The Associated Press and Petside.com recently polled 1,166 pet owners about their pet safety habits. While it showed that many pet owners would go to extraordinary measures to save their pets, most are unprepared for pet emergencies.

The one question that struck me funny was “Would you perform CPR on your pet?” The answer was surprising.

Among my cat-loving friends, I’d guess the percentage who’d be willing to give CPR to their cats would be above 90%. But the poll results were much lower. 63% of dog owners and 53% of cat owners would be at least somewhat likely to perform CPR on their pets.

It’s the guys who are dragging down the average: 65% of women vs. 50% of men say they’d be more likely to perform CPR.

Some findings on pet owners:

• 54% don’t have a fire evacuation plan.
  
• 41% have had at least one incident requiring an emergency trip to the vet.
  
• 30% of dog owners and 22% of cat owners at least sometimes give them bones from table scraps.
  
• 20% have a pet first aid kit at home.
  
• 16% have pets who’ve had allergic reactions.
  
• 7% have pets that have eaten something poisonous.

Having emergency and disaster plans so that you can properly care for — and evacuate with — your pet can mean the difference between life or death for them. If you don’t have a pet emergency kit, you should assemble one – it’s easy to put one together on your own. Click here for instructions.

Many shelters provide CPR and pet safety training. If you don’t know how to administer CPR to your pet, here’s a video:

The better prepared you are, the more likely your pet is to survive an emergency.

[LINK: Petside.com Poll]