What does your pet need in a bug out situation?
If for any reason you need to evacuate, and a pet is a member of your family, there are things you’ll need to consider. You don’t want to be scrambling last minute if you’re not prepared. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re endangering yourself, your family, or your puppy. With foresight and planning, you can avoid that though.
What Do I Need to Bug Out With My Pets?
You heading out the door to evacuate and you grab your pup on the way out. Do you have what they need? You’ll probably start by thinking about the day to day things- food, a leash, etc. There are additional things you’ll want to consider as well so you can take care of whatever needs you or your dog may have as you’re bugging out. We’ve separated out the list of gear and things you’ll need to bug out with your dog into the following.
Gear Categories for Your Pets’ Bug Out Bag
- Food
- Water
- Tools
- Medicine and First Aid
Dog Bug Out Bag List
You will want to either add this stuff to your own bug out bag, or make a separate bag just for the dog. You might already have some of this stuff, but ideally you’d want separate gear for a bug out situation. If you need to evacuate quick, the less you need to pack the better. It could mean the difference between life and death for you or your dog.
Food for Your Pet Bug Out Bag
Treats
Have a treat that your dog likes if you need to reinforce behavior. Bugging out is stressful, and your pets might be more tense and less obedient. Having a treat will help. I would also recommend having a treat like jerky that you can eat as well if need be. People point out that humans can also eat kibble, but I’d rather eat jerky. If you prefer kibble, knock yourself out.
Dry or Freeze Dried Pet Food
Wet pet food is heavy. Just like you don’t want cans of wet foods in your pack for yourself, you don’t want the water weight for your cat, dog, or hedgehog either. Dry food allows you to carry more, and to carry it easier. If your pet can’t eat dry food for whatever reason, make sure you’ve thought of how to carry the extra weight or consider freeze dried food that you can reconstitute. They actually make freeze dried dog food, and freeze dried cat foot.
Water for Your Pet’s Bug Out Bag
Water filter
If you’re planning on a life straw for your own water filtration, how are you going to get clean water for your pets? Yes, dirty water can kill a animal family member just as easily as a human. Our recommendation is the platypus water filter. This system is extremely durable, and is a gravity flow system, so it’s very easy to use. It’s our go to water filtration system 99% of the time, for pets and people.
Pet water bottle
Stay mobile with a pet water bottle. This pet bug out bag essential has a bowl built into the bottle, requiring one less piece of equipment. We love these for bugging out, and road trips, but remember, you want a separate one just for bugging out.
Tools for Your Pet Bug Out Bag
Leash or Carrying Case
Having a leash for your dog, cat, lizard, etc. just makes things more flexible in a bug out situation. If you need to take off on foot, or have your animals stretch their legs during a bug out drive, having a leash will be so important. Additionally, having a portable carrying case is also vital. If you don’t have a carrying case for your hamster, that poor little guy is either getting left behind, or odds are good that he can be squished unintentionally. Every pet you’ve got needs a carrying case, all the way up to a horse, with a horse trailer.
Poop bags
Sanitation is so important. Keeping poop away from water, food, and away from your shelter in general is so important. If there’s an evacuation, there are often large groups of people in evacuation centers. Being able to bag your pet’s waste will also help make sure you’re not separated from your fur baby while bugging out, so put the bags in your bug out bag. Even for animals that you wouldn’t normally think of bagging their poop, have bags, and bag it up.
Medicine and First Aid
I’m not going to give any specifics here, because it varies by your pet, and their needs. Having a first aid kit that works for a person will cover a lot of your first aid needs for your animals as well, you just might want more of it. Additionally, having some antibiotics and some flea and tic treatments is also advisable in your bug out bag. In an evacuation or bug out situation, you’re the vet.
Pre-made dog bug out bag
You can actually buy a bug out bag or evacuation kit for your dog. They make pre-made kits for other pets as well, but this dog kit really illustrates what is possible, and kind of what you’d get for most animals in a pre-made kit. This kit comes with most everything mentioned. If you just want to have a good enough solution and your primary plan is to bug in instead of bugging out, then you might just want to buy one of these, throw it in the same closet as your other bug out bags, and not worry about it. If your primary goal is to bug out, or your dog has specific needs, you’ll want to build your own kit from the ground up.
Should you bug out with a pets?
Are they family or are they a tool? Our dog was a family member. My uncle raises cow dogs, and those are tools. Their name is either dog or spot. He wouldn’t bug out with his dog. It’s a tool. We’ve had other pets, like chickens or ducks, that were at varying places on that spectrum. I figure most people reading this have a pet that’s a member of the family. If they’re family, make sure you’re prepared to take care of your family.
What’s the Status of Your Personal Bug Out Bag?
Taking care of your pets is important, but you need all the right gear in a SHTF scenario to take care of yourself first, and there is little margin for error. When your life depends on it, you want to make sure you’ve got all the right gear. For that reason we put together an extensive bug out bag checklist to help you determine if you’re prepared, should you ever need to get out of dodge.
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