Q: What is the best way to reduce your pets’ stress in an emergency situation?
A: The reason why most pets are stressed in disaster situations is because their normal routine is broken—and animals thrive on routine. When a disaster strikes, both the owners and pets are out of their element. The owners are stressed, which in turn can make the animals stressed. Calm your animals in an emergency situation by preparing them for the unexpected in two important ways:
Crate train your pets, whether they’re cats, birds, dogs or small animals. The crate is a home away from home. When disaster strikes, space is minimal, and most pets are placed into crates in a pop-up shelter area. If your pets only go into a carrier once a year for a vet visit or have never been in one, they’ll be stressed right from the beginning. If your pets are comfortable in crates or carriers, they will at least have a piece of their home environment with them.
Send your animals on sleepovers with their crates to a friend or family member’s house to get them accustomed to sleeping somewhere other than home.
sdhumane.org/what-we-do/resources/pet-training-resources
Dear Tabby is also known as Shauna Romero, community training coordinator at San Diego Humane Society.