013- Planning for Emergencies
Emergencies can happen, even on the most relaxing days. Make sure you’re prepared before they happen! Today’s episode of Pet Sitter Confessional talks about being prepared for emergencies.
- This is the LAST week to enter our giveaway. Go to our Facebook and Instagram pages for more details
- Benton is in need a service dog for his seizures. Go HERE to donate today!
- Check out 4Paws For Ability and the amazing work they do
- Dogs Naturally gives great advice for finding safe ice-melt
- Pet CPR and First Aid Training
We take a deep dive into emergency preparedness while pet sitting. This is a HUGE topic with a LOT of information out there.
- Putting your prep-kit together
- ASPCA
- FEMA
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
Collin 0:16
I'm Collin. And I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Meghan 0:25
Hey guys, this is the last week to enter our giveaway for a $50 amazon gift card. So if you haven't done that already, please head over to our Facebook or Instagram pages and find the giveaway post and follow the steps. The giveaway closes on November 18. And we will announce the winner next week on the podcast. Hello and welcome to Episode 13 where we're going to talk today about pet sitting in inclement weather. So now that winter is coming or is here in most cases, we will talk about what you should do to keep your pet safe in the inclement weather and what to do in case of an emergency and how to keep yourself as well. Pets give us so much and they do so much for us. As a pet care professional, we have the awesome opportunity to give back to them in unique and special ways. From tender cuddles to thoughtfully planned out box and play time. We are stewards of these little cute little football while they're in our care. So what are some other ways we can give back to them and give back to the pet community. One way is to support your local pet shelter or pet facility. I doubt they'd ever be angry if you just showed up with a few bags of food or other supplies. They probably won't turn you away for offering a few hours of your time throughout the week. Be on the lookout for people wanting met and get them in the shelter or boss bring an animal which is also a great way to help out the pet community. You can also drop off snacks or lunch or veterinarians or pet store owners.
Collin 1:50
How about supporting the broader community, especially those who rely on a pet as a way of life? One in 26 people in the US suffer from seizures, service and are such a lifesaver for many and improve the quality of life for people with many illnesses and disabilities. seizure response dogs alert their owner if they're about to have a seizure. They can even take emergency action if one does occur, providing help activating and emergency response system or acting as a brace and finding medication or removing the owner from an unsafe situation. Those are just some of the services that these awesome dogs can provide. Unfortunately, these specially trained dogs are also quite costly. Upwards of $50,000 Benton is an active, fun loving three year old that has been suffering from chronic seizures since he was eight months old. From swimming and fishing to play doh and coloring. He's never still for long. However, being diagnosed with epilepsy and sensory processing disorder, gaining his independence has been a real struggle. Even sleeping in his own bed has been totally out of the question as he needs constant monitoring a seizure response dog from four paws For ability, which is a service dog training company, would genuinely be a lifesaver and greatly improved this young boys quality of life. Now Ben's family has a goal of raising $17,000 to go towards the dog and are in need of help. You can go to their Facebook page for paws for Benton. That's the number for paws for Benton areas to donate today and help out this family and amazing kid. And don't worry, if you can't find that on Facebook, we will have the links in our show notes so that you've know where to go.
Meghan 3:28
Now on to our main topic of planning for emergencies. So this will vary whether you're at your house or the client's house. If an emergency occurs, immediately notify the owners. That's the very first thing you need to do. You can even provide them with a copy of your emergency plan when they book with you. And like we've said in previous episodes, have the owner provide you with an emergency contact with them, as well as local contacts can get their pet if needed. It's also an awesome idea to provide the owner with your backup sitters and emergency contact information. That if they can't get ahold of you on your primary number, they have other numbers to try. And what if you don't have a backup center? Well, you need to get one or two or three people that you trust and are reliable. And obviously nobody is going to do as good of a job as you do. But you still need to be responsible and have a backup plan for when things happen because things will happen, regardless of the type of emergency that you're dealing with, whether it's a tornado, earthquake, fire, winter storm, excessive heat, or etc. There are some common factors to consider. For each of these, you're going to have to prepare for communication, power, transportation, shelter, and resource. There are some things that will apply to all of these emergency situations. The first is that you're going to make sure the animals have leashes and harnesses that are labeled with their tags and information or they might go tripped. That's a huge thing to have an emergency in case the pet runs off. You know that if somebody were to pick it up, pick up the pen and Take it to the vet that the owner would be contacted because there is a microchip in the pet. It's a good idea to have a go bag ready for you and for the animals. The CDC recommends a pet carrier for each pet with the pet's name, the owner's name and the contact information on each carrier. Also food and water for at least two weeks for each pet. For cat, you want the litter box and litter for dogs plastic bags for their poop. CDC also says medication for at least two weeks or the pets that needed medical records including record of vaccination for rabies. other diseases and also sturdy leashes or harnesses and rescue rope leads has an amazing leash that we love to use on our pets. And then your go bag should have food, water and emergency radio, a battery pack for your phone and extra clothing and any medications that you might need.
Collin 5:55
We're going to walk through a couple different scenarios for emergencies and for each of these You always have to make the decision whether you're going to shelter in place, or whether you need to get out and move. And there are some things that you need to think about. And consider for each of those with these. So if there's a tornado in the area, what will you do with the pups and cats in your care? Do you have a location that you can shelter in place in your own home that can accommodate all of the animals safely? What about those really large dogs? Now if a tornado hits in your clients area, is there going to be a safe path to your clients house so that you can take care of them there if you're doing droppings, so having a weather radio on hand to make sure that you're listening to those updates, because you never know if power is going to go out? Or if your cell phone is going to be dead? Now if there's an earthquake, is it even safe to get out of the house to travel around? If you have to evacuate? Are there safe routes that are prescribed in place by the city or local government? Where will you take the animals, local shelters or vet offices may be good options to have so look in different radius around your location and find that offices and shop And have those addresses and phone numbers on file with you. Because finding locations and contact information during emergency is one of the last things you want to be worried about. Now, if you're in an earthquake prone area, it may be a good idea to have an earthquake alert app on your phone so that you get early alerts and messages on what's happening around you. Now, when we talk about fire as an emergency, there are two scenarios either your place of residence is on fire or there is a wildfire moving towards you. Do you have an escape plan to get out of your home? If it's on fire? Do you have ladders to get out of high windows? How will you be able to move all the animals to a safe place one of the things about house fires is is that a lot of times you're not going to be there when the house fire starts. So you may think of having a neighbor or to be designate as a safe place and alert them to whether you're going to be there or not to they know to watch out for those kinds of things. And having a neighbor or two in the area as a safe place and as your destination is a good idea so that when you have to evacuate your home You can move those animals from your home that's on fire to a neighbor's home. So you're not standing around there in the middle of the street or having them all in your car on leashes, and they can just be in a home in the fence and safe. And a very simple way to prep for for house fire is to get a window sticker for firefighters that alerts them that pets are inside the residents and they should make sure that they are all out and safe.
Meghan 8:22
For many of us winter is upon us. So that means that there will be winter storms coming snow ice Blizzard, something you'll want to consider is will you walk the dogs if it's snowing, or if it's misleading? Obviously, you don't want to walk the dogs in a blizzard because there's a lot of hazards there with getting too cold, and frostbite. This also depends on what type of personality you have and what your threshold is. So some people say if it's 30 degrees, I'm not going to walk the dog other say if it's above zero, it just depends on what you're comfortable with and what and ultimately what the dogs can handle. If it's a tiny little Chihuahua, it's probably going to get cold Especially if it's not wearing a sweater and won't be able to handle below 20 degree weather but if it's a big Husky that loves the snow, they're going to want to play and run around in the snow and there it's not going to bother them at all. North Face Columbia Under Armour and Carhart are great brands with high quality products. You could also use hot hands or when you go out and are walking hot hands are like a heat pack that you you can put on your feet or in your gloves and it keeps your hands and feet warm. Although some people just lay our leggings under sweatpants or jeans and they're good to go below 20 degrees Fahrenheit a lot of dogs will need special clothing like little booties or a sweater. Here's a pro tip when you are walking a dog before putting your gloves on, open up a bunch of poop bags and put them in your pocket and that way you don't have to try to mess with taking off your gloves every time. We're trying to do it with gloves on because that is very hard to do. So in the winter, it tends to ice a lot and not all ice is Nice ice melted that is. So some common ingredients like magnesium chloride, potassium chloride and sodium chloride are very dangerous for dogs. We have shared an infographic about this on our social media and will include it in the show notes. The safest method of ice and snow removal, of course, is a little elbow grease and an ice pick a snow shovel. I am very frugal and so I would probably try to do this but try not to buy based on price because safer products will be more expensive because they use better ingredients. So now we're going to go in the opposite direction of excessive cold to excessive heat. So either don't go or take extra water with you. And when you're going on the walks or doing drop ins with the dogs are playing a lot outside, take a lot of breaks. There's also cooling towels and blankets that you can use with ice and water that will really help dog bands are also a great idea when it's too hot outside. And we touched on this in Episode Four when we talked about walks if you're walking on concrete or asphalt, check that temperature. If you can't hold your bare hand on it, and it's too hot, even try to walk. And of course, in excessive heat dogs, most dogs love swimming pools. So if you can get a little kiddie pool and fill it up, I'm sure they would love to play and roughhouse in there.
Collin 11:18
It's a great way to get them cool down quickly. And all these emergencies, we're talking about needing to move to locations in some cases. So is your car okay to transport animals safely? Do you have emergency routes planned, our city that we live in, provides snow routes that are always cleared during snowstorms. And they're essential to navigating your way through the city safely,
Meghan 11:40
if you live in the southeast hurricane routes as well.
Collin 11:42
So make sure you've checked to see if your city has similar routes for winter or other emergencies like Megan mentioned, what happens if you break down? Do you have an emergency kit in your car? Can you know how to change your tire? Do you have someone that you could call to come pick you up when transporting pets in your vehicle crate travel is bye bye Far the safest for you and the pet. And when you're purchasing those makes you're looking for crash tested crates. So make sure you have a crate for each animal that you're transporting, and that it fits in is secure in your vehicle. Or if that's some people might not like crates, you can look into car harnesses, they're a little less constrained, a little less bulky, provide a little bit more movement for your pet, but still restrain them in case of an accident. What should you do if you can't make it to an owners house, let's say you get snowed in if there's a big tornado or if your car breaks down. That's where having your backup sitter and emergency contacts really comes into play. Because if you can't do it, you still have obligations to me. And so somebody needs to be there to take care of that, that pet.
Meghan 12:40
And with these backup centers, you want to make sure that the owner knows who your backup center is. It would be great if they've even met them once or twice so that they are comfortable with them and know who is taking care of their dogs or pets. In case you cannot be there to do it
Collin 12:55
right and making sure that the contact information for the backup singers is all also provided to the owner at the time of state so that if they can't get ahold of you, like I mentioned earlier, they can get ahold of somebody during large, natural disasters. disease can be rampant during these kind of emergencies. So make sure that you're taking care of yourself first washing your hands as much as possible. And then mining the pets making sure that they are not looking other people or other paths, and then reporting any bites or nasty scratches immediately, so that you can get those taken care of. Now along with these natural emergencies, what happens if your pet eat something and has to be rushed to the vet, at the time of sit or during the meet and greet? Get that vet info from the owners and have that on hand and on file for each animal that's under your care? getting as much information before you go? What did they eat? If you know it? When did they eat it? Has this happened before? The other thing to think about in this case is that if you have other pets in your care, what's going to happen to them while you're dealing with this other pet in need? How will they be taking care of what happens if you're gone for a long time, who's going to take care of those pets and feed them Let them out. Another thing to consider is Google pay for the vet bill. We've heard horror stories of something happening to a pet under the pet sitters care. And the owners refusing to pay the bill, because they believed it was the pet sitters fault. That may be a good thing to have in your contract that you have the owner signed. Before this even gets there. Make sure that you have the owners authorize you to make decisions at the vet before the pets care, in case the owners cannot be reached or are out of contact.
Meghan 14:29
But what if the path that you're taking care of attacks or is being attacked by another animal get just like if you get in a car wreck, get all the parties information before leaving the scene, including witnesses in the area, separate the pets as safely as you can without endangering yourself or others and then call 911.
Collin 14:48
The other part about this is whether it happens on your property or on somebody else's property that can really get complicated when you start dealing with the insurance and the legality of the attack and who's at fault. So making sure that you have Proper insurance coverage both in your home and when you're out walking is extremely important for for scenarios like this.
Meghan 15:06
Did you know that you can get animal CPR and first aid training? You can. The Red Cross does it as well as pet tech, and a couple other organizations as well. If you haven't done this as an essential skill for every pet sitter, have an emergency plan on file that you review and practice at least once a year. If you were growing up and your parents did a fire safety plan in your house of how everybody would get out of the house, and this is kind of like that. All of this PrEP is worthless if you don't practice it, to make sure that you work with each pet, getting into crates, transporting into safe spot, etc. It's all about being prepared. If the pets that you're taking care of are typically scared of loud noises or thunderstorms or different different things that happened Do they have typical hiding spots? We have we watch a Great Dane who is very fearful of thunderstorms, but he Probably won't be hiding in too many tiny crevices in our home. So look for those pets that you know are afraid of things and know where they typically hide so that you can go find them in case of emergency happen. As we mentioned earlier, your emergency plan make sure that your clients know it as well. They know your protocol so that they can rest easy at night knowing that you've got it under control. Thank you so much for joining us this week. We love to hear about your emergency plans. And hopefully you have not had to implement them. But if you have, let us know how it worked for you and what you learned through the process. Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional and on Twitter at PS confessional. Send your feedback to feedback at pet sitter confessional.
Collin 16:44
If you've been enjoying our episodes and we're getting a lot out of them. We would really appreciate a rating on iTunes or wherever you're listening to podcasts.
Key Words: pet, dog, emergency, pet sitter, owner, animals, vet, people, seizure, safe, walk, plan, care, fire, crates, excessive heat, ice, sitters, snow, tornado
