How do you prepare your pet’s well being during a time of emergency? They have the same basic requirements as humans, that being food, water and shelter. Animals have emotions, they become frightened when situations arise that are out of norm for them. A lot of the planning depends on what type of emergency you are preparing for. My daughter lives in New Orleans, right in the middle of hurricane country. Another daughter lives in the Midwest, right in the middle of tornado alley. My son and his family live in the Rockies, not more than a mile from a huge fault line…earthquake central, his 2 stepbrothers live in Oregon and have to contend with the threat of earthquakes as well. Another child lives on one of the Hawaiian islands…volcanoes, and 2 other children are in Alaska…blizzards (and not the good ones from DQ). So, you see, we are a family of planners and more planners and the list goes on.

First and foremost, if you have warning time, such as with a hurricane or threat of floods, evacuate the animals with you if at all possible. Remember that if you plan on going to a public shelter or a motel, animals may not be allowed to go with you. If you can’t take them with you, have a back-up plan. Do you have a place, on safer, higher ground where they can be boarded? Do you have a building that is elevated where animals may be placed to provide safe shelter?

If you need to evacuate an animal, it’s best to have a carrier. After all, animals have emotions too. Loud noises such as lightening and heavy rain will spook even the most gentle of animals. A frightened animal is most often, an out of control animal. There’s nothing worse than having an out of control cat or dog in a vehicle with you while you’re trying to drive. Imagine trying to determine which lane you need to enter when you have a crazed cat hanging off your face or the back of your head. It is not fun at all! I have parrots, cats, a dog and 20+ chickens. The chickens can fly, so I wouldn’t plan on evacuating them, but the others, yes!! I moved here from Salt Lake City and moved 3 parrots in the front of a U-Haul truck. Yes, they were in cages, but the blue and gold macaw (Racheal)would get motion sickness because she was terrified of being inside a moving vehicle. In turn, she would get nauseated and vomit. Then, to make matters worse, she’d shake her head to get the mucousy stuff out of her beak. Guess where it went? Yep, all over me. There’s nothing worse than bird barf. She used to get sick just going to the vet less than 2 miles from our house. By the time we'd get to the vet, I'd put the bird on the counter and head to the bathroom...and come out greenfaced. They all thought it was funny! Going 1700 miles cross-country was truly, no fun! I got as far as the state line between Utah and Montana and was getting sick because the bird was already sick, called the vet (who in turn laughed because he knew by the sound of my voice that I was probably more ill than the bird) and had me stop and buy liquid Benadryl, the kind you give babies. My instructions (for a 2 pound bird) was to give her a few drops equal to no more than a quarter teaspoonful, every 2-4 hours until her nausea stopped or she was asleep. She went to sleep first. By then, the greenwing macaw had chewed the perches in half so there was no place for Racheal to perch so she clipped her beak around the bars of the cage and was so groggy that she’d sway back and forth and bump the sides of the cage with every big bump in the road that I hit. She didn't wake up either. Every time she’d bounce off the side of the cage, the greenwing would laugh like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. About 2 hours later when I couldn’t stand it anymore and after repeatedly warning the greenwing to shut up or else, I asked the greenwing, Mia, if he’d like some Benadryl too. Of course, he’s such a smarty-pants that he got big eyed and said “NO!” in a loud determined voice, then stayed quiet for several hours. Don’t tell me animals don’t understand humans.
OK, I digressed. Let me get back on topic.
Preparing for emergency events:
The same planning is needed for animals as it is for yourself or your family. What types of emergencies are prevalent in your area? Are these emergencies ones that would give you warning time to prepare yourself and your animals?
As an example, we live in a tornado-prone area. When the weather starts getting nasty outside, I mean really nasty and we are placed in a tornado watch, my birds and cats go into their pet carriers. They know the routine, and usually are unhappy about it. It sure beats trying to grab frightened animals when you should be heading to the basement.
What if you don’t have warning? Earthquakes don’t allow for much preparation time. The only thing I can suggest in a situation such as this is to have pet supplies in a place outside where they can be retrieved without having to go back into a structurally unsafe building.

Food and water:
1. Recommendations are to have at least 3 days of food and water on hand at all times. I keep dog, cat and bird food in a small tote bin in the carrier part of my camper. It’s easy access, out of the house where I can get to it and is in a waterproof container. Also include something your pet can eat and drink from. Small collapsible dishes are available, but to me, are a bit of a waste if you’re crunched for space. Tinfoil works well to fashion to make a small bowl from. So does plastic. If you’re in an area where there is dirt, you can dig a hole, line it with plastic and fashion a bowl. No bulky dishes to carry. How much water do you need? Calculate the ounces or gallons (if you have a big animal) that the animal consumes in a day and multiply by the number of days that you are preparing for. That’s in ADDITION to what you’ve put away for yourself and family. Remember, animals can’t drink the same liquids that you do. Soda pop, some vegetable and some fruit juices are not safe for certain types of animals.
Safety:
1. Make sure you have nametags with your name, address and a phone number where
you can be reached. A cell phone number is the best to put on an ID tag.
2. Also, have a photo of your pet, along with information about the pet (i.e.,
name, address, your cell number, any pertinent medical history, medications the
pet might be on, vet’s name and phone, if the pet is micro-chipped and the
microchip number) on the back of the photo. It makes claiming a pet so much
easier if the pet and you become separated. Keep these in a waterproof container
along with your other important documents. Also, if your pet is micro-chipped,
make sure the database with which the chip is registered is kept up-to-date with
current addresses and phone numbers.
3. Collar, leash, pet carrier.
4. Sanitation supplies (i.e. small garbage bags, deoderant spray, bleach spray for
cleaning the area where the animal relieved itself, and paper towels. Don’t
forget hand sanitizer for yourself to use after cleaning up after the animal.
5. Have a buddy system. That means, if you aren’t home, and can’t get back home,
is there someone who can feed and water your pet(s)? Are you willing to do the
same for your “buddy”? Things like this are good to work out well in advance
since you will have to let your helpmate know where your supplies and pertinent
information are kept. They also need to be able to allow emergency care for your
pet in your absence if the situation warrants it. Again, all these things are
best kept in writing, in a safe place. If you have a buddy that will help you,
or you them, plan a place where you can meet. Have that person’s phone number
with you.
6. Obtain or create “Pets inside” stickers to place on doors or windows. We have
one on the bedroom window where our birds are located and on each door. If you
have to evacuate and have time, write on the sticker “evacuated with pets” or
something similar to let potential rescuers know that you and your pets are out
of the building.
Medications:
If your animal is on special medications, take them with you. Most times you have advance warning to prepare for an imminent weather situation. My neighbors keep their pet meds in a gallon bag in the fridge. It’s a grab and go if they need to leave in a hurry.

Large animals, herd animals, flocks.

Planning for food and water still takes the same diligence as it does for smaller animals that can be crated and taken with you. Obviously, if you have a small herd and can evacuate with them, so much the better. If you can’t, as horrible as it sounds, and again, please note this is my personal opinion, it’s better to open a corral gate or the chicken coop door so they can run or fly free rather than being trapped in floodwaters or a fire or face a tumbling building. Most animals will run or fly for cover. It’s so much better than being trapped where chances of survival are slim.

A couple of good resources, if you’d like to read online is:

http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/pets.pdf
http://www.redcross.org

This is what I found at Trade Day up at the fairground today. We have an old fashioned farmer's market every Monday AM at the Graves County Fairground. Since we're going to start raising meat rabbits for the freezer, this is the 3rd doe we have. I named her Penny, after her mama. She looks exactly like a wild rabbit. She's 4 weeks old. The other rabbits are: (little bunny) FuFu, Jack (Rabbit), Esa (Rabbit) I went there looking for veggies because I'm in the mood for canning and the garden isn't coming in fast enough. I found the pan because I wanted something other than an electric french fry pan and found this one. The people I bought the rabbit from didn't have a box to put Penny in, so I just held out the pan. The guy thought it was a riot, told a bunch of people standing there who were snickering that the pan didn't have any water in it so it was OK, put the rabbit in the pan, I put the lid on and off we went, browsing through the rest of the vendor's stands. Everyone who saw her thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, a rabbit in a pan. It didn't stop there. I took her up to the hardware store in town looking for some things and didn't want to leave her out in the heat in the truck, so she went into the store with me...in the pan. She rode in the cart, in the pan, quite well.
Have a happy day!

Storing food:
A common adage is “First in, First out” which means that you need to rotate your stored food items. What sense is there in buying hundreds of dollars of food to store, tuck it away, buy more to eat now, then have the food you’ve already purchased be so out of date that it isn’t safe to eat? One of the ways I accomplish this is to date the items when they expire. The expiration dates on the cans are either on the bottom of the can or on the label. I use a magic marker and circle that date, then store it oldest first. The older, like items are pulled forward on the shelves and the newer items are placed in the back.

Racks designed to store food and automatically rotate the older items are wonderful, pricey if you buy them (WalMart once had a food storage rack that stored roughly 400 cans of food and it cost about $400.00) or you can build your own. As you plan that unit, take into consideration the width and length of the cans you’d like to store. Build the shelves on a slight incline to the front, nail a small board to the front of the rack to act as a stop for rolling cans and you have it! The only thing with this is that you need a fair amount of storage space to either load from the back or you must build the racks deeply enough to be able to place your hands and the item over the top of the other items to reload the newly purchased items. Either way, they are nice. The only downfall to this is that they are designed to hold only canned items. Glass items and liquids (vinegar, catsup, juices, etc.) are not recommended to be stored in these types of storage units. Liquids inevitable will leak and glass items may break. A friend of mine did store home canned products upright in these storage units but placed newspaper between the jars to prevent them from banging against each other. Her husband built the shelves at a slightly less angle than those that stored canned goods.

Something else to take into consideration is where will the foods be stored? Foods must be kept in a climate where they will not freeze in the winter nor get excessively hot during the summer months. If you have a large pantry or a dry basement, you are blessed. Others simply do not have that type of space. Where then, can food items be placed?
· Closets
· Under the bed or a stairwell. One friend even has a 55-gallon barrel with
water stored this way under her basement staircase.
· Create a table of milk crates, stacked with your stored foods, place a board
over top and cover with a sheet or a pretty tablecloth. No one will know the
difference and you have a nice storage space. I’ve used milk crates and an
old door to create a great craft table! I tacked a piece of fabric to the
edges of the door to cover the milk crates and it works wonderfully!
· Have a room that’s not being used? It will turn into a wonderful pantry.
· Under beds. My dresser has space under it. When we lived in a smaller house,
I used this space to store boxes of canned goods.

Attics, surprisingly, are not recommended for storage of food items. Quite simply, unless the attic is temperature controlled and rodent proof, foods will not keep well in these sorts of conditions.

Another thing to consider is how you will store food items. Obviously, canned items are safe from insects and rodents. But, you’ll want to store grain products like flour, wheat, oats and corn meal as well as sugar and beans. These will keep indefinitely if stored properly. Consider using metal trash containers for storage. Why metal? If the lid fits properly, they are impermeable to rodents and insects. Glass containers, gallon jars obtained from restaurants or flea markets, or food grade heavy plastic pails with tight fitting lids, also obtained from restaurants, schools or bakeries, are excellent choices for bulk food storage. I recommend removing foods such as flour, beans, wheat and corn meal from paper packaging. Paper tends to hold moisture and, personally, I have had more problems with weevils forming in grain products that were stored in their original packaging. I empty mine into food grade plastic, 5 gallon pails, label it and store it. These pails can be stored 3 high without concern for the lower ones buckling or collapsing under the weight. I store sugar that way also. As an added precaution, I seal the edges of the pails again, with duct tape.

Wishing you the best in your acquisitions.

Recommended publications:
“Essentials of Home Production and Storage” http://ldscatalog.com Go to the quick order tab and type in this item number in the order box. The cost is $1.50. Item #32288000

“Food Storage for the Clueless” If you’re just getting started and have no idea where to begin, this is a good resource. ISBN: 9781570086809

“Food Storage 101” The basics in food storage ISBN: 9781893519008

“Simply Prepared” available for about $13.00 @ http://www.simplyprepared.com

“The Ultimate Food Storage Cookbook” has what to store and wonderful recipes to create from stored foods, including dry milk, whole wheat, honey, oats, etc.

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/fn_500.pdf A Management Plan for Home Food Storage


Coming next: Food and Water Storage for pets and livestock

How to accumulate that mass of food, especially when the budget is tight.

A year’s supply of food isn’t easy to accumulate for most people. There are many different ways it can be done. I’ve read in many different articles that it’s actually better to start out with a smaller food storage, as doing this really is a learning curve. You will learn what to store without having to break your budget on things you may not eat.
· Start out with laying aside 1 month supply. This way it doesn’t see as
daunting as trying to amass a full year’s worth of supplies.
· Buy a month’s supply of rice and/or beans, shortening, tuna, flour and sugar
· Shop at discount food or bulk food stores
· Grow your own and can it for later use
· Set aside a certain percentage of your budget, if you can, specifically for
food storage.
· Buy when foods are on sale. Can fresh meats, fruits and vegetables for long
term storage.
· Look at the price per ounce. Sometimes food store chains lure folks into
traps by stating that their bulk items are less expensive per ounce than
their competitor’s small packages. It’s not always true. Don’t be lured into
a trap.
· Cut back on other items. ex. Cut back on your clothing allowance by 50%,
your recreational activities, going to a movie or taking a vacation at a
fancy resort. Mend the clothes you have, rent a movie or better yet, do
activities such as going on a picnic or fishing or going on a hike. Use that
money to buy food storage items.

A question was posed on a group that I belong to. What are foods that are “kid friendly” or need no cooking?
The following, based on your child’s preferences are a few examples of foods that kids seem to enjoy.
· Peanut butter and crackers or bread (Need no cooking)
· Jams, jellies, spreads (Need no cooking)
· Cheese (Need no cooking)
· Luncheon meats(Need no cooking)
· Canned or cooked pasta
· Canned meats such as tuna, chicken, (Need no cooking)
· Canned or fresh fruits if you have them in stock (need no cooking)
· Juices, fruit or vegetable (V-8 and Tang are wonderful and nutritious)

Where should you start?
Make a menu for 2 weeks or a month. Make sure the menu is a balanced menu. Include healthy vegetables, a serving of meat, fruit, milk or dairy product and a bread. Then, write down everything it takes to create that menu. If your menu is for 2 weeks, multiply the ingredients times 26 (as there are 52 weeks in a year). Include the minute things such as salt or sugar, flour, etc. After all, remember, you’re not going to the grocery store down the street. The groceries are in your food storage pantry. As an example, say every Saturday, you’re going to have chili and crackers. For a family of 2, you are moderate to light eaters, you need 1-2 cans of chili beans or 2 cups of cooked (dry) pinto beans and a 8 ounces of hamburger. For the chili you are going to add 1 tablespoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, garlic and onion powder. Crackers, that’s approximately 5 crackers per serving in our household. Just the essentials, for 1 year, you need 52-104 cans of chili beans or about 45 pounds of pinto beans and 26 pounds of hamburger for 2 people. (Tip: When calculating, 2 cups of legumes weigh approximately 1 pound) Included are the spices. I don’t calculate per teaspoon, but since we like our foods with a bit of flavor, we lay up at the very least 15 jars each of the favorite spices we use to last 1 year. That’s more than enough for the 2 of us. Do you see where I’m going with this? Try to think of meals that can be made with the staples that you can store. Seasonal items, lettuce, fresh cantaloupe, those things you can grow in your home garden are going to be considered treats and add to the food bounty at that particular time of the year.

Take into consideration meal planning that is not only functional, but nutritious. I couldn't upload the USDA Food Pyramid picture, but this is what it states:

Oils, fats, Sweets are at the top of the pyramid. Use these sparingly.
Milk, Yogurt and Cheese group > 2-3 servings per day
Meat, Poultry, Eggs, Fish and Nuts> 2-3 servings per day
Vegetable Group> 3-5 servings per day
Fruit Group> 2-4 servings per day
Breads, Pasta, Rice,Cereal > 6-11 servings per day


Based on the USDA’s recommendations, the following is considered the equivalent of 1 serving.


Milk, yogurt, cheese
1 Cup milk or yogurt, 1-1/2 ounces natural cheese, 2 ounces processed cheese

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, Nuts
2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, fish, ½ cup of cooked dry beans, 1 egg or 2 Tablespoons peanut butter count as 1 ounce of lean, cooked meat

Vegetables
1 cup of raw leafy vegetables ½ cup of other vegetables, cooked or chopped, raw, ¾ cup of vegetable juice

Fruit
1 medium apple, banana, orange ½ cup of chopped, cooked or canned fruit, ¾ cup of fruit juice

Bread, Rice, Cereal, Pasta
1 slice of bread, 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal, ½ cup of cooked rice, cereal or pasta