Pet emergency kit checklist

What’s inside

• Your kit: which pets it is for, where it is kept, how many days of food and water you packed and when.
• Tick boxes for food, water and clean-up; medicines and records; ID, photos and gear; and first-aid supplies.
• Phone numbers: your vet, an emergency vet clinic, an animal poison control line, a contact outside your area, a caregiver and a neighbor.
• Where you can go: hotels, friends, boarding or shelters that accept pets, with phone numbers and notes.
• Rotation dates for food, water, medicines, copies of records and photos, and what to do before you leave.

How much food and water?

The sources don’t agree, so the form asks you to choose. Ready.gov says several days’ supply of food and water. The ASPCA suggests 7 to 10 days of food and at least 7 days of water, both rotated every two months. The CDC lists a 2-week supply of food and water for each animal. Write the number of days you packed at the top, and the dates in the rotation table.

Medicines and records

Pack an extra supply of the medicines your pet already takes, as prescribed, in a waterproof container; the CDC and the ASPCA both mention two weeks’ worth. Ready.gov suggests talking to your vet about your pet’s emergency medical needs. Copies of the vet records, the rabies certificate and proof of ownership go in a waterproof container too, and Ready.gov adds keeping them available electronically.

First-aid supplies, not first-aid steps

The first-aid box lists the AVMA’s pet first-aid kit items that are not medicines: gauze, nonstick bandages, tape, blunt scissors, gloves, tweezers, a flashlight, towels, a digital thermometer, a muzzle to prevent bites, the medical record and phone numbers. The muzzle comes with the AVMA’s own warning: do not muzzle your pet if they are vomiting. The AVMA list also has products to give by mouth or to clean wounds; we leave them out, because when and how to use them is a question for your vet or a poison control center. The AVMA adds that your vet may suggest other items for your pet.

Where you can go

Many public shelters and hotels don’t take pets, Ready.gov warns, although the Red Cross says its shelter workers do what they can for household pets. The CDC suggests finding pet-friendly hotels along your evacuation route, and the Red Cross recommends calling ahead and asking whether a no-pets policy can be waived in an emergency. Friends or relatives outside your area and boarding kennels belong on the list too.

• Pet emergency card for your wallet
• Pet travel checklist
• Printable pet medical record