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Make a pet evacuation plan before an emergency: choose a destination that has confirmed it accepts your animal, name someone who can help if you cannot get home, prepare secure transport, and keep a pet-specific go-bag ready to grab. Pack several days of food and water, regular medicines, identification and records, sanitation supplies, and familiar comfort items. Because shelter and lodging policies vary, confirm your options locally rather than assuming your pet can go wherever you do.
What should a pet evacuation plan cover?
A useful plan answers four questions before you need to leave: where your animal can go, who can help, how you will transport the animal safely, and what you need to take. Write down the answers and keep them with your emergency supplies. Ready.gov advises identifying a safe place in advance and arranging a buddy system with a neighbor, friend, or relative who could care for or evacuate your pet.
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Do not make the plan depend on a single destination or person. Policies can change, a route may be affected, or your first helper may be unavailable. Keep at least one alternative and make sure the people involved know what you expect them to do.
Make the plan specific enough that another person could use it if you are not there. List the animal’s name and a brief description, the preferred way to handle and contain it, where its carrier and supplies are stored, and the order of destinations to try. Include the contact details for your helper and the places you have called. Give each person involved a copy or make sure they can reach the same current information electronically.
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Ready.gov’s Prepare Your Pets for Disasters notes that planning ahead can reduce difficulty, stress, and worry when a decision has to be made during an emergency. The practical benefit is that the key decisions—where to go, whom to call, and how to move the animal—are not left until departure time.
Where can I evacuate with my pet?
Choose a destination outside the threatened area and confirm that it accepts your particular animal. Public shelters and hotels may not accept pets, so call ahead and keep an alternative in the plan.
Possible options include a relative or friend, pet-friendly lodging, boarding, or a veterinary clinic outside the affected area. These are possibilities to investigate, not guaranteed destinations: verify current acceptance, any relevant restrictions, and whether the facility can accommodate your animal and its equipment. If the first destination is unavailable, know where you will go next.
When comparing destinations, consider whether the specific animal will be accepted, how far the location is from the hazard, whether it can accommodate the animal’s containment or other equipment, and whether your backup caregiver could reach it. Confirm the policy directly and keep the contact information handy. A directory listing or an earlier conversation is not a substitute for checking current acceptance, since policies may change.
Do not treat “pet-friendly” as a complete answer. Explain what kind of animal you have and whether it needs particular equipment, and ask whether the facility can accommodate that animal. Keep notes of the answer and a second option in case the first location cannot take you when you need to leave.
Keep contact details for local emergency management, animal control, and animal shelters with your plan. These organizations can help you identify local information, but they do not provide a universal list of facilities or routes for every community. Check local arrangements and evacuation information where you live.
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Ask a neighbor, friend, or relative in advance whether they can collect or care for your animal if you are away. Give that person the animal’s routine, where the carrier and go-bag are stored, your destination options, and the contacts they may need. Make sure they can access the animal and its supplies, and agree on a backup person if they are unavailable.
Be clear about the role you are asking the person to take on: collecting the animal, taking it to a destination, or caring for it if you cannot return right away. Share the information needed to carry out the agreed task, including how to reach you and where to find the animal’s supplies. Check in with the helper periodically so the plan does not rely on an outdated phone number or an assumption that they are still available.
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Keep an emergency contact outside your immediate area in your pet’s records. Ready.gov recommends an out-of-area contact because local communications or access may be disrupted. Include current ways to reach you and your helper, and update the details when phone numbers or addresses change. Also keep the local emergency-management, animal-control, and shelter contacts with the plan so the helper can check local information if needed.
How should I prepare my pet for transport?
Have secure, appropriate transport available for every animal. FEMA’s CERT Animal Response guide lists a carrier or airline kennel for each animal, along with a collar and identification, leash, harness, and muzzle where appropriate. Choose containment that suits the animal and that you can manage safely; do not assume a carrier is suitable for every species, vehicle, or transport provider.
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Get the animal accustomed to its carrier or other transport equipment as part of ordinary preparation, where appropriate for that animal. On evacuation day, the goal is to be able to contain and move the animal without searching for equipment or improvising. Keep a backup collar and ID tag with the kit, and include a leash or harness even if the animal usually travels in a carrier.
If you may use a commercial transport provider, check its current animal and equipment rules directly. The phrase “airline kennel” in an older FEMA checklist is not a guarantee that any particular carrier meets a specific airline’s current requirements. Confirm the provider’s requirements for the animal and equipment you plan to use rather than relying on a general checklist.
What should I put in a pet emergency go-bag?
Pack supplies around your own animal’s normal needs, using several days of food and water as a practical starting point. Ready.gov recommends several days; FEMA’s older CERT Animal Response instructor guide specifies a 72-hour evacuation go-kit, including three days of food and water. Neither time frame guarantees how long an emergency will last, so adapt the supplies to local risks and your animal’s needs.
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- Food and water: Pack the animal’s regular food and drinking water, plus a bowl. Keep food in an airtight, waterproof container. FEMA’s older checklist names three days of food and water; Ready.gov says several days.
- Medication and first aid: Bring regular medicines in a waterproof container and a first-aid kit appropriate to the animal. Ask your veterinarian what is suitable for your pet rather than treating a generic kit as veterinary advice.
- Containment and handling: Include a secure carrier or kennel for each animal, a backup collar and ID tag, a leash or harness, and a muzzle if appropriate.
- Records and contacts: Include vaccination and registration papers, veterinarian contact information, emergency contacts, microchip information, and a current photo of you with the animal. Keep the owner’s contact details on microchip records current.
- Sanitation and comfort: Pack litter and a litter box where relevant, trash bags, paper towels, and cleaning supplies. Add bedding, familiar toys, and treats to help maintain a sense of familiarity during displacement.
Think through each item in terms of the animal’s routine: what it eats, drinks, needs for sanitation, and uses for safe handling. A packed supply category is only useful if it is appropriate for that animal. Include the regular food rather than assuming a substitute will be available, and make sure the kit includes a bowl for food or water.
The waterproof details matter in more than one part of the kit: FEMA’s CERT list includes food kept in an airtight, waterproof container, and Ready.gov recommends waterproof storage for medicines. A waterproof pouch can also keep paper records together. These containers help organize and protect supplies; they do not eliminate the need to check contents and replace them when they are no longer usable.
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The 72-hour figure is an evacuation-kit recommendation in FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team Animal Response I: Instructor Guide, dated July 2010. Ready.gov’s Prepare Your Pets for Disasters handout instead recommends several days of food and water. Treat both as planning guidance, not a promise about the length of an emergency or a one-size-fits-all quantity. Your animal’s regular needs and local circumstances should shape the kit.
Adjust the list rather than assuming every pet can use the same supplies. Food, water, containment, sanitation, medicines, and transport needs differ among animals. For a bird, small mammal, reptile, fish, livestock animal, or pet with complex medical needs, ask a veterinarian and local emergency-management resources how to adapt the plan.
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How do I organize identification and records?
Keep a paper copy of essential records with the go-bag and an electronic copy that can be reached separately. FEMA’s STEP curriculum recommends storing important documents in waterproof or fireproof form or electronically. A waterproof pouch can help protect paper copies in the kit.
Include vaccination and registration information, veterinarian details, the animal’s microchip information, and an up-to-date photo. Ready.gov recommends current address and phone details on the microchip record, as well as an emergency contact outside the immediate area. A photo of you with your pet can help show that the animal is yours if you become separated. Add a short description of the animal and make sure the contact information is legible and current.
Keep the photo and records accessible to the person who may help you, not just in a place only you can reach. The plan should let someone identify the animal, contact you or your veterinarian, and find the destination information if you are separated from your supplies. Paper and electronic copies provide two ways to reach the important details; keep the electronic copy somewhere separate from the paper pouch.
Where should I keep the bag, and how often should I check it?
Store the go-bag where you can reach it quickly, and make sure the household members or backup caregiver know where it is. FEMA’s STEP curriculum also recommends planning what else must be taken and accounting for pets’ special needs.
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Review the contents periodically. Replace food, water, or medicines as needed, and update records and contact details when they change. Check that the carrier, leash, harness, and other equipment are still usable and suitable for the animal. Keep a short list of any additional items you would need to take so you are not trying to remember everything during an evacuation.
Practice the household emergency communication plan and review where the kit is kept and what it contains. A simple rehearsal can reveal practical gaps, such as a helper not knowing how to reach the carrier or a planned destination not having confirmed that it accepts the animal. Review the contact details and destination choices as part of that practice, not only the physical items in the bag.
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Keep the evacuation kit portable and easy to identify among other household supplies. The essentials should be ready to take, while the written plan can remind you what additional items you may need to gather. FEMA’s STEP curriculum recommends both keeping the kit accessible and considering what else must go with you.
What changes if I stay home instead of evacuating?
An evacuation go-bag is not the same as supplies for sheltering at home. FEMA’s July 2010 CERT Animal Response instructor guide lists a two-week food and water reserve for staying at home, compared with its 72-hour evacuation kit. Treat those figures as recommendations from an older training checklist, not a guarantee that a particular reserve will fit every household or emergency.
Plan separately for the possibility that you remain at home and for the possibility that you must leave. Keep the evacuation supplies portable and ready to take; account for additional home supplies according to your animal’s needs and local preparedness guidance. The two-week home reserve and the three-day evacuation list serve different planning situations in the older guide; they are not interchangeable quantities for every circumstance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can I make the plan work for different animals?
Use the general checklist as a starting point, not a universal recipe. A dog or cat may need a carrier or kennel, leash, food, water, and sanitation supplies; another species may need different containment, care, or transport arrangements. FEMA’s CERT guide mentions pet and service-animal supplies, but it does not provide a single set of requirements for every animal or transport situation.
Ask your veterinarian about species-specific food, medicine, first aid, water, and handling needs. Contact local emergency-management resources about available arrangements in your area. For any transport provider or destination, verify current rules directly and explain what kind of animal you have and what equipment it needs.
For each animal, make the plan answer the same practical questions: what supplies it needs, how it can be contained and moved, what records identify it, and which destinations will accept it. The answers may differ among animals in the same household. Do not assume that a location or carrier suitable for one animal will work for another.
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- Confirm a primary destination outside the hazard area and an alternative; verify that each accepts your specific animal and its equipment.
- Arrange a backup person who can collect or care for the animal if you cannot get home, and share access and instructions.
- Keep local emergency management, animal control, shelter, veterinarian, and out-of-area contact details accessible.
- Prepare secure transport for every animal, with appropriate collar, ID, leash or harness, and other handling equipment.
- Pack several days of regular food and water, a bowl, medicines, an animal-appropriate first-aid kit, records, sanitation items, and familiar comfort items.
- Keep current identification, microchip details, vaccination and registration records, and an animal photo in paper and electronic form.
- Store the bag where it can be reached quickly, review it periodically, and practice the household communication plan.
- Check local destination and transport arrangements directly, and update the plan if a contact, policy, or animal need changes.
Ready.gov’s Prepare Your Pets for Disasters handout, FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team Animal Response I: Instructor Guide, dated July 2010, and FEMA’s Student Tools for Emergency Planning (STEP): Disaster Supplies—At Home and Away inform this checklist. The CERT guide is an older training document; use its detailed list as a planning aid and confirm current local arrangements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much pet food should I store if I need to shelter at home?
FEMA’s July 2010 CERT Animal Response instructor guide lists a two-week food and water reserve for staying at home. It is an older preparedness recommendation, so consider your animal’s needs and local guidance rather than treating it as a guarantee.
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Should I keep my pet’s emergency records only in the go-bag?
No. Keep paper copies accessible with the supplies and an electronic copy stored separately, so one missing or inaccessible bag does not leave you without key information. FEMA’s STEP curriculum recommends waterproof or fireproof storage or electronic copies.
What should I ask my veterinarian before an evacuation?
Ask what medicines and first-aid supplies are appropriate for your specific animal, and what species-specific food, water, handling, or transport needs to plan for. The official checklists provide categories, but they are not individualized veterinary advice.
Where can I evacuate with my pet?
Investigate a friend or relative’s home, pet-friendly lodging, boarding, or a veterinary clinic outside the threatened area. Call ahead to confirm that the specific animal and any needed equipment are accepted, and keep an alternative because policies can change.
How much food and water should go in a pet evacuation kit?
Ready.gov recommends several days of food and water. FEMA’s July 2010 CERT Animal Response guide lists three days, or 72 hours, for an evacuation kit. These are planning recommendations, so adapt them to your animal’s needs and local circumstances.
Do I need a carrier for every pet?
FEMA’s CERT Animal Response checklist calls for a carrier or airline kennel for each animal. Choose secure containment appropriate to the animal and confirm any current transport-provider requirements; the checklist does not guarantee that a particular carrier meets every provider’s rules.
What if a public shelter or hotel does not accept my animal?
Do not assume acceptance. Confirm destinations in advance and identify alternatives such as a friend or relative, boarding, pet-friendly lodging, or a veterinary clinic outside the affected area. Keep local emergency-management and animal-shelter contacts with your plan.
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Review it periodically, replace food, water, and medicines as needed, update records and contacts when they change, and check that handling equipment remains usable. FEMA’s STEP curriculum also recommends keeping the kit accessible and reviewing the household plan.
The Bottom Line
Choose and confirm destinations before an emergency, arrange a backup caregiver, and prepare safe transport for every animal. Keep several days of food and water, medicines, identification and records, sanitation items, and familiar comforts in an accessible kit. Verify local acceptance and transport rules directly, then review and practice the plan so another person can use it if needed.
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