As with any emergency plan, much depends on your situation and what emergencies you are planning for. With that being said, this is being written from the point of view of a Katrina survivor.

First, you must keep your pets with you if at all possible. To do this, you must have portable confinement. Some shelters down here will accept pets but only as long as they are confined. Pet crates are imperitive.

Second is identification. And multiple forms at that. I recommend microchips, plus a collar (breakaway for cats) with contact information, and maybe contact info for a friend or family member some distance away from the disaster zone where phones are working. Also consider tattooing.

The reason for redundancy in ID is that any animal rescue will be highly confused. Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMAT's) were held 50 to 125 milees out of the disaster zone by bureaucrats. The bulk of animal rescure was handled by either charities or brand new ad hoc groups. Those groups either had no protocols or knowledge of the rules, or chose to ignore them, that's how they were able to operate. A large percentage of rescued animals will never be reunited with their people.

A crate plus your personal arrangements will take care of shelter.

Assuming you have planned water for yourselves, add extra for your pets. Also add collapsible or non-breakable bowls for it.

Dry food is best from the point of view of weight and cost to evacuate with. But it's always best to keep them on their regular feed if possible.

For first aid, remember that cats can NOT have Tylenol or Pepto. Bandaging materials can be shared with your animals. Try not to close any wound until it has been thoroughly cleaned, cover it instead until you can get help. Benadryl liquid is a good OTC to help calm fractious animals.

Keeping up with vaccinations and heartworm preventative is a good way to avoid emergencies. Remember your pets attract fleas, so keep a good quality flea treatment around. Advantage or Frontline are good choices, avoid Hartz or Sergeant's. I've treated too many cases of toxicity from those, whatever money you save initially may be more than outdone by what you have to pay an emergency Vet for treatment.

The main thing is to evacuate early and to travel far and fast, AVOID the emergency. Outside of the disaster zone, professional help is available 24 hours a day in metropolitan areas and close to that elsewhere. That's where your pets should be, with you.

Peanut

P.S. I'm a vet who's worked emergency full time for 14 years