Offers comfort during stressful times.
Emergency Preparedness: Keep Your Pet Safe
Disasters strike without warning — tornadoes, flash floods, power outages or fires. Make sure to prepare an emergency plan for your pet that includes an emergency kit.
Pet Emergency Kit Checklist
Pack your pet’s kit in a water-resistant, easy-to-carry container like a duffel bag or tote, and store it in a visible, accessible space. Here are important items to include in your pet's emergency kit:
Reduces anxiety in unfamiliar surroundings.
Pet carrier or cage with updated tags
Secures your pet for transport to reduce the risk of them getting lost. Keeping your pet's ID with them ensures a quick return if you get separated.
Medications and medical records
Ensures you'll have access to your pet's medical history and records in case you can't return home.
Be sure to include vaccination records and store the information in a waterproof bag.
5+ days supply of food and water
Ensures your pet will have access to food and water for an extended period of time during the emergency.
Include a manual can opener and food or water bowls.
Feeding schedule and behaviour notes
Useful if someone else must care for your pet.
Newspaper, litter or wood chips
Essential for waste management (especially for cats, rabbits or birds)
Essential when on the move or at temporary shelters.
Ensures your pet will be safely secured during evacuations.
Pre-Disaster Planning
1. Plan for sheltering or evacuation
Some emergency shelters for people don’t accept pets (other than service animals). Prepare a list of nearby options for you and your pets:
- Pet-friendly hotels that are in and around Ottawa;
- Friends or family who are able to temporarily care for your pet; and,
- Boarding facilities or veterinary clinics open during emergencies.
2. Organize a trusted backup caregiver
Share home access (like a spare key), make sure they know your pet’s routines and outline what to do if you're away.
3. Update ID and microchip info
Ensure your pet wears a tag with your current phone number and a secondary contact outside the area. Keep your microchip registry up to date. If your pet isn't microchipped, get it done at the OHS.
4. Practice fire safety drills with your pet
Practice grabbing carriers, leashes, and out-the-door routes with your pets. Keep carriers and leashes near exits.
Other Emergency Tips for Pet Owners
- Store your emergency kit in a visible spot, like near the front door.
- Check and refresh supplies twice a year, replacing expired food, medications or worn-out items.
- Communicate and rehearse the plan with everyone in your household so each person knows their role.
- Stay connected: Follow local alerts and OHS channels on social media.
By preparing ahead, packing smartly, and knowing your resources, you can ensure your pet’s safety when it matters most. Share this information with your friends and family to help Ottawa be better prepared for disaster.
OHS Launches New Advocacy Hub
We launched a new website — designed to better support Ottawa’s animals, the people who love them and to amplify your voice in standing up for animals in need. The new advocacy hub gives you the tools to speak up for animals — all in one place.
Whether it’s pushing for stronger laws to protect animals from cruelty, advocating for funding to support emergency wildlife care, or calling for better access to veterinary services, your voice can make a difference.
On our new advocacy hub, you’ll find:
- Current Campaigns: Learn about the most urgent animal welfare issues in Ottawa and beyond.
- Easy Letter-Writing Tools: Contact your city councillor, MPP, or MP with just a few clicks.
- Petitions and Calls to Action: Sign and share campaigns that demand change.
- Policy Submissions and Updates: Stay informed about the work the OHS is doing behind-the-scenes to influence animal-related legislation.
Whether it’s urging Ottawa City Council to ban cruel events like stadium bull riding, supporting efforts to increase veterinary affordability in Ontario, or backing a federal ban on live horse exports for slaughter, your action matters.
Every email sent, petition signed, and conversation started helps build a more humane and compassionate community for all animals.
Explore the new website and see how easy it is to get involved. Visit today to raise your voice and help shape a future where every animal is treated with compassion and respect.
Have feedback on the new website? Contact the OHS to help make the information as helpful as possible for Ottawa’s caring community.
Ottawa’s Rabbit Crisis
The OHS is bursting with bunnies. There are currently more than 30 rabbits available for adoption at the OHS, and many more who will soon be ready. July 20 to Aug. 16 is "Rabbit Month", and the OHS is offering a special adoption promotion to move rabbits from the shelter into loving homes in the community.
Rabbit adopters will enjoy 20% off their adoption fee, a gift card to get their new bunny fresh veggies, a week’s supply of hay and free access to the OHS’s new webinar on rabbit enrichment happening on July 30.
The large number of rabbits may be owed to breeders, online sellers and unsuspecting pet owners. Summer is one of the busiest times at the shelter, and a large population of rabbits compounds the pressures of other animals needing the OHS’s support.
Rabbits are excellent pets. Adopting from the OHS, fostering homeless rabbits in need and letting other people know that the OHS is the best place to find a new pet rabbit are ways that you can help resolve Ottawa’s ongoing rabbit crisis.
OHS in the Community this Summer and Fall
The OHS is hitting the road and bringing animal advocacy and education directly into the community. If you’re passionate about animal welfare or simply want to learn more about how to support pets in need, stop by an OHS booth at an upcoming event.
The OHS will be sharing information about adoption, fostering, the Working Whiskers Cat Program, emergency preparedness, humane education and more.
Sunday, Aug. 10 — Stittsville Market at the Barn, 6154 Abbott St.
Saturday, Aug. 23 — Carp Farmers’ Market, 3790 Carp Rd.
Sunday, Sept. 14 — Lansdowne Farmers’ Market, 1000 Exhibition Way
Together, we can build a more humane and compassionate Ottawa for animals and the people who love them.
