El Niño Animal Preparedness

• What if you are not home? Choose a trusted friend, family member, or neighbor who can safely handle and evacuate your animals as your designated backup.  Make sure they know where supplies, food, water, medications and instructions are. 

• Where will you take your animals? Identify more than one evacuation route ahead of time. Know which friends, family members, boarding facilities may be able to accommodate your animals.

• Are your Go-Bags ready? Build a go bag for each animal, and fill out a pet info sheet for each one.

• Is your Animal's Info current? Ensure tags on collars and microchips have current contact information.  

• Do you know your property? Choose the highest safe spot in your home for pets; give poultry high perches with food and clean water above the likely flood line; reroute fencing so animals can reach high ground; remove barbed wire; store enough water for large and small animals.

• Are you ready for power outages? Plan for outages: automatic waterers and electric fencing may not work, so fill troughs and stage lighting and batteries.

• Will your animals come to you when called? Practice having your animals come to you when called can save valuable time when evacuating.

• Can you quickly load your animals? Practice loading dogs into the car, cats into carriers, and horses, goats, pigs, and other large animals into trailers.

• Is your designated contact able to load your animals without you there? Practice with friends, neighbors and family so they can gather, halter or leash, and load your animals. 

• Are you using weather alerts to get everything ready? Put animal first aid kits, a headlamp and gloves in your vehicle or safe location and post contact lists and animal info sheets in your barn or on crates. 

Find a trusted neighbor, friend or family member and give them a key to your home or property. Make sure this backup caretaker is comfortable and familiar with your animals (and vice versa) and knows their feeding and medication schedule, location and habits. 

Staying informed is an important part of preparing for potential flooding. Sign up for emergency alerts, know your evacuation zone, and follow official updates about weather conditions, road closures, and flood advisories, watches, and warnings. Having this information ahead of time can help you make decisions to protect yourself, your family, and your animals.