Fireworks & Pets

Here's to a happy, safe and sane Independence Day 2009, and a reminder to keep your pets indoors for July 4th. Shelters receive more animals in the days after the Fireworks Holidays--especially dogs. We're under water restrictions where I live, and this year, for the first time, our Community Associations are cracking down hard on the use of fireworks. Fireworks of any sort have been prohibited in our community for years, but that has never stopped my neighbors. So far, no popping and zinging. My dogs are grateful.

BTW, this is my 50th Post!

Disaster Prep Monday: Food and Treats

Toby Terrier, our Hurricane Preparedness mascot, like most dogs is always looking forward to his favorite meal—the next one. In the event of a planned evacuation, or a few days spent without power (some folks in our area went three weeks without power after Hurricane Ike last September), you need to add pet food to your disaster planning list.

If your dog has a favorite food from the grocery store, pet or big box store, keep tabs on how much you have on hand. When storm approaches, shelves empty out. You might be able to find Alpo, but not your pooch’s favorite flavor of Iams select. After a big storm, stores will be closed—where I live, stores were closed for a week and poorly stocked for up to three weeks, and we were well beyond Ike’s Galveston-area landfall in Montgomery County, Texas. Even if we had wanted to drive out of the storm area, we were reluctant to use the gas in our vehicles.

If you feed your pet a prescription dog food from your vet or a specialty food not easily found in grocery stores, it’s even more important to plan ahead. Post-storm, both animals and people yearn to preserve whatever routines we can, and switching kibbles or canned food is not something wise to try during this time. My advice is to keep an extra month's worth of canned and dried food for each pet on hand during hurricane season. Consider how you’ll keep open cans of food cool. We had a generator so our pets didn’t have to worry that the Science Diet canned food would spoil!

Be cautious about the risks of spoiled food. Don’t feed your pet questionable human or pet food. And be alert to the garbage that appears post-storm—-it will be extremely tempting to your pets. After Ike hit Texas and other parts of the nation, many folks had to empty their refrigerators. In our neighborhood, bags of refrigerator garbage lined our normally tidy streets. And because we had no power, dog owners walked their dogs a lot more.

But we had a close run-in with a purloined “snack.” A few days after Ike’s landfall, my husband came back from walking our dogs on their usual route shouting that he needed help with Taco, our 16-pound athletic miniature pinscher. I found him struggling to keep all four of Taco’s feet off the ground by clutching his harness. Taco had a big bird leg in his mouth and was doing his best to swallow it whole. He had picked it up in the dark of early evening (we had no power, so no street lights) and my husband thought he had a stick until he got home and saw gristle and a clawed foot!

I put my hands around Taco’s neck and gripped him firmly enough to feel the butt-end of the leg-bone in his upper throat. By squeezing against Taco’s throat and yanking on the clawed-foot (yuck!) we managed to get the jointed leg bone away from him. We call Taco “Mr. Bitey” because he can be nippy—and you can bet he was pissed that we deprived him of his treat.

How the bird foot—it looked like a rooster or bigger—got on the walking path we’ll never know. Maybe it was a game bird killed in the storm or a hunter’s catch dumped somewhere from a freezer. All we knew is we didn’t have an emergency vet available within a 100-mile radius two days after a major storm made landfall. We made sure to walk the dogs before nightfall after that.

Hurricane Season Is Here

Twelve percent of Americans live in a hurricane zone—they live in areas on or near the coast where hurricanes can strike. In recent years, we’ve seen that Hurricane Season is not to be taken lightly. If you live where your newspaper and grocery stores feature hurricane tracking maps or if you are among the one affected by Katrina, Rita, Dennis, Ivan, Charlie, Claudette, Bonnie, Gustav or Ike (just to name a few of the storms that have made headlines in recent years), then you need a plan for your pets.

I’ve developed the logo above, along with a spunky mascot, Toby Terrier, to highlight some of the best preparedness suggestions for pet owners throughout the season. So when you see Toby, you’ll find a tip or two for your own Pet Disaster Plan.

Today, we’re highlighting Crates, Leashes and Paperwork.

1. Crates: The best purchase you’ll ever make is in a folding wire crate for each of your animals. Folding crates pack easily but set up instantly to provide a secure place to restrain your animal. They are vital for advance evacuation—to hold your dog safely in a hotel room or pet-friendly shelter, or as a way to hold a pet if you end up stuck on the roadside or at a campground or a WalMart Parking lot. If your dog isn’t crate-trained, buy a crate now (you won’t find then on shelves when a storm is in the Gulf or cruising up the Seaboard) and make sure your dog gets used to it. If you have a strong dog or an escape artist, invest in a few snap latches to help hold the door and corners secure.

2. Leashes: Retractable leashes are not the best restraint system for the chaos and uncertainty of an evacuation. If you have to handle your dog in line with other people or in a crowd, you don’t have the control you need. Get a sturdy nylon or leather 6- or 8-foot leash with a strong snap. Make sure your collar or harness fits properly, too. A standard leash gives you more control over your dog, is less tiring for you, and can be tied around a pole if needed. Some leashes come with built-in rings that make it easy to convert a leash to a temporary tie-down. You won’t be leaving your dog tied with a leash, but if you’re stuck in a long evacuation or supply line, you’ll be glad you have a standard leash. Bring along your retractable leash, but don’t try to make do with one.

3. Paperwork: Now is the time to get your dog’s paperwork in order. Make copies of your dog’s current health and shot records, veterinarian contacts, rabies tags and microchip identification numbers. File those things in your go-kit. Make sure your dog’s microchip will scan (ask your vet to double check the chip to ensure that it hasn’t slipped or faulted out). Make sure your dog wears a collar with tags. Take several good photos of your dog—front, face, right and left side, and include these in your paperwork. If you have a puppy, update the photos as the puppy grows. You want to keep current photos in your go-kit in case your dog gets lost during an evacuation or in the chaos after a storm event. A cell phone photo won’t help you if you need to make “LOST” signs.

Toby Terrier says, “Don’t be tardy—be ready NOW!”

Meet My Mutts

I have two rescue dogs of my own—a 9-year-old male stag red miniature pinscher (adopted in 2001), an avid hunter who has never figured out he’s been neutered, and a 5-year-old black-and-white rat terrier mix girl with fluffy hair and terminal cuteness (adopted in 2004). Taco is named after the southernmost Taco Bell in Louisiana. Cross answers to her rescue name--as a puppy she had a white "cross" marking on her forehead--which stuck because she was the group’s official mascot for two years. Both dogs like living in Texas, and they're tolerant of the fosters who cycle in and out of my house. Taco requires payment in treats, but Cross just wants a little lap time without having to share.