Tips to prepare for a pet emergency

DEAR Paw’s Corner: I wanted to pass along a suggestion to your readers. Last summer, we moved to a new city. The day after we moved in, our cat “Lace” became critically ill in the middle of the night. With no Internet connection set up, my wife used her slow, older smartphone to look up a 24-hour emergency clinic. We found one that was a 30-minute drive away. Lace got there in time and has recovered pretty well, but it haunts me that it took us nearly 20 minutes to look up the location of that clinic.

Please tell your readers that they should write down the number and address of their pet’s regular veterinarian and the nearest emergency vet clinic on their list of important numbers, and keep it next to their home phone or saved on their cellphone. If they are moving to a new area, they should look up the clinics nearest their new home and have that information ready just in case something happens while they’re settling in. — Curtis, via email

DEAR CURTIS: You told them, and I thank you! This is an era when many people no longer have a phonebook waiting for them on the day they move in (something that was almost standard 20 or so years ago). Instead, we rely on Internet and cellphone connections to get critical information.

The plus side of having an Internet connection is being able to look up important locations — such as the vet, the emergency clinic, the doctor and dentist (and the nearest pizza place) — before leaving your old city.

Having a contact list, both on paper and stored on your computer or cellphone, also is important in an emergency such as a house fire or a natural disaster.

Send your questions or comments to [email protected]