Valley pets might have felt the impending shaker; take precautions during aftershocks

April 7, 2010 @ 5:21 pm

By ivnews.INFO Staff | ivnews.INFO

When Nanette Mavity Conway returned on Easter Sunday to her El Centro home from a short overnight trip to San Diego, she said her pets seemed “excessively happy to see me.” One of her miniature poodles, Scarlett, was nipping at her heels, and her Weimaraner, Diamond, was pacing back and forth. A few moments later, at 3:40 p.m., the earth underneath the Imperial Valley floor jolted like it has not jolted in more than 100 years to the tune of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

“Diamond started howling when it first hit,” Conway said. “And the other dogs and the cats were running willy-nilly all over the back lawn. That scene is something I will never forget.”

Conway is among hundreds, if not thousands of valley pet owners who might be wondering if their dogs, cats and other household pets truly detected the impending shaker.

“Many experts say animals might know that maybe something is going to happen before an earthquake hits,” said Stephen Bowen, a long-time El Centro veterinarian. “They call it ‘pre-quake attitude.’  They might whine, pace and cry before an earthquake.”

While the effects of an earthquake—even a 7.2 magnitude quake—can be traumatic to pets, Bowen said it still isn’t as bad as the trauma of fireworks. “I see more animals on any Fourth of July than I have after this earthquake,” said Bowen, who has been in practice at Valley Veterinary Clinic for more than 30 years.

In this quake-prone region, Bowen said, he is always treating animals for nervous behaviors and conditions that could be associated with quakes, even little ones most humans don’t feel. But unless something “falls on the animal,” Bowen said it’s unlikely he will treat a number of animals for quake-related problems.

The El Centro Animal Clinic, however, reported at least one confirmed quake-related pet death. “We’ve had a couple of animals pass away because of it,” said Tifani Juarez, who works at the El Centro Animal Clinic. “One of them is definitely related to the quake,” she said, but she declined to say how the two dogs died because she said she did not want the owners reading about it in media reports.

“We have been treating what we call ‘earthquake stress,’” Juarez said. “They’re anxious, they might be panting hard, they pace back and forth.”

With hundreds of significant aftershocks almost constantly rocking the Imperial Valley after Sunday’s historical tremor, pet owners might need to take measures to ensure the safety—and the sanity—of their pets.

“I would simply tell pet owners the best thing they can do for their pet is to confine it so it doesn’t run around, or so nothing can fall on it,” Bowen said.

Temporary Housing for Pets Offered by County
The Imperial County Animal Control shelter is taking pets whose owners have been forced out of their homes due to the quake and are staying at the county-designated shelter at the Kennedy Middle School gym in El Centro at 900 N. 6th Street.  “We don’t want pet owners to feel like they need to stay behind with their pets in possibly dangerous conditions,” said Maria Carrillo, the county emergency services spokeswoman.  “We want them to know that their pets will be well-taken care of while they are in alternative housing.”

Carrillo said most people at the Kennedy Middle School shelter–who receive food, bedding and shower facilities–are those whose homes in mobile home parks have suffered shifting in Sunday’s quake or its aftershocks. Their pets, she said, are welcome at the Imperial County Animal Control shelter at 1329 S. Sperber Rd. in El Centro.