your pet should you need pain killers, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and other common meds. Also have a complete first aid kit for your pet to handle any injuries.
Whether you hunker down or bug out, if the crisis becomes a long-term one, you will find yourself in the position of having to protect yourself and your property from other desperate people and creatures who will think nothing of killing you and your pet to get food, water and shelter (or guns, booze, drugs, etc.). You must be ready to protect yourself and those who rely on you for protection. Seek the level of training and the types of weapons you are comfortable using, and practice using them. And my advice? Get out of your comfort zone.
A final consideration in preparing your pet for the apocalypse: your pet should be well-trained (if possible). You will waste precious moments or even hours or days if you have to coax your cat from under the bed or chase your dog down the road. Not to mention they could endanger your own safety. A good plan is to have your pet well controlled under voice command. Even better is to make them a working pet, able to hunt/forage for themselves or even assist with food hunting/collecting for you.
Consider this: disaster strikes, and you are not prepared and able to care for your pet. Your options are now exceedingly limited. Depending on your level of connection to your pet (room decoration vs. “baby” vs. working pet), you should be mentally prepared to execute an option. One option is to simply abandon your pet to their fate. If you choose this option, know this, that you are likely consigning your pet to a fate worse than death. They may be attacked, starve to death, die of thirst, become injured, or worse. They are not prepared for life in the wild, and the wilderness is not kind. You can put your pet down, i.e. euthanize. But you better know how you’re going to do this and have the necessary skills and tools to make it as quick and painless as possible. Another option is to kill and eat your pet for your own survival. Do you think you can live with yourself executing any of these options? I couldn’t. So be prepared to care for your pet in a disaster.
June is National Pet Preparedness Month. Do your research, come up with a plan, and buy your supplies. You never know when you might need them.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
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