f you’re in pet care, you’re in the business of showing up—no matter what’s happening outside. Rain, wind, ice, fire, power outages, flooding…the pets still need food, water, walks, meds and someone they trust to be calm in the chaos. That’s why emergency planning in pet care isn’t optional—it’s foundational.

And it’s not just about having a plan. It’s about practicing it before you need it. Even if your plan was written, reviewed and well-organized, parts of the plan can still fail. Why? Because it’s never been tested outside of a calm discussion. That’s the important lesson to learn before you’re in the middle of it: a written plan isn’t enough unless it works under pressure.

Emergencies don’t give you extra time to think through logistics. They strip away your options, test your assumptions and demand action. If you haven’t already walked through the plan in real time—when your facility is fully booked, short-staffed or in off-hours—it’s unlikely to hold up during a true crisis.

Having a written plan is essential, but too many businesses stop there. They check the box, print the pages and put the binder on a shelf. In a pet care facility, that isn’t enough. If your staff hasn’t seen the plan, rehearsed the steps or tried the process in real life, it won’t matter how detailed it is.

Your emergency response has to be part of your team’s lived experience—not just a policy. That means walking through evacuation routes, testing access to emergency supplies and reviewing communication protocols. It also means pulling that plan down quarterly and going over it with new hires, seasonal staff and department leads. What’s obvious to you may be completely foreign to the person actually closing on Sunday night when the first alerts start to roll in.

Practice isn’t about perfection; it’s about creating muscle memory. When power is out, phones are dead and your internet-based platform is inaccessible, your team needs to know what to do without asking. Practicing in calm moments prepares them for chaotic ones.

Not every emergency requires evacuation. In fact, many events—hurricanes, floods, ice storms, wildfires—will require you to shelter in place. And when you’re running a pet care business, that doesn’t just mean surviving the conditions. It means actively caring for a building full of animals and ensuring the people responsible for that care are safe, alert and capable of doing their jobs for 24, 48, or even 72 hours.

When sheltering in place, your staff becomes both the care team and the crisis team. Comfort, safety and access to basic resources become essential—not just for morale, but for maintaining quality care over potentially long, stressful hours.

The relationships you build with your team are the real heart of emergency preparation. It’s not just about plans and procedures. It’s about trust. It’s about communication. It’s about taking action long before the sky goes dark and the road washes out. If your plan doesn’t work on a clear, sunny, low-volume Tuesday, it won’t work in a Category 2 hurricane, a winter blackout or a wildfire evacuation.

So, practice now, talk about it now and walk the building now. Because when the next one comes—and it will—the pets will need you, your people will look to you and the plan will only matter if it already lives off the page.

Jennifer Wolf-Pierson has served as General Manager of ABC Pet Resort & Spa in North Houston since 2016, now proudly powered by Best Friends Pet Hotels. With a background in operational leadership, team development, and multi-service pet care management, she has supported pet care facilities nationwide through staff training, process improvement, and strategic planning. Jennifer is passionate about helping teams thrive through thoughtful leadership and systems that scale. She holds a BS in Agricultural Science from Colorado State University and maintains certifications as a Certified Professional Animal Care Operator (CPACO), a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), and a PetTech CPR and First Aid Instructor.