Evacuation Plans

[chin_gal]

Every pet owner knows that an emergency could come up at any time. And with just a few chins, it's really not difficult to be prepared. But, what about ranchers and breeders with 20-100+ chins? Are you sure you'd really be able to get everyone out? Do you have any plans at all? I just thought this would be an interesting debate, and I'm interested to what everyone's evacuation plans are, if they have any. Both pet owners and breeders.

 

[Laurie]

Right now I have carriers for all my chins and cats--poor Artie the guinea pig will just have to be carried out as I don't think Leonard wants to hitch a ride with him. We're in an apartment and my chin cages are in the livingroom right by the front door. I really feel I wouldn't try to safe only my son or myself--we would both do whatever was necessary to get all our pets out. It has been recommended I get a single carrier big enough for all the chins instead of pet taxis and I keep saying it's on my list. Maybe the show in October will have me coming home with one.

 

[gella]

After getting through the big ice storm that knocked out power in New England for almost 2 weeks in some places, that was a wake up call for me. Luckily our street didn't lose power, but my friend came running over all ready to try and move our QC cages to his house which had a wood stove. Since then I ordered a Ryerson two hole carrier and am building a first aid kit as well as buying some smaller travel cages if we have to literally evacuate and stay somewhere for a few days.

 

[Megan]

I know with where my chins are located, in the case of a true emergency I would not be able to get anyone, or very few out. If I have time to prepare- I can get them out...but not in a true mergency, and its hard to think about that.

I am currently trying to build up enough carrier space so I have one hole per chin here... I'm fairly close-- just need a few more carriers and I am set. In the future, I would like my chins on a first floor, with a door to the outside and the set up I currently have ( I can roll the stacks of runs), which would give me a better chancet o get them atleast out of the house.

 

[Angel]

I'm going to have to agree with Megan on this one. If a TRUE emergency were to happen, I could not get all my animals out. The only hope that I would have is if someone was with me and I could just pull them out one run at a time. My plan tho.... when the new chin room gets built.... Is to have a fire wall in between the chins and the house (since I'm converting my garage). That is about the best I can do. I have just about enough carriers for each chin, but I know for a fact, with the amount I have, there prob would not be enough time.

****With stating all this, I'm assuming fire. It is going to spread the quickest and give me the least amount of time. Since I do have reliable transportation, and I could dig up enough carriers if I had to use a show cage and get some pee on the floor of the car, I think I would be fine in any other situation.

 

[chinchewy1]

Like Brandi stated.. If it was a quick moving fire I might be able to get some out but I doubt I would have time to get them all out.
They are on the ground floor so it is possible that we could just wheel the towers out through the laundry room into the garage and out the house that way.. or slide them through the windown?? if we had enough time. Or If I had enough time to get them all into carriers. I do have enough 10 hole carriers for everyone.

If it wasn't a fire ... if it was something that gave me even 15 min. to prepare for(like the power going out and my generator not working) I could get them all in carriers and out easily. It wouldn't be too hard to put seven 10 hole carriers in a hotel or a family members house.. or even my car until we could go home.

 

[chinchildren]

as others have said - in a true and quick emergency i could get few if any of the chins out. if it was one i had time to prepare for (hurricane coming etc) i could move all the animals but would need to make more than one trip since i couldn't fit them all in the suburban though come to think of it it could work if i rented a trailer... but then it would depend on the weather etc. back to the drawing board.

 

[Rickman]

After reading about someone loosing their herd from fire, and having a power outage problem myself, I thought seriously about evacuating 40+ chins, and how long it would take, and carriers. Since I had a wooden 4-hole "shipping carrier" that I used for vet visits and deliveries, I deceided to copy it, and have enough for at least 50 chins. Since it made it Air Freight from Seattle with no damage, I knew it was sturdy, so I had faith in it.
Well, I got carried away - made like 15, so a couple were 3 hole, big enough for pairs, and even 2-hole, a Mom and kits would fit on each side. [Even sent a couple to Chantel, for evaluation]
Thank the stars I had them done, as the "trusted' landlord let the house go into foreclosure, [looonger story - we owned it for 15 yrs.] and we were evicted! Nothing more stressful than having your stuff thrown into the street!
Stacy, from Furry Loveables, came over to help, and we had them all out in about 15 - 20 minutes, and loaded into the Suburban, with room for cages, too! All were situated in about 2 hrs. in a new home, no noticable stress, and all seemed fine! 15 days later, they all went down by Stacy, as the owners sold the house, and we had to move again, 10 rooms and all! But the carriers held up very well, and did their job! No chins lost, or "freaked out"! The total size of them is 24 x 8 x 8 and I could carry them 3 high - and walk through doorways comfortably!

 

[KEGS]

Hey Rick, would you mind sharing those plans for the carriers?

 

[TAF]

Do any of the larger ranch operations have some type of fire suppression systems like sprinklers or such?

 

[Angel]

I THINK Ryersons has a sprinkler system hooked up in every room. I don't believe Dave Woods had anything set up in his.... Never really thought to look.

 

[Bethany]

Well, I don't have 100 +, but I currently am evacuated. Where I live we just had an ice storm knock down approximately 3,700 power poles. They expect us to get power up at the end of next week (making it almost 2 wks). We just got water again last night, and are under a boil warning (it is untreated).

I have a laptop, and some of us here have phones. When I get power I'm going to upload pictures of my guys. They are in carriers, and I made them a playpen out of a dog crate and boxes. My mom has a wood stove, and I'm staying there with them in my old room with the window cracked.

 

[Jenn]

I only have one chin but I have quite a few animals under my roof. To be honest, I really hadn't thought about what to do in an emergency and it's a good topic to bring up. I really need to be more prepared with my family, as far as food, water, radios, batteries, etc, and I need to think about what to have on hand at a moments notice for my animals. I pray to God that this will never be a situation I have to deal with, but any smart person should be prepared for anything for all their loved ones.

 

[Sugarmama]

I think for everyone, the key factor is time. Some emergency evacuations you have time to plan for, some you only have time to get out.

We have to watch for hurricanes. We have days to make plans, and see if evacuation is necessary. In that case, we will be able to take the chins and a dog with us.

In a fire? That's a whole nother story. I love my pets as much as anyone, and it would kill me to lose them in a fire. But I honestly have to say, my priority would have to be my children first. And then if there were any way possible to save the pets, absolutely. But my kids would have to come first, and I would not re-enter a burning building. A fire is one of my worst nightmares.

 

[Veronica]

I've had more than one nightmare about this very question. We have 11 rabbits, 6 cats, a dog, a hedgie, a rat, an aquarium and 11 chins. There is no way we could evacuate the cages in a fire. We've had a couple of tornado scares and the best we could do for that was to cover the cages with blankets in case of flying glass. We live in a manufactured home, so we don't have anywhere good for the humans to go either! At the time of the tornado warning, my husband and I and the two dogs at the time went into a bathroom and we put the cats in closets. No one fought and the tornado didn't touch down.

I'm pretty paranoid. I frequently wake up thinking a chin has escaped her cage, or that the fish are flying around the house. And sometimes the rabbits stomp, so that usually wakes me up too.

 

[ChunkyChins]

In the case of an emergency I would be able to quickly evacuate my Chinchillas.. unless of course a fire started in their room..

But I am prepared carrier wise.. I have 6 Chinchillas and carrier wise.. a total of 12 holes and 3 small travel cages not including actual pet carriers

I know that with 30, 40, 50, 100+ Chinchillas.. it would be difficult to get them all out.. but I do think everybody needs enough carriers to get them ALL out.. if your home is evacuated or something, you always want to be able to say, yes.. I've got room to get my animals out.

 

[Aimee & The Chinette's]

The thought of a fire scares Me to death!! I have a 8 hole and a 2 hole so I have enough carriers for the chins but I could also see me pushing the 3 FN's out of the front door!! LOL... As far as for hurricanes, I have a few extra cages that are small enough to bring with Us so the chins have some room for the long drive and time away...

 

[RainOverVegas]

Sprinkler system at a ranchers? *imagines 1000+ soaking wet chinchillas* now that would be a whole new emergency

 

[Snickers]

I just purchased 3 - 6 hole carriers back in December just for an emergency each hole is large enough to fit 2 chins. I also have 3 - 4 hole carriers from JP Chin, & 6 - portable cages, and maybe 8 show cages. I have a lot of bottle water, shavings, pellets, hay, dust, water bottles, and bowls. I try to stock up on everything, (except for food). We also have a generator.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

I had to learn how well equpied I needed to be. This past summer there was a fire in Santa Barbara and we almost got evacuated. Several of my friends had to leave, we were only a few streets over.


I have a free standing a/c so that now if I needed to re-set up anywhere that it wouldn't be an issue (and because a normal one won't fit in my windows) I have carriers for my four chins and the bunny, and I have building a first aid kit. There used to be a nice sticky on c-n-q with the first aid kit...someone should re-do it or pull it off there and put it here. The chins are in the bedroom with me and the bunny is in the living room, so it wouldn't be to hard to just grab them and go...I've been thinking about buying cheap back up cages that could fold down or easily set-up and broken down...I have Martin cages and they would get to chill in the fire...


I know I'm lucky with just my few pets, but it's still hard to deal with and function. My bf was mad because when I thought we were evacuated, I wasn't packing my clothes or anthing just getting the pets ready to go. I threw a pair of pj pants and my tooth brush in a garbage bag just to shut him up lol