Coyotes and Small Pets

Practical prevention

• Do not leave small dogs unattended in the yard, even a fenced one, at dawn or dusk. A coyote clears a six-foot fence.
• Keep cats indoors. It is the single most effective thing on this list, for coyotes and for everything else out here.
• Leash walks, especially near washes and open desert, and especially after dark.
• Remove attractants: pet food left outside, fallen fruit, accessible trash, and water bowls left out overnight.
• If a coyote approaches, make yourself large and loud and back away while facing it. Do not run, and pick up a small dog if you can.

After any bite or attack, come in

Wildlife bite wounds are far worse than they look. A puncture the size of a pencil tip closes over a pocket of crushed tissue and bacteria underneath, and infection follows within a day or two. Any bite from a coyote or an unknown animal is also a rabies exposure question, which affects both your pet and your household. Do not clean it up and wait to see how it goes. Call us, or if we are closed, head to an emergency hospital.

Keep rabies current

A current rabies vaccination is the difference between a manageable situation and a long, expensive, stressful one if your pet tangles with wildlife. This is the practical reason the vaccine matters out here, beyond it being required by law.