EMERGENCY PLANNING FOR OUR DOGS
Have you thought about plans for the future? Your dog’s future?
His or her safety and emergency care if you’re away?
If your dog has a health emergency in your absence?
If your dog needs someone to care for them if you get hospitalized?
His or her continuing care if you pass away first?
His or her care if you’re forced to evacuate together due to something like wildfires?
These are some scenarios worth planning for. Below are some resources to that end.
1. A pet trust is a way to legally and financially protect and provide for your dog if you were to die. You would need to identify someone trustworthy to adopt your dog and make sure they agree to do it in the event it’s needed. You could allocate funds to cover your dog’s care for the rest of their life.
2. A pet care emergency authorization form is something worth completing for your pet care provider when you leave your dog in their care. It’s how you legally enable them to make emergency veterinary medical decisions in your absence, especially if you can’t be reached like if you’re on a plane. It’s a way for you to accept financial responsibility to make sure your dog gets all the care they need to be stabilized during a health scare. You can detail whether or not you’d authorize euthanasia and in what circumstances – as hard as this is to think about. You can cap your budget for emergency care. There are legal templates. You can also leave a credit card on file with your vet and with your pet care provider’s local 24-hour animal hospital. It’s always a good idea to also leave an emergency contact – someone you trust who is close with your dog and you, someone who likely knows what you’d do if there during the emergency.
3. If you’re with your dog when a medical emergency happens like choking, injury, or something internal, then knowing pet first aid is gold. At least knowing how to release a blockage in the airway and knowing to check if the gums are pale. Then, you’d want to rush your dog to the ER and try to call ahead. Pet first aid courses are available as are phone apps.
4. Planning for a natural disaster is hard, but having a go-bag for both you and your dog is a good idea. It’d have first aid supplies, water, food, blankets, flashlights, batteries, any medications needed and so on.
5. We never want to think about our dogs being lost, but it does happen. Microchips are a good place to start, but they’ll only help you track down your dog IF someone responsible FINDS your dog and takes them to a vet or shelter to scan for a microchip. Plus the microchip needs to have updated contact info. GPS trackers on collars add an extra layer of protection – like the Whistle. But, their batteries die and that could happen before your dog is found safe. Checking shelters and vets daily helps. Posting flyers and notices online in dog groups, with PawBoost and more. Microchip companies often help with this. So, hiring a professional dog tracker can be the difference between finding your dog … especially finding them alive … and never finding them at all.
6. Finally, planning for the worst-case scenario when road-tripping with your dog can help get them to safety if a car accident were to separate you. Beyond a microchip and a dog tag with 2 phone numbers, having a note in your car and your phone for the first responders can help your dog get to a family member or trusted friend even if they’re hours away. That person may be able authorize vet expenses for your dog’s potential injuries and arrange for your dog to be picked up from whatever shelter or animal control facility your dog was sent to.
I hope this motivates you to do a little emergency planning if you haven’t yet. It’s hard to address these issues, but we love our animals and need to protect them in all scenarios. For more emergency preparedness resources, join my email list and get my dog wellness guide. You can also grab it from the home page.