PawSafe / Guides
Pet emergency plan: what happens to your pet if you drop out?
A pet emergency plan answers four questions: who comes, how do they get in, what does your pet need, and who notices you are gone? With a printable one page plan.
What this plan is for
A pet emergency plan here has a narrow meaning. It covers the day you drop out yourself. You have an accident, land in hospital, faint, or lose your phone. You cannot call anyone, and your dog or cat is sitting at home.
It does not cover floods, fires or evacuating a whole neighbourhood. Those need different plans. This one answers the question nobody likes to ask: who notices that I am missing, and what happens to my pet then?
A good pet care plan answers four questions. Who comes? How do they get in? What does your pet need? And who notices you are gone? You can settle the first three in one evening. The fourth is the hard one, because it does not depend on you but on what happens without you.
The plan in four parts
Who comes?
Pick two to four people nearby. Neighbours, friends, family. They should know your pet and be able to reach your home within half an hour. Ask each one and get a clear yes. A name on a list that the person knows nothing about is not a helper.
Set an order. Who lives closest? Who is reachable during the day? Who works shifts? Write down names and numbers. Give a copy to someone who will not come themselves, such as a relative in another city.
Tool: the helper list. In PawSafe you invite up to ten helpers by link or QR code and set their order.
How do they get in?
The best yes is useless in front of a locked door. Every helper needs a key or must know where one is. If you have a key box or a landlord with a spare key, settle in advance who may open up.
Never write a door code or an address with a key hiding place on a card in your wallet. Whoever finds your wallet is not necessarily someone you want in your home. Give access details to your helpers only.
Tool: the access note in PawSafe. A helper sees your address and access note only in an emergency, after their own tap. Until then both stay hidden.
What does your pet need?
Your helper may know your pet well, but not your routine. How much food, when, and where is it kept? Which pills, at what time? Is the cat allowed outside? What is your vet called, and where is the pet passport? One sheet of paper at home answers all of it. The pet sitter checklist gives you a ready template.
Tool: the care sheet, printed, plus a photo of it on your helpers’ phones.
Who notices you are gone?
This is the part most plans skip. You can have the best helpers, but they only come when they hear about it. There are three ways.
First, the emergency card in your wallet. It tells the finder that your pet is home alone and lists numbers to call. Second, the Medical ID on your iPhone. Responders can open it on a locked device, as the guide on Medical ID for pets shows. Both only work if someone finds you.
Third, a timer. It works even when nobody finds you, because it keeps running without you and raises the alarm once you do not check back in.
Tool: emergency card, Medical ID and the PawSafe timer.
Which tool covers which part?
No single tool covers everything. The table shows what each one is good for.
| Part | Emergency card | Medical ID note | Helper checklist | PawSafe timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who comes? | Lists numbers | Gives a short hint | Records names | Alerts helpers one after another |
| How do they get in? | No | No | Key location | Address and access note only in an emergency |
| What does the pet need? | No | Short hint | Yes, in detail | Pet profile with name, species and photo |
| Who notices? | If someone finds you | If a responder finds you | No | Even if nobody finds you |
The plan to print
Fill in the fields by hand. Printing shows only this page. Put it on the fridge and give copies to your helpers.
Emergency plan for my pet
1. Who comes (in this order)
2. How they get in
3. What my pet needs
4. Who notices I am gone
Keep the plan current
A plan that is two years old only half works. Numbers change, a helper moves away, your pet gets new pills. Set a fixed date, such as New Year, and go through the four parts. It takes ten minutes.
Check again after every move and every new pet. Ask your helpers whether they still can. An honest no beats a yes that fails when it counts. If someone drops out, replace them before anything happens.
How PawSafe helps
PawSafe covers part 4 and supports parts 1 and 2. You start the timer with one tap when your pet stays home alone and pick a time between 30 minutes and 24 hours. The countdown also shows on the Lock Screen and on the Apple Watch.
If you do not check back in, PawSafe opens an emergency. Your helpers are alerted one after another, in your order. You set a wait of 1 to 60 minutes per helper. When one says “I’ll help”, you know right away and the others can stand down. When one says “I can’t”, PawSafe asks the next.
Helpers with PawSafe get the alert as a free notification. A helper without the app gets SMS and WhatsApp, which come with an optional subscription. Helpers never pay. There is no account and no login. In an emergency each helper sees only their own entry, not the names of the others.
You can make the emergency card in the app or for free in your browser without the app. The app keeps it on your iPhone with up to four numbers in calling order. PawSafe also gives you a text to paste into your Medical ID.
Frequently asked questions
What belongs in a pet emergency plan?
Four things: who comes, how that person gets into your home, what your pet needs, and who notices that you dropped out. That means helper names and numbers, a key, a sheet with food, medication and vet, and a way to alert your helpers.
How many helpers should I have for my dog or cat?
Two to four. One alone is often unreachable. With more than four the order gets hard to maintain. PawSafe allows up to ten helpers per household.
What is the difference between an emergency plan and an emergency card?
The emergency card is one part of the plan. It tells a finder that your pet is home alone. The plan also covers keys, care details and the question of who gets told at all when nobody finds you.
How do my helpers find out that something happened to me?
Without preparation, they do not. With PawSafe a timer runs. If you do not check back in, PawSafe alerts your helpers one after another by app notification, SMS or WhatsApp. PawSafe does not call emergency services.
Does every helper see my address right away?
No. A helper sees your address and access note only in an emergency, after their own tap.
Related: What happens to my pet if I go to hospital? and the PawSafe home page.