Pets in your scenario..

[JedB]

So, after reading some of these threads, i have found quite a bit of practical advice for food, food storage, suggestions on ammunition (quantity, type, storage, etc), what to stock in your medical kit, and quite a few on water.

What I have not seen is how your pets are going to play into your scenarios.

1) Will they just get scraps from whatever you don't eat?
2) Will they be abandoned to fend for themselves?
3) Has someone thought out a plan for their dog(s)? Their cat(s)?
4) Are they your backup source of food? (In the very extreme worst case ever scenario)

Thanks for the input, plans or suggestions.

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[Sun195]

We normally have quite a bit of food around for our dog. I suppose if I was really on top of things, I'd always have a back-up bag of kibble in reserve. Beyond that, he'd get leftovers from whatever we were eating (which he'd probably like better than kibble anyway). Water flows in the stream next to our house - that'd be good enough for him.

Things obviously get complicated if/when you have to move around. Shelters don't take animals, but I doubt many folks here are looking for a shelter (never say never, though). If I had to resort to that, I guess I'd either leave him in the car or stay with him in the car (while the family was in the shelter). I'm assuming that I'd have a car, of course...

 

[1bigfoot]

My pets a Quarter horse, pretty much self sustaining in a shtf scenario. If it gets real bad, well he's a little old so he'll be tough.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Anyone who loves a pet and and thinks of it as family should store enough food and water for the pet in a SHTF scenario. That means if you have enough food and water to last yourself six months, you should do the same for the pet. Just rotate like you do your own food stores. Remember that expiration dates on just about everything are greatly exaggerated.

 

[nubus]

In a real worst case scenario, I will miss them.

 

[baada]

If it doesn't have a purpose other than comfort, it's a morale booster. Until I'm hungry.

 

[EZLivin]

The dogs are too valuable (as watch dogs). Hey! Maybe it makes sense to forget all the other food, and just store a ****load of Kirkland dog food and powdered milk. That way the whole family will have plenty to eat. Just keep refilling a Cocoa Puffs box, dump some sugar on, and nobody will know the difference.

 

[Sun195]

The dogs are too valuable (as watch dogs). Hey! Maybe it makes sense to forget all the other food, and just store a ****load of Kirkland dog food and powdered milk. That way the whole family will have plenty to eat. Just keep refilling a Cocoa Puffs box, dump some sugar on, and nobody will know the difference.

"Daddy - why does my cereal create its own gravy when I pour milk on it?"
"Shut up and eat your Cocoa Puffs...."

 

[joshkk]

I have two chickens that I think of as pets. I make it a point to keep an extra fifty pound sack of their feed on hand. They are more valuable to me for eggs than for meat. They live outside in a coop though, on a busy city corner lot, and I think that in true hunger times, someone else would steal them pretty quick. I have thought of bringing them into the basement in such a situation, but worry about the hygiene issues that might lead to.

 

[Teacher Todd]

My dog stays with me no matter what. I can hunt fish to sustain us. I would sooner die then eat him, but thats me.

 

[EZLivin]

If the only food left are our dogs then that means the stores are empty, the pantry is empty, the garden is empty, the wild critters are gone, the wild plants are gone, the earthworms are gone, the neighbor's pets are gone, and the neighbors are probably gone too. What would be the point of eating the dogs if they would be our last meal anyway? They'll share my biscuits and gravy until the end (none of the vodka though).

 

[kenno]

I wrote out this question as a scenerio for a questionaire given to potental members of a survival group about 33 years ago. the question dealt with dogs; as cats, birds and Goldfish can be self suficient on thier own and are not easy to transport.
My concidered response is that at least in the short term, pets provide a strong emotional support for family members, they are like a pacifying influance, a confidant and boon companion in many ways more important than parents and syblings in hard times. The dog as loyal guard, warning system and night time protector is another reason to keep them fed and healthy.
Training the dog toremain quite and respect your commands makes them even more valuable. Dog food is cheap, a smaller dog costs virtualy nothing to support.

 

[mjbskwim]

I would feed the dogs as long as I could.And find some rabbit populations so they could feed themselves.
The old dog wouldn't,or isn't gunna last long anyway.The little dog could help find game.

 

[Guilty]

I have about 4 months of dog food on hand and about the same amount of cat food and rabbit pellets. The cat's I could live without, but the dog and rabbits are part of the survival plan.

 

[chemist]

Dogs are like all placental mammals: they take a huge amount of food and fresh water on a regular schedule to maintain. If worse came to worst, THEY'D eat YOU, so think twice before deciding how magnanimous you'll be toward them.

I've learned a lot from raising chickens by hand from tiny chicks. Like how to mercifully slaughter them and celebrate their brief lives while gaining sustenance from them. It's a hard lesson, for me anyway, but necessary.

THIS IS NOT TROLLING: I promise. But I've eaten dog multiple times in Korea in the last two years, and it was delicious. These were farm-raised animals, not pets, and I learned a lot from the experience. What we call food and what we deem a pet is a socially constrained cultural norm, not some absolute law of the grocery store.

When it becomes necessary, I will slaughter and prep meat from many sources with gratitude, including fish, birds, and mammals. I'll think about it, but it won't bother me. From a health standpoint, I'd much rather eat a pet dog than a farmed pig.

So decide - Will you endanger your life for your pet when both your food supplies are exhausted, or will you "think the unthinkable?"

 

[netsecsys]

Our cats will fend for themselves. Don't plan on eating them unless they dig up the gardens to crap...

 

[chemist]

Our cats will fend for themselves. Don't plan on eating them unless they dig up the gardens to crap...

A doc I knew in school called cats "a bag of viruses." Something like a third of their genome is viral DNA. I wouldn't eat one on a dare if I was starving.

 

[netsecsys]

A doc I knew in school called cats "a bag of viruses." Something like a third of their genome is viral DNA. I wouldn't eat one on a dare if I was starving.

Hmm, I hear they make great meatballs. Hope they stay out of the garden if the SHTF... Thanks.

 

[Burt Gummer]

No kidding. Think of what a cat's pee smells like and you know how they are put together. No thanks, not going to eat a cat. A lot of this boils down to quality of life. When it gets bad enough there will be no point in continuing on. Let's face it. Life is going to be **** in the depression even for those of us that have prepped. When the day comes where everything is misery, no use hanging in there. Not afraid of death, it is always an option.

 

[EZLivin]

A doc I knew in school called cats "a bag of viruses." Something like a third of their genome is viral DNA. I wouldn't eat one on a dare if I was starving.

So having a few "milk cats" isn't a good option?