Protect your pet during a disaster

Families survive better during a crisis if they can weather the emergency together. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. households have children, but more than 43 percent have pets! Any emergency that threatens people also threatens animals. Pet owners are responsible for disaster planning for their pet(s). Whether you stay home or evacuate, you must also plan for your pet.

If you plan to stay at home...

• Bring pets indoors.
• Prepare an area away from windows or use a pet carrier.
• Have a two-week supply of food on hand.
• Provide one-half to one gallon of water per day per pet.
• Have access to current rabies tag and license, vaccination information and special medications.
• Use familiar food bowls, water bowls, bedding and leashes.
• Provide newspapers, cat litter, scoop and plastic bags for handling waste.
• Bring grooming supplies.
• Let haltered livestock roam in fenced pastures away from flying debris and overhead power lines. Provide uncontaminated water. Ensure your livestock can be identified later.

After the storm has passed, be careful when you allow your pet outside. Familiar scents and landmarks may be altered, and your pet easily could become confused and lost! Downed power lines, predatory animals, insects, and contaminated water are all post-storm threats to your pet's well being.

If you and your pet plan to evacuate...

• The Emergency Shelters cannot accept pets!
• Do not leave your animal alone at your home.
• Board your pet in a kennel or with friends or relatives. Make sure your pet is tattooed.

You can shelter with your pet at one of the Volusia County pet shelters. Pet shelters require all animals to have current rabies shots (during the past 12 months), licensing and identification tags. Owners must provide food and water, leashes and any special medications. The pets must be confined to a carrier or crate. Owners must provide bedding for themselves while staying with their pets!

Take all of the pet supplies listed above with you and your pet and go to a pet shelter or to friends or relative's homes.

Pet shelters for the year are: Volusia County Fairgrounds, 1/4 mile east of Interstate 4 on State Road 44 in DeLand and the Orange City Lions Club on Graves Avenue, one block west of U.S. Highway 17-92, in Orange City.

You may call Volusia County Animal Control in West Volusia at (386) 943-7895 to get a list of kennels which can shelter your pet or hotels/motels that allow pets. A directory of motels which accept small household pets in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi is available online at Collier County Emergency Management.