DogBoston’s Dog Blog

Jan Dumas was writing for DogBoston for awhile before she required some medical care. She’s feeling better now, and in this article, she provides tips on what you might do should you have to leave your house in a hurry.

Planning for an Emergency by Jan Dumas

Sorry you have not heard me for a while. I have been quite sick, spent some time in a hospital.  Never a pleasant experience for any one, even less so when a person is parent to as many ‘children’ as I am.  Trying to provide friends with instructions on animal care, to organize dog walking schedules, even simple things like getting food, all become harder when your not the one doing it.  Ask yourself, today, right now, what would happen to your pets, if you did not make it home some night.  Should the ambulance show up what would you take, who would you call?  As luck would have it I found a company and friends to help out.  Pre planning for an emergency would have helped even more.  Now I have a plan in place, which I hope will never be used.  Still it feels good to have a plan in place, so good I decided to return to these pages by sharing my experience.

Make a list of the animals; their habits, favorite hiding places, toys so loved that they’re named.  Calculate the amount of food fed each day, including approximate feeding times.  Draw a map showing a typical daily walk, highlight places where an unfamiliar walker may have problems.   I know Byron’s and my daily path, the parts that might be unnerving to someone unfamiliar with my neighborhood, or my dog.  Using a mapping program, mark each location with concerns.  Neighbors who do not want dogs on their lawns, houses with animals your pet does not get along with.  Those little things you know, but would easily forget to relay to a pet sitter, or friend walking the dog for you.

As an example of what I mean here is the information I collected on Byron.

Byron eats every morning by nine am.  He receives one can of dog food which has to be rinsed out or he will take it out of the trash.  Check on his water bowl, and refill it if needed.  He is allergic to lamb, so if you do purchase food for him please just stick to the list.   Keep him away from the cat food, he likes to knock her out of the way and eat her food.  Then he gets a tummy ache, and gets sick.  Byron has yet to get the connection between eating cat food and throwing up.  He gets two walks during the day, usually around noon, and after the news.   For dinner he eats one and one half cup of kibble.  Put a small amount of water in the bowl to moisten the kibble.  When you walk him; do not allow him on the lawn of 1 Smith street, at 10 Smith street, is a large dog.  If this dog is out, B will try to get over the fence.  Always pick up his poo.

The instructions are short, not simple, but to the point.  Now multiply this by every animal under my roof, or at least the ones I want there.  I think a squirrel climbed into under my eves last night, and I am so not feeding that!  In this house I have written instructions for: Byron, the keeshond; Purrball, the cat; Fidget, the guinea pig; two bearded dragons; four cockatiels; a frog; and four fish tanks.  Every pet store in the greater Boston area knows who I am.   If you think the instructions for Byron are hard, the dragons, and three of the fish eat live food!  Try giving those instructions over the phone!

Make sure who ever you select as your emergency care giver can prepare special meals if necessary.  Part of the preparation should be having the temporary care giver do at least one feeding, especially something as complex, and gross as a live feeding.   Pouring kibble into a bowl is easy, a small child can do that, if reminded.  In the case of animals needing live food, finding out when several miles, or states of conscious separate you from a pet in need of a live mouse, that is a problem.

I choose two neighbors, and a pet sitting company, Purrfect pet of Revere as my emergency back up.   Purrfect Pet has cared for the entire zoo when I have traveled in the past.  I know they can handle live feedings, deal with the quirks of Purrball, the cat that thinks she is a dog, and Byron who thinks he is a person.  They love animals as much as I do, and can enter my home in case of emergency.  With the updated, three pages of instructions on caring for all my animals.   Because I am obsessive when it comes to my animals, I also included a set of the instructions given to my neighbors and pet sitters at home, in the same cabinet I keep the pet food.   Including in the envelope is a gift card to the local pet food store, with a list of the foods each animal eats.  Including the number of crickets, meal worms, feeder fish, and more the ‘hunting’ critters eat.

Prepare for an emergency by leaving a letter, authorizing you pet sitter to contact the veterinarian and authorize treatment.  While many pet sitters have relationships with an animal care clinic, it is always best for an animal to be seen by a doctor who knows him or her well.   Importantly, if the pet sitting company interviewing for the job does not have a clinic they work with, one that knows them as more than just regular clients, do not hire them!

Sample of authorization letter

I ——- authorize the bearer of this note:  Ms. —- of —– to care for my dog, Byron in my absence.  All medical treatments agreed to by same are to be considered approved by me.

Signed xx

Making sure the tiny souls who look to you for love and sustenance are being taken care of will be one less thing to worry about.  Be it while rushing to the hospital bedside of a loved one, or being in the back of the ambulance taking the trip.   I personally wish none of you need these emergency preparations, but will be all the safer for having made them.   So here is to hoping the next time I have to leave my pets in the care of someone else, it is because Jonathan Papelbon has asked for my hand in marriage.

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End Note: Jan Dumas has more writing and pictures of her animals (cats, dogs, guinea pigs)  over at her blog http://tapadance.livejournal.com/