Why is survival food for pets important? Our pets are members of our family. And since they usually aren't able to fend for themselves, we have a responsibility to take care of them—even when SHTF.
In a disaster scenario, pet food can be hard to come by. But don't worry; there are alternatives. Read more below.
Survival Food For Pets: Preparing In Case The SHTF
Regardless of how prepared we are for any sort of “disaster” scenario, we will always find ourselves needing additional knowledge and supplies.
One such scenario that many survivalists have a hard time accepting is how to properly store and prepare food for pets in a SHTF situation. Even if pet food is already stored, is 6+ months of food stored away enough? And what will you do when the stored food runs out?
Thankfully, household pets require the basic food groups that humans do, and providing food for pets from scratch is actually a lot easier than you might think. Even providing long-term food for household pets is possible as long as a garden with a basic food supply is properly tended to.
Self-Prepared Cat Food
Cats require less food than dogs, and just a few basic ingredients are required in order to make a week’s supply of food for a household cat.
All you need is:
- 4-5 cans of tuna and ¾ cup already cooked rice.
- 3/8 lb chopped chicken liver; or other meat substitute.
- 4 sprigs of chopped parsley (optional) with stems removed
Access to tuna should be easy to come by since tuna is a food item that is commonly already stored. Rice should also already be stored with other storable foods. Simply drain the tuna and mix it with the cooked ¾ cup of rice.
Thoroughly cook the chopped liver or other meat substitute and mix with the tuna and rice. As an option, especially if already available, mix in the chopped parsley and serve.
The above ingredients and their amount should provide enough food for a household cat for up to one week. If properly stored this same amount may last up to three months.
Self-Prepared Dog Food
Household dogs come in a variety of sizes and each differently sized dog eats a different size serving. Be sure to provide enough ingredients for your dog breeds’ daily serving.
In order to provide a survival meal for your dog you will first need the following ingredients:
- 6 cups water
- 1 lb ground turkey, chicken, or meat substitute.
- 2 cups brown rice, 1 tsp of Rosemary, and 16 oz of broccoli, cauliflower, and/or carrots combined.
Bring 6 cups water to a boil and place in 1 lb ground turkey, chicken, or meat substitute, 2 cups brown rice, and 1 tsp of Rosemary. Once thoroughly cooked let simmer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes pour in 16 oz of broccoli, cauliflower, and/or carrots combined and stir for an additional five minutes then serve. The ingredients above can provide up to one week’s worth of food depending on the size and breed of the dog. If properly stored this same amount may last for up to three months.
More Prepared gives a video on pet emergency survival kits & safety supplies for dogs, cats & animals:
Regardless of whatever kind of recipe you need to come up with for your pets, storing them and being prepared for any worst-case scenario is as equally important as the one for the rest of your family. They too are part of the family. As a responsible pet owner, don't take them for granted.
Do you have your own recipes for survival food for pets? Let us know in the comments section below!
UP NEXT: Survival Tips: Prepping with Pets
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2015 and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
Do as I say and not as I did. I packaged up a bag of store bought dry dog food, put it in a mylar bag, with a large O2 absorber, properly sealed the bag and sealed in a 5 gal bucket. After only 3 years, when I opened it, it was RANCID! Not edible for our dogs. I put it in a bird feeder, none of the local tree critters with the exception of an opossum would eat the food. I’ve got 4 more buckets of the same junk. Thank you for the recipe.
It seems having extra meat on hand for Fido during SHTF scenario very much depends on having electricity. Why not just buy extra bags of high quality hard food and have extra bags of PRIMAL freeze dried dog food ready to break up over the dry food? Or you can soak in water, then add to dry food at serving time. My dog seems to prefer dry and crumbled over her hard food. Best to store the hard food and the primal in their own bags but put them inside a stainless steal metal container if possible.