Prior Planning is as important for your pets as it is for your family. 

• Ensure that your animals have at least a 30-day food supply at all times.
• Ensure you have a cage for your pet that allows the pet to stand up and turn around in the cage without difficulty.
• If you have a cat, ensure that its litter box can fit into the cage with them and still allow the cat room to move around.

Create a family pet care plan. 

• Contact neighbors and friends and ask them if they would take care of your animals in case your entire family became ill and had to go to the hospital.
• Create a family pet care document stating the feeding schedule and amount, where the food/water is located and if the pets are inside/outside or only inside pets.  Also included in this document should be a copy of your pet’s health records including microchip number and vaccination status and a picture of your pet. Emergency contact numbers of relatives/ friends should be included.  Provide this document to all of the people that might be providing care for your pet or pets.
• Have more than one family/person lined up to take care of your pets. No one knows who influenza will affect; the more options you have during an outbreak the better off your pets will be.

What should you do during a Pandemic Influenza outbreak?

• Initiate your family pet care plan.
• Contact the first person on your pet care list to see if they are able to take care of your pet.
• It is best for your animal to keep them in their home environment.  If possible have your pet care-giver come to your home to feed and walk your pet. Ensure you remind them to wash their hands before and after they enter your home. Pets are not contagious, but surfaces throughout the house could be contaminated for a short period of time (about an hour) after the infected family has departed the premises.
• If the first care giver becomes ill, they should go down your list to the next care giver you had lined up and ask if the second person could take care of your animals.
• If your care-giver list is exhausted and your entire family is hospitalized, you can bring your small animals to the pet admission facility adjacent to the triage site.

v     If you should have to bring your pet to be admitted, you will need to bring:

ü      Copy of recent medical records – with vaccination status and microchip number

ü      Water and Food bowls

ü      Food for 30 days

ü      Leash (dogs)

ü      Litter box (cats)

ü      Cage – large enough for pets to stand up and turn around for a dog or big enough to hold a litter box and your cat

ü      Prescription medications if needed by your pet (30 day supply)

After the outbreak has occurred and you have recovered from the Pandemic Influenza, you can return to the pet admission facility and pick up your pet. 

You will need to bring with you:

• Documentation to prove which animal is yours
• A copy of  your animal’s medical records to include microchip number
• A picture of your pet

 

 

.