Hurricane Preparedness for Pets

Hurricane season is here!! And while you make preparations in the event of a storm, let’s not forget about our beloved pets and animals. Rather you evacuate or stay behind, I want to make sure everyone is safe and provided for, including our city’s animals.

    If you plan to evacuate, please bring all of your pets with you. Leash large dogs; small dogs, cats, and other small animals can be placed in a travel crate. If your pet is animal or people aggressive, please keep it muzzled for everyone’s safety. Make sure you bring your pet’s supplies. Food, water, and medication all needs to be packed for your trip. Identification is a must!! Grab some collars and write your name and phone number on every animal, just in case we need to locate the owner for one of our furry guests. And please remember, no animal will be turned away!! We will do what is needed to make sure every pet is safe during the event of a hurricane.

    If you plan to stay, be prepared!!! Extra water is needed for your animals. Dog food needs to be stored in sealed plastic containers, wet food is useless in the event of flooding. Have crates and leashes available in the event of an emergency, anything can happen, including emergency rescues. And again, make sure every pet you own is properly identified in case you are separated. Animal Control Officers need to be able to locate owner in order to get them reunited with their families.

    Leaving animals behind is never recommended or suggested, but we know it does happen often. If you have to evacuate and leave your pets behind, report it to Animal Control so we can check on them. Every single call and welfare check we receive is answered, no one is left behind. Do NOT chain or tie up your dogs!! Do not crate them!! Contained pets don’t have a chance to fight in the event of flash flooding or other emergencies. If your pet needs to get out of a life threatening situation, let him have the option to do so. And of course, identify every pet properly!! And please, never leave your animals in a locked house!! We need to be able to get to them if they need us!! If your neighbors leave their pets behind, please let us know!! Always report welfare concerns to us, we are here to help and rescue those in need!!

    Often forgotten in planning, livestock needs to be taken care of too!! If you own cattle, horses, goats, pigs, or any livestock in the city, please move to a safe location beforehand. If that is not an option, please identify horses, goats, and sheep, simply write your information down on a halter and put in on them. The most important thing to remember is never tie them up!! Never stall your livestock. If your gates are normally padlocked, remove all locks so we can get to your animals as fast as possible. Livestock tire fast, and high flood waters cause a very life threatening situation. If we need to pull them to higher grounds, the faster we can do so the better!!!

    And if you own a trailer, we may need your help in relocating livestock.

    After the storm, Animal Control will have a large amount of pets recovered from the city. We take them to the safest place available at that time, which might even be out of our city.  Please contact us if you are missing any pets to gather information on our shelter location. We want every animal reunited with their family!!

    I hope that my advice was helpful in proper planning or this year’s hurricane season!! Let’s work together to ensure that all of our pets are taken care of during disasters this year!! Prepare ahead of time. And, always be kind to animals!! With love, from your local Texas City Animal Control.