We are feeding raw and I have been trying to figure out what I can stockpile for the dogs in the event of an earthquake (we are on a fault line). If the electricity is cut, the freezer goes down, that's going to be it for the frozen chicken. We are instructed to have at least 72 hours of supplies in place, but given the reality of the situation, I'm thinking at least a week's worth of provisions would not be out of line.

Any suggestions?

The food in the freezer would still be fine to feed for several days as it thaws. It would have to get ridiculously ripe before it was unfit to feed. For a true stockpile, I'd go with some canned dogfood. That would last nearly forever on the shelf. And in an emergency I don't think the dog would care. Food's better than no food. There are also some dehydrated raw foods out there that would have a long shelf life.

I feed raw also, but always keep kibble, Honest Kitchen and some canned fish on hand.

If canada has an emergency plan like Washington does you should be able to find your rescue timeline. For my house it can be up to 3 months before supplies are restored. So... plan accordingly

In my dog emergency kit I have

tieouts - fences are often compromised by trees and if you are unable to stay at home you need a way of confining your dogs where ever you go.

My dog emergency first aid kit. It contains all the drugs, basic first aide, muzzles, etc they would need including giardia meds, wormers, flea treatment, and benedryl.

Baby rice cereal - it just works when real rice isn't available. Most dogs will eat it dry but you can also add water if required.

Extra water - clean water may be unavailable.

Water dishes - they can eat food off the ground

An extra bottle of bleach

Dry dog food, canned chow and dehydrated stuff. Kibble and canned in emergencies isn't going to kill your dog in most cases. Emergencies are emergencies.

If money is not an object you can get a propane powered freezer and that might keep things ok in case of earthquake to continue raw feeding. But honestly if poop hits the fan feeding raw is the least of my real life concerns.

Don’t have anything to add to this great information but when that quake hits guys, just know you have a place in the Interior of BC that would be happy to welcome you. We’ve got 70 acres that could easily be set up as a comfortable emergency shelter.

Of course we would only be open to folks with animals.

 Quote: Jenny Arntzen

We are feeding raw and I have been trying to figure out what I can stockpile for the dogs in the event of an earthquake (we are on a fault line). If the electricity is cut, the freezer goes down, that's going to be it for the frozen chicken. We are instructed to have at least 72 hours of supplies in place, but given the reality of the situation, I'm thinking at least a week's worth of provisions would not be out of line.

Any suggestions?

I agree with everyone who mentioned dehydrated and canned. Canned is wet (if water is extremely limited) and dehydrated has all the advantages Aaron mentioned, if water is plentiful.

Canned chunky soup has use for everyone, canine and human.

I'll meet you at CJ's.


PS
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=83568&Searchpage=1&Main=9094&Words=katrina+Will+Rambeau&topic=0&Search=true#Post83568



Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/30/2011 05:42 PM)
Edit reason: PS

You guys rock! I am going to start collecting canned fish (we can all eat that), and a supply of canned dog food. I use Orijen kibble for dog treats, I will start rotating that through an emergency stash. Water. Yes. For awhile I was keeping a reservoir of water in empty gallon juice bottles, recycled. But I realized it was pretty gross and gave it up. We do collect rainwater and have a huge barrel beside the house. It is always full because I rarely remember to water the garden.

We don't have a vehicle, so it would be quite a hike to the Interior. But... you never know (member of a car co-op)!

Jenny - for water I got water barrels. The plastic sort which are available at any feed store and are fairly inexpensive. I refill one or two a month and simply keep them stored on the side of the house with a wee lil bit of bleach in them. They stay very clean and while they may not taste like water out of the brita filter it's very drinkable.

We live in California, so we are always having to be ready for earthquakes. One of the best things we do here, is keep 3 extra propane tanks filled for the gas grill. That way we will be able to cook if the power goes out. We just rotate through the tanks as we normally use them, and keep all of them full.

We do the same thing with water. We get our drinking water at The Water Store using 10 gallon bottles that we own - just refilling them as they are emptied each week. So we always have 40 gallons of water on hand - which we can use in the Honest Kitchen dog food I occassionally supplement the raw with!