How to organize your dog emergency information

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Written by Floella McFee

Side Story
Basic dog care information

Dogs are not only part of your family but the most loyal and loving companions that you will ever have. They stay by your side when you are happy or sad and love you unconditionally. If you go out for as little as ten minutes, they let you know how much they missed you when you come back. Our responsibility, as a dog owner, is to provide our dog with everything it requires, to live a healthy, happy life.
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And you thought that keeping a dog would be a simple matter: just walkies, feedies, sleepies and chase the stick! Sadly our canine friends require medical attention, and if you need to leave poochie in a boarding kennel for a bit they will require an up-to-date vaccination record. There are insurance details, vet details, and believe or not, possible legal details. All of which require accessibility. It's time to get organised! Types of information

At first it might appear that all you will need for your dog in the case of an emergency is the number of a good vet. Oh, and the number of the insurance company; not mention the policy number! (I said don't mention the policy number! Where was it? I'm sure I wrote it on a Post-It Note somewhere!). But the information you need really does depend on the emergency you're facing: what if Fido is succumbing to some kind of deadly doggy disease? Do you know what common symptoms look like? Suppose someones given him some poison like alcohol or chocolate? Suppose you're having the emergency and some else has to deal with what becomes of you're best friend? There will be enough stress without the rummage through the paper work to find out what you intended for Fido

Who is going to need the information?

Whatever system of organisation that you go for it would be best to remember that it's not just the information that is important. You might be completely happy with your organisational skills, but they could be completely incomprehensible to anyone else. Make sure those closest to you can work the system and your dog will always be assisted.

Computer programs

The most sensible thing would be to make sure all the necessary information is in one easily accessible place. Perhaps Fido could have his own filing cabinet, or a card index system with everything cross referenced. This might be a little labour intensive, and in this age of save the tree and use less paper, it could be construed as no very eco-friendly. Database it is then: easy to store and certainly easy to back-up: why even friends and family could keep a copy for you! And just before you baulk at the thought of spending hours creating this relational database monstrosity, fear not! There is software packages on the market specifically designed to do the work for you. All you have to do is fill in the data! Now where did I put that policy number?

Conclusion

There is no doubt that it will be a lot of work setting up an information system for your dog. Equally, if a problem does occur, you will need that information pretty quickly. If you organise yourself now, then it will be a simple matter to maintain the information thereafter, and be prepared for the time when something does happen to your dog and you need to act quickly.