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Disasters & House Animals

KimPossible

Banned
Its not really talked about or probably even thought what will you do with your pets during a Disaster. Do you have plans for your little loved ones once the bombs drop? Do you have enough ration for them? Are they fit, young, and trained enough to hunt?

In any scenario are your animals tamed enough to listen and come at your command, or would you be wasting valued time chasing them to get them to safety, instead of heading for shelter or prep for impending attack.

There is one fact we all know and most of nature can out run us even with our fancy gizmos. So having animals fight nature for your food is a big benefit, but if your animal is older, or a cat and not able to hunt what poses the purpose of saving them?

Can your animal defend you from unwanted guests?.... There are a lot more things to think of but these are just from the top of my head. Please comment on what your incite is about this subject.
 
People are going to have to make a lot of hard decisions in an EOTWAWKI scenario. We have no children (and if we did, I would see to it that we didn't). We have a Giant Malamute and a medium sized cat, both about the same age. The Malamute can hunt small game and offers early warning/defense against intruders. She will earn her keep. Sadly, the cat doesn't do much but eat, sleep, shit, and throw up. We don't have a mouse problem, due in part to her, probably, but she won't be be worth feeding if SHTF. We do keep an emergency supply of pet food in our shelter, so it won't be an instantaneous thing. Once that runs out, though, we'll need to discuss turning her loose in the wild where she has no experience hunting or defending herself, or just putting her down as humanely as possible.

We are well-prepared to take care of our pets during a temporary crisis. But if it's going to be a long-term survival situation, anything that consumes resources without providing a tangible benefit will have to go.

Sadly, a lot of people won't understand this, to their detriment.
 
Yes, very well thought out and great decisive thinking. Saddly not a lot of people like you said will not understand or be able to cut lose any "third leg" that will end up holding you back or even worse causing your own demise. Animals will be a big undecided and unthought of challenge when it comes to disasters and I don't think many will be ready to depart from there little loved ones. This is why I started this thread, its tough to think or talk about as I view my animals as my own kids just like many others here i am sure. But its a eventuality that will come up during a disaster, and better to think and plan now then at the heat of the moment.
 
The hard decisions don't stop with animals, unfortunately. That newborn baby's crying might give away your hiding place. Not to mention, it's going to be at least 5 years before that child can start contributing to resources instead of just consuming them. The 90 year-old grandparent is in the same boat, although they might have important knowledge they can teach to others. Handicapped children or family members? Not real conducive to surviving a long-term disaster. The diabetic uncle? Once the insulin runs out, what do you do?

The only way through this is to think about it in advance, because if you don't, you'll be making emotional decisions under extreme stress rather than logical plans considered and thought out without the stress of whatever disaster has occurred. And that means almost all the decisions made will be bad ones.

At least one person in every surviving family or group is going to have to be cold enough to carry out what no one really wants to do, but is necessary for the continued survival of the group.
 
I have had lots of time to think about this, due to the pandemic. Heck , I got married during the pandemic. Now my wife and Belgian Shepherd Dog are included in the plan.
Bond is perfectly capable of hunting, herding and contributing to security needs. In no way is he getting left behind. My wife has MS and it is the same for her. Not getting left behind.

Not everyone feels the same way. I get that. It is all about your personal feelings on the matter. My group is absolutely fine with this.
 
Offal
the first thing a wild animal including your pet will eat off a fresh kill is what you will never touch anyway.
boil it or roast it on the fire to minimize parasites if you can.
Very few wild animals will eat the meat first thing. They let the meat marinate a few days to tenderize if there is no competition to consume it right away.

This where all the crazy cattle mutilation stories come from
“Oh the eyes the lips toung and genitalia were missing. Must be alien experiment or satanist”

first things first and that’s the soft exposed parts then the offal.
so give them what they will eat naturally anyway.
Dog food for the short term to maintain civility but beyond that they and you will have to figure it out because that’s just the way of things.

I’ve always maintained dogs don’t eat kibbles because they prefer it. But because their owners do.
Hard to snuggle with a hound who just choked down a young rabbit whole. 🤣
You just scratch their ears and say “good boy, now go away before you cough the dang thing up on the porch.”
 
Its not really talked about or probably even thought what will you do with your pets during a Disaster. Do you have plans for your little loved ones once the bombs drop? Do you have enough ration for them? Are they fit, young, and trained enough to hunt?

In any scenario are your animals tamed enough to listen and come at your command, or would you be wasting valued time chasing them to get them to safety, instead of heading for shelter or prep for impending attack.

There is one fact we all know and most of nature can out run us even with our fancy gizmos. So having animals fight nature for your food is a big benefit, but if your animal is older, or a cat and not able to hunt what poses the purpose of saving them?

Can your animal defend you from unwanted guests?.... There are a lot more things to think of but these are just from the top of my head. Please comment on what your incite is about this subject.
what would i do with my pets??? probably eat them... i know that comment probably just horrified some, but the truth is, at some point you will run out of supplies. at that point, fluffy will taste as good as anything else, and be less dangerous to procure then going out scavenging in a wrol/shtf type of society..
 
I have determined that I would rather starve than eat my pets.

I know, easy to say now. But when it comes down to it, yeah. Not eating them.
Well, the cat goes first. We have an emergency supply of cat food for her, but once that's exhausted, she gets turned loose outside. She contributes nothing toward long-term survival. The dog, however, gets to stay, and will eat our leftovers once her emergency food stocks run out. She *does* contribute to long-term survival as a watchdog, guard dog, hunter, and general deterrent. Plus if we have to go mobile she can carry a small pack of supplies.

All that being said, I'm not above killing a family pet for food, but if we're to the point where that is the only food available to us, we're only prolonging our own deaths by a few days at most by doing that, so what's the point? I will always save two .50 caliber hollow points with magnum loads for my muzzleloader if it comes to that. Quick and painless.
 
You're absolutely right about this. Put down a bowl of kibble next to a bowl of steak and see which one he goes to!
Given the choice between kibble and a piece of meat(even if it’s overcooked,not raw),Bond will take that meat every time. Kibble is more compact for storage,doesn’t need refrigeration and the good stuff will meet their dietary needs… but that’s it.

I give him some raw meat every week. Does wonders for him.

Sorry,I ramble sometimes.🤷🤦😂
 
that's a subject that I really forgot to cover in all that stuff I did months ago with emergency prepping. I do apologize for not covering that issue in at least some respects. It's a very tough decision that folks will have to make if we have a SHTF situation. I'll just cover my thoughts quickly. Now, remember, each and every situation will be different. I'll take nuclear first, and just lightly cover.

I'm alone and have two dogs. One is a half eastern German Shepherd and black lab. His mother was a full blooded trained, certified dual purpose K9 police dog, trained for narcotics and protection. Now, with genetics, he is a natural protector, very smart and except for the narcotics training, he is just like momma was. Now, he is getting older, (right at 9 years now) but he's certainly earned his keep through the years, and has gotten some bad folk bitten before I moved to this area. He is 140 pounds (not fat, just a huge dog) and will absolutely eat your lunch if he doesn't know you.

so, if there is a situation with nuclear, he's certainly a keeper. Now, his daughter (pup) was him and belgin Malawaw (can't remember spelling) when she was little, she was severe4ly traumatized by the bad folks that I was battling, so as far as protection goes, she probably wouldn't protect, although she wants to, and might bite, I wouldn't put faith in it. Now, for breeding, she has the real good genetics, so there's a possibility.

If I did see that radiation sickness was kicking in, I'd put them down, because I certainly don't want to see either of them suffer. Of course, it would kill me, but what do you do??? tough questions that hopefully never have to be answered.

Just remember one thing--dry dog food really doesn't have that good of a shelf life, so don't depend on that. Canned food is the only answer, and remember, they drink a ton of water. the one thing that isn't mentioned is fleas. Any dog has fleas and they can multiply quickly. If you've ever gone through a flea infestation, trust me, it's not pleasant and can be dangerous, because fleas carry diseases of all sorts.

Maybe I need to do some research and thought and add a section for pets and the SHTF scenario.
 
I have a 6 cats and a dog.
Tough choices, but my cats already hunt outside. My dog just poses a risk to PEOPLE hungry. As does your dog, regardless of if you like it or not. My dog has a lot of meat on it too...90lbs of dog.
My cats will just stop coming home without food, not exactly too hard on my mental or anything, they are indoor outdoor, and its already a risk they wont come back, for whatever reason.

I'm not prepared for anything though. I have some marijuana seeds, though, so I'm hoping long term in anything but nuclear winter(which I'm not sure would happen in a nuclear war), I would have a good trade source. But most animals and people in my house would be "undesirable". 80yo grandma developing dementia, epileptic dad, cats, dog, and my mom isn't really in shape (long term no-meds-used condition). I'm a skilled young man, I'm not the center of the worries here. Chances are ill survive whether I like it or not.

We have a month of preserved food on hand or so, probably 6 months of frozen food. What would I do? Id feed every damn human and animal In the house I could until I couldn't, then I'd do everything I could to continue. Then I would starve with them, or before them. What the hell am I supposed to do in an apocalypse without a soul to talk to? An animal to pet? Sometimes the social bonds keep you alive more than food. Most people would not eat their own pet, they would ABSOLUTELY eat yours.
 
that's a subject that I really forgot to cover in all that stuff I did months ago with emergency prepping. I do apologize for not covering that issue in at least some respects. It's a very tough decision that folks will have to make if we have a SHTF situation. I'll just cover my thoughts quickly. Now, remember, each and every situation will be different. I'll take nuclear first, and just lightly cover.

I'm alone and have two dogs. One is a half eastern German Shepherd and black lab. His mother was a full blooded trained, certified dual purpose K9 police dog, trained for narcotics and protection. Now, with genetics, he is a natural protector, very smart and except for the narcotics training, he is just like momma was. Now, he is getting older, (right at 9 years now) but he's certainly earned his keep through the years, and has gotten some bad folk bitten before I moved to this area. He is 140 pounds (not fat, just a huge dog) and will absolutely eat your lunch if he doesn't know you.

so, if there is a situation with nuclear, he's certainly a keeper. Now, his daughter (pup) was him and belgin Malawaw (can't remember spelling) when she was little, she was severe4ly traumatized by the bad folks that I was battling, so as far as protection goes, she probably wouldn't protect, although she wants to, and might bite, I wouldn't put faith in it. Now, for breeding, she has the real good genetics, so there's a possibility.

If I did see that radiation sickness was kicking in, I'd put them down, because I certainly don't want to see either of them suffer. Of course, it would kill me, but what do you do??? tough questions that hopefully never have to be answered.

Just remember one thing--dry dog food really doesn't have that good of a shelf life, so don't depend on that. Canned food is the only answer, and remember, they drink a ton of water. the one thing that isn't mentioned is fleas. Any dog has fleas and they can multiply quickly. If you've ever gone through a flea infestation, trust me, it's not pleasant and can be dangerous, because fleas carry diseases of all sorts.

Maybe I need to do some research and thought and add a section for pets and the SHTF scenario.
Belgian Malinois. Short coated version of my boy. Very good dogs to have,but you have to keep them busy or trouble will start.😂

My boy is learning tracking,protection and agility. He earns his keep here,every day. I keep him in good health,stock up food for him regularly and make sure he gets socialized lots.

If SHTF,he’s my go to for a few things. My wife and I will be safe.

There are a few good links out there,concerning pet first aid and holistic medicine. I’ll see if I can drag them up for you.
 
Id feed every damn human and animal In the house I could until I couldn't, then I'd do everything I could to continue. Then I would starve with them, or before them. What the hell am I supposed to do in an apocalypse without a soul to talk to? An animal to pet? Sometimes the social bonds keep you alive more than food.
We are more than a species of animal as homo sapiens. Many of us also consider ourselves human beings, despite this horrific state of war, violence, and threats against world peace. We choose to be human beings. We choose mercy and dignity. There are those who keep seeking to only be a species of animal. Whatever may come in the future, we have to keep working to find the courage to be the human beings that we know we are. I Am A Human Being.
 
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Given the choice between kibble and a piece of meat(even if it’s overcooked,not raw),Bond will take that meat every time. Kibble is more compact for storage,doesn’t need refrigeration and the good stuff will meet their dietary needs… but that’s it.

I give him some raw meat every week. Does wonders for him.

Sorry,I ramble sometimes.🤷🤦😂
Wow! You can afford to buy meat! Good for you! (y)
 
I'd rather turn them loose if it came to that. Give them a fighting chance.
We love our cats but I don't know about turning them loose. They have never been outside and I don't think they could survive on their own and would die a miserable death, slowly. We have taken in animals that have been dropped before and it is a very sad thing to see them cold and starving.
 
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