As promised, a post about Pet Safety written by Carol Seithel.
When you journey with pets you have to make sure each pet is comfortable with traveling. Some pets can’t handle travel because of illness, age or temperament. This will put undo stress on the them and could affect their health.
Part of traveling with pets is keeping them safe. Make sure your pet is micro chipped and the contact information is up to date with the company monitoring. In addition to being chipped, your pet should wear identification with current phone numbers. This could be in the form of an embroidered collar or ID tags. You should have a current photo of your pet in both the hard copy and digital form.
Having a Canine Good Citizen Award from the AKC is a bonus for your pet as well.
While traveling in your vehicle, your pet should be restrained. This can be achieved by using a kennel that is secured by straps or seatbelts. If the dog is small you can use a small impact crate secured using seatbelts behind the passenger or drivers seat. If you are driving an SUV most of them are equipped with metal loops in the rear hatch area. If you can’t use a crate, try using a crash tested harness with a tether safety belt that clips into the vehicle’s seatbelt mechanism. Bottom line, we don’t want our pets becoming projectiles, injuring us or themselves.
Make sure your pets are fully vaccinated. Some camp grounds or hotels require proof, so you should be able to provide a hard copy or have the records digitally on your phone. You should also talk with your vet about flea/tick and heart worm prevention. It is much better to be proactive than treating the costly diseases after the fact.
Now that we have covered the safety of our pets, lets get into some emergency care. You should always be prepared and have a plan before an emergency happens and you are no longer thinking clearly. If you travel in an RV like we do, you may not have cell service while traveling in remote areas. As soon as you have your campground booked, you should find the nearest 24 hour vet. Make sure you save off the address and phone number. This way you have all your information in case you can’t bring it up on the phone. This helped us when our little dog had an emergency and we didn’t have great cell service. We had the phone number of a few vets and enough bars to make a phone call. If you do have cell/internet service this is a good website to check accredited vet hospitals - Vet Hospital Locator.
It’s good practice to have some sort of first aid kit while traveling. You can purchase a kit but its cheaper to make your own and you can customize it to suit your pet’s needs. Points to remember when assembling your kit; your ability to administer 1st aid, how many pets you own, their activity level and the travel/time you will be away from home.
This link will give you an extensive list to build your own kit. Building a First Aid Kit for your Pets
It is always good to have basic first aid training. I teach a pet first aid/CPR class and I am certified through PetTech. Comment on this post if you are interested in taking a class or check PetTech for a class in your area.
Great Travel Update. Thanks for sharing