How To Keep Your Pets Safe During A Tornado Or Severe Weather

During severe weather, protecting your family and property from tornado damage becomes the top priority. Pet owners should consider the safety of furry family members.

Here are some tips for ensuring you are “pet-pared” whenever tornadoes or severe weather comes your way, based on tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other expert sources:

1. Build A Tornado Kit For Your Pet

It’s important to have a disaster preparedness kit ready in case of an emergency. If a potential tornado heads your way, you need to have quick access to essential supplies. And pet owners need to go one step further by ensuring you have a tornado kit for your pet as well.

Here are some ideas of what you should pack in a pet tornado kit:

• Extra supply of any needed medication
• Several day’s worth of food in an airtight container
• Travel equipment like carriers or crates
• Pet food and water bowls
• Grooming supplies
• A photo of you and your pet(s) together
• Familiar items such as toys or bedding to soothe your pet

2. Identify Suitable Shelters

If you have a basement or designated tornado shelter on your property, then you probably needn’t worry about finding a nearby shelter location. But, if you live in a home without a basement, or a mobile home, and plan to rely on nearby public shelters when a tornado strikes, you need to do your research ahead of time. Also be sure to plan ahead with family and friends if you intend to shelter with them.

Many public shelters and hotels do not allow pets. Using your city or county’s municipal website, find public shelters near you and confirm whether or not.

3. Have Your Pet Microchipped

Microchips implanted under a pet’s skin are a way for lost pets to be reunited with their owners in case of emergency. Shelters, humane groups and veterinarians across the country now commonly check for these implanted microchips when they come across a lost pet.

When a tornado strikes, it is easy to become separated from your pet. A microchip could be the difference between losing your furry friend forever and being reunited.

4​. Develop A Buddy System

You can’t stay at home all the time. That’s why it’s important to build relationships with your neighbors. If you ever find yourself out of the house or on vacation when a tornado watch or warning is issued, you need to have someone nearby that you can rely on to protect your pets, if possible.

5. Consider A ‘Pet Inside’ Sticker

The first moments of recovery after a tornado strikes are crucial. Informing search and rescuers of pets inside your home could save crucial moments after a disaster.

Consider adding a “pet inside” sticker to a front window or door of your home listing the number of animals living in the home and displaying an emergency contact phone number.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals offers to send pet owners one of these stickers for free.

6​. Stay Informed

Ensuring you know about potential incoming severe weather, including tornadoes, is a major part of weather preparedness. After all, no matter how prepared you are, if you don’t know to take shelter then it’s all for naught.

Make sure you have multiple avenues for receiving emergency alerts.

Enable emergency alerts on your cell phone and consider enabling notifications through the Weather Channel app. It's also a good idea to pay attention to local TV, outdoor sirens and NOAA weather radio alerts if you have access.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.