Are You Prepared If Disaster Strikes? #FoodShelterLove

This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s® Science Diet® and Food, Shelter & Love® Program, but Stunning Keisha only shares information I feel is relevant to my readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.

This fire burned a city block not far from us. I’m here with the Hill’s Disaster Relief Network wagon.

Disaster can strike any time. It can be nature-made as the tornado which destroyed a town in Illinois several weeks back or man-made like the gas explosion in NYC that leveled three buildings and left a fourth damaged. Some of my cat furrends have already experienced the devastation that fire leaves behind. CJ was seriously burned and lost his beloved brofur several years ago and just last week an entire family of cats perished when their home in Canada caught fire. The only fursibs that were saved were my Twitter furrend Buddy, a rescue dog and one kitty. I’m lucky that in this part of the country, we rarely have tornadoes, earthquakes or forest fires. We live atop a hill so we’ll never be flooded. Irregardless it’s nice to know there’s a program like Hill’s® Food, Shelter & Love® Disaster Relief Network.

Don’t let this be your cat.

There’s always the threat of fire. Fire has always scared TW and that’s why they sold the old wood house they lived in. Multi-dwelling residences are just as dangerous since you don’t know what the other residents are doing. Since we lived here, there was a fire in an apartment two doors down, an elevator fire, the neighbor next door burning his dinner a couple of times and many carbon monoxide incidences. The constant in all cases was that TW couldn’t safely get me out of our unit. She can’t pick me up; only Pop can.

For that reason, when we hear of tornadoes and huge fires, we wonder about the pets that lived in the buildings that were destroyed. Most times the human toll is minimal since humans can and will escape when their lives are in danger. Not so pets. We hide UTB or any place we can. In the case of the fire two doors down, TW smelled it first and thought it to be smaller than what it was. She left the building and when she saw smoke coming from the window of the unit involved, she begged the firemen to get me. They were letting the resident dog walker bring all the dogs down and TW begged her to get me also. When she returned to our condo, the smell of smoke was evident and I eventually came out of hiding.

Snoopervising TW putting our disaster preparedness kit together.
Food ✓ Water ✓ Blanket ✓ Kitty Inhaler ✓ PTU ✓ Litter ✗ Leash ✗

When disaster does strike, this little ghetto kitteh is relieved to know there’s help in the pet community. Hill’s established their Disaster Relief Network in 2013 to respond quickly with shipments of pet food to communities impacted by disaster. During its first year, the Hill’s network provided free pet food to 50 shelters and veterinary clinics across the country in response to 11 major incidents. Shelters, most of whom are full already, have the responsibility to take in pets that become separated from their owners. I can’t imagine how stressed and injured these cats must be so it’s important they’re fed foods with the proper nutrition like Hill’s Science Diet Optimal Care®, which you can purchase for your cat on Pet360.

Click to biggify.

Disasters don’t always happen to others. Sometimes they happen close to home. Will you be prepared on May 9th for FEMA's National Pet Disaster Preparedness Day?

We’re almost prepared!

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