Just read a couple posts about hurricane evacuation. 

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f2/nothing-like-real-life-experience-7883/.

This has a link to a long blog with lots of information on Katrina, and all the stuff that went wrong. 

www.theplacewithnoname.com

There is some information on the pet problems people had.

So what would you do with children, pets, and evacuation problems?  Have you had experiences like this?

Some critter gag photos

Pupz on patrol

Little guyz

The critters we care about.

Lily resting up for a fetch game

A little guy[look above to see him now]

Daring Diesel of the Far Specific Northwest

A fierce herd protector keeps watch

A starting Journey

About dog food:  canned food stores best.  Shelf life should be at least 2 years. Dr. Fox at www.twobitdog.com has a lot of recommendations about dog food.

Dry dog food would have to have additional storage precautions.  A 'supersurvivalist/powerprepper' uses food grade buckets, mylar liners, dessicant, and CO2 oxygen displacing techniques for long term storage.  This might be appropriate for dry dog food also, to prevent the oils in the food from going rancid.  One might get several years of storage life this way.

Dr. Fox has a homebrew dog and cat recommendation.  A proposed 'tough times' variation on his dog food recipe would use plain old canned beef, lamb, or poultry with rice, canned sweet taters. and whatever supplements [yeast, cider, vitamins] are available.

This tough times approach would just involve stocking up on ingredients which would tide humans and pups over until things get more stable.

By preparing large quantities of canned meat, storing brown sproutable rice and other ingredients for maximum shelf life, pup pops and moms can provide for themselves and their pets.

Well, grandpuppy Lily is visiting.  She's a real superpup, getting older, but still a super fielder.  Will chase balls, frisbees, boomerangs.[yeah, she's part dingo, so it must be an instinct to chase boomerangs], but she doesn't seem to have the herding instinct so much.  I'd thought she might have an Australian cattle dog background.

Have to get a chase toy for her.

Traveling cat

Here's a grandpuddykat accompanied by one of her staff.  She's been everywhere, boys, she's crossed the deserts fair...well, maybe not that much travelin', but she's done her share.

Just a note about the song:  the original version is from Australia, there are versions for just about everyplace.  They are all over utube.

No pictures yet of Lily the wonderpup fetch champ.

A flea and a fly in a flue

Hey, we are trying to survive some flea problems.  Early this spring, something, possibly mice or rats showed up in the upstairs, which was sort of abandoned since the kids have left home.  I noticed chewing/munching noises from the walls or upstairs, thought the corn snake our daughter let loose might have gotten in the walls, grown to gigantic size, and was getting ready to invade and kill us all.  But it seemed more likely that rodents were the problem,

Rodents are not cool in houses.  Hanta virus, fleas and plague, who knows what can get you next.  So I was supposed to set traps, but tried a plug in ultrasound pest repeller first.  Thought it might save the mess and hassle of traps.

Seems to have worked; the noises stopped.  Later, I got complaints about fleas.  So I did a major vac job on the upstairs carpet, This hasn't stopped everything, so I used the Hartz flea spray.  Still got complaints, so I looked up the ultimate flea solution [excluding nuclear blasts].

Low temp, low humidity, and vacuuming seem to be best. 

Diatomaceous earth and salt can be sprinkled on carpets.  Borax and borate products are not good for people or pets, although borax is a laundry aid, and blown in cellulose insulation is treated with borax, if I remember correctly.

Some herbal stuff is recommended.  Southernwood, wormwood, rue, tansy, are some, fleabane, maybe.  Crushed fennel seeds are supposed to be good in pet bedding.

Green mentholated alcohol, diluted 1 to 3 parts water can be sprayed on bedding or put in wash water.  This would have to be checked for color fastness.

Economic stress is here.  Folks who don't consider themselves 'preppers', or 'survivalists' still have to stretch their shekels.  Frugality isn't frivolous.  Counting change, conserving coin, and clipping coupons can contravene connivers cultivating cataclysmic catastrophe.

So how's that relate to Rover?  Well, Rover or Fido or whoever is a close member of your family.  You want to give them the best nutrition possible.  You probably feel the need to have dog food stored for emergencies. There are times when you can't get to the store to get hound dawg food.

So you're going to stockpile some dog food. If you're like me, you'd like to have food the dogs will eat.  At this point, my family has been getting a salmon and sweet potato dog food that doesn't seem to appeal to the dogs. They will put up with it, but loose interest fast. Now what?  Is this a good thing? If the dogs eat lightly, they won't get fat, right? But if they're leaving their food, should we feed less, or check to see if there is something wrong with the food?  Could it be rancid, or just off a little?  Could it need a little something to help the taste?  I've tried making a gravy dressing with canned dog food or boullion or canned meat, and the two smaller dogs clean their plate, but the Malamute still isn't that impressed.

So I'm troubleshooting, and welcome any ideas on emergency dog rations and good dog nutrition.