As I write this, there is a northern oil town called Fort McMurray here in Alberta (Canada) that is burning from a massive wildfire that is out of control.

Over 100,000 people have been evacuated. Not only have these folks lost their homes, their possessions and livelihoods, some have lost their precious pets :_( But we, as a province and country, have all come together to make sure that these folks and their furry friends are taken care in this time of need.The outpouring of support for everyone affected is amazing and it makes me so proud to be a Canadian!

Even thought the worst isn’t over yet (the fires are still burning!), it is time to focus on rebuilding. … My thoughts and prayers are definitely with those affected!

All this just reiterated the fact that we all need to have an evacuation kit and an emergency plan, especially if you have pets. I wrote a previous post about putting together a pet emergency kit which I hope you will read again (if you haven’t already!)

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, even if it is just a backpack with a change of clothes and copies of any important documents along with a small first aid kit would be sufficient.

For your pet, a few cans of food, an extra leash, some bedding added to a small pack is vital in case you have to leave your home in a hurry.

Also chat with your family and come up with a meeting point …. somewhere you can all gather … make sure your kids know what to do in a situation like this, have a list of emergency contacts visible at home…. there is so many things we can do … all you have to do is Google it and get started!

I think there are two scenarios we need to be ready for and here is my own plans for them. I hope this inspires you to have a plan for your family.

1. An emergency evacuation when I am at home
2. A emergency evacuation when I am NOT at home

Scenario 1 :

If (god forbid) something happens while I am at home that require me to evacuate, leaving my cat behind is not an option,, not matter what. I already have a plan in mind, I know exactly what I need to grab and get out.

The first thing I would do it grab Kitty’s harness and leash and secure her in the stroller. Next I would grab her emergency kit (which has some food, supplies to keep her calm) while also grabbing our own emergency backpacks (one each for my husband and myself), filled with a change of clothes, some toiletries and copies and originals of important documents).

That’s it! Everything else can be replaced….. !

I will then run to my friend’s place and grab her two kitties if she is not home.

Scenario 2:

If (again god forbid!) there is an evacuation happening when I am not at home, I have emergency stickers on my  front door indicating that I have a cat inside. This lets the emergency personnel know there is a pet that needs to be saved. These stickers can be found at pet stores everywhere! Please grab one today!

I also have contact numbers of a couple of neighbours that I could reach out to, one of whom will grab Kitty and keep her safe until I can be reached. We have an agreement that in case of emergency, I will grab her two kitties and vice versa! This way I know Kitty is safe!

Having some sort of plan will really help ease some of the stress….. I know we don’t want to think about anything awful happening to us, but sometimes bad things happen so we need to be prepared.