Tag 'Em. Make sure your pets wear up-to-date identification tags at all times. You may want to include the number of a friend or relative outside your immediate area. If your pet gets lost, you’ll want to provide a number that will be answered even if you’re not home.

Be Ready for Evacuation. If you have to evacuate, the most important thing is to take your pets with you—even if you think you may only be gone for a few hours. There's no way to know in a head of time whether you'll be allowed to go back for your animals. Pets left behind can easily be lost, injured, or killed.

Bring your pets into the house and confine them so you know exactly where they are if you have to leave quickly. Make sure each pet and carrier has contact information, including info about where you plan to go if evacuated.

Also, leave early—don’t wait until evacuation is mandatory. It is far better to make an unnecessary trip early than to have to leave at the last minute without your pets. 

The best way to ensure you’ll have somewhere for your pets to go is to make arrangements far in advance. Here are a few suggestions:

• Contact hotels and motels outside your immediate area to check policies on accepting pets. Ask about any restrictions on number, size, and species. Ask if "no pet" policies would be waived in an emergency. Make a list of animal-friendly places and call ahead for a reservation as soon as you think you might have to leave your home.
   
• Check with friends, relatives, or others outside your immediate area. Ask if they would be able to shelter you and your animals or just your animals, if necessary. If you have more than one pet, be prepared to house them separately.
   
• Make a list of boarding facilities and veterinary offices that might be able to shelter animals in emergencies; include 24-hour telephone numbers.
   
• Ask your local animal shelter if it provides foster care or shelter for pets in an emergency. This should be your last resort, as shelters have limited resources and are likely to be stretched to their limits during an emergency.

No such thing as too prepared. Following are a few more things to keep in mind when planning for emergencies.

• If you must wait out a storm in your home, choose a safe area where everyone can wait together. Keep dogs on leashes and cats in carriers, and make sure they are wearing ID tags. Keep your pet disaster kit readily available.
   
• Disaster warnings are often issued days or hours in advance. Once you know there’s potential for an emergency, call to confirm shelter arrangements for you and your pets.
   
• Mobile home residents should evacuate at the first sign of disaster.
   
• Evacuate to the safest location that’s as close as possible to home. Long-distance evacuations can be held up by traffic jams and other factors.
   
• When planning for hurricanes, identify your evacuation zone and level to determine if and when you would have to evacuate. (For help, click here.) Be prepared for one category higher than the one being forecast—hurricanes often increase in strength just before making landfall.
   

After the Storm. Your home and community may seem like very different places after a natural disaster. Familiar scents and landmarks may be gone, so don’t allow pets to roam loose. Be patient with your pets and try to get them back into their normal routines as soon as possible. If the stress of the situation brings on persistent behavioral problems, talk to your vet.