There seems to be a great deal of confusion on whether or not zombies will attack animals, and if they do, will those animals become infected, simply die, or go on with their lives. As this video shows, some types of zombies will indeed attack animals that enter their vicinity, but this is not always the case.

Some types of zombies will indeed attack an animal, though those same types will typically attack any warm or moving object.  Some types of zombies will only attack certain types of animals (e.g., mammals but not lizards,) and some types of zombies will only go after a human being.

To make this a little more straightforward we have come up with the following lists to help you in knowing whether or not your family pets are safe.

Zombies that Will Attack Animals:

• Nuclear Fallout Zombies
• Viral Zombies
• Bacterial Zombies
• Voodoo Zombies

Zombies that Will Only Attack Humans

• Chemical Zombies
• Nano-Zombies
• Techno-Zombies
• Other Miscellaneous

To understand how to identify each type of zombie, please click on the links above and review the various articles.  This will advise you on how to identify your zombies, and find out whether they are a threat to only you, or if you need to protect your pets as well.

One important item to note when reviewing the articles, not all zombie types can be spread to your animals.  So while you may want to protect Spot from being eaten, if he does get bitten, you do not necessarily need to put him out of his misery.

If your pet/horse/cow/sheep does receive a bite, and you are unsure what type of zombie you have encountered, the safest option is to put the animal down.  We understand that this is difficult (nigh on impossible for some.)  We are pet owners and animal lovers ourselves, and to have to put down your own animal is one of the most difficult decisions one can make, even if it isn’t due to an infected bite from a zombie.

That said, the infected pet is no longer the loving, caring creature you have shared time and adventures with.  If not now, then soon it will turn into a vicious, ravenous creature with only your death in mind.

If you cannot bring yourself to put your pet down, and you have not been able to identify the type of zombie bite it has received, you have two options.

1. Have an acquaintance do the dirty work for you.  Do NOT let a friend do it.  It will ruin your relationship completely.  You will always question your decision, and if a friend has to put down your beloved pet, you will forever look at them with that question, and that anger.  Make sure the person you ask is someone you either don’t like, or don’t have a close connection with.  It will change your relationship with them as well, but it’s less likely to ruin a friendship.  Ironically, it may even lead to a stronger connection with that person.
2. Lock the possibly infected animal up and monitor it over the course of several days.  An infection that can spread to an animal will show its signs within 72-120 hours (three to five days.)  If your pet is still its same old self after that time, you can consider yourself reasonably safe and release them.

NOTE: We cannot stress enough how dangerous, and frankly stupid this option is.  Primarily, keeping a potentially infected animal locked up for up to a week can cause issues of its own.  What if you have to move because of a coming horde?  What about the animals natural biological processes and the necessary cleanup?  Where can you keep a horse locked up that where you can guarantee it won’t escape, break free, etc.?

Additionally, there is no guarantee that even after five, ten, or even 100 days that your pet is guaranteed infection free.  All creatures have different resistances to infections.  Your chihuahua may be naturally immune to the zombie bacteria, but can still pass it on if he bites you.  The only way to guarantee your safety from your pet is to put it down, no matter how difficult the decision.

To be blunt, it’s you or them.  In a war against the zombification of all humanity your pet may become collateral damage.  It’s sad, it’s difficult to come to terms with, it’s your only guarantee for safety.

In the war against zombies, animals are often caught in the middle.  Many people are forced to abandon their pets when they go on the run.  Even more are turned and have no recollection of their family and friends, much less their pets.

While some animals are trained to help humanity against the zombie threats, many are left to fend for themselves and have been known to become a danger in themselves.  Feral packs of both dogs, cats, and even escaped zoo animals have been known to roam urban wastelands after an outbreak.

For these reasons, we recommend that if you are a pet owner and you realize that an outbreak is occurring, please do something about your pets.  They will not likely be able to make it through the outbreak alive, and may even become a danger to you and your survival group.  We know it’s difficult, but it may become necessary.

Video Credit:  VideoSlave

Starting off the show with Rick shooting a little girl taking out the brain with what can only be considered a perfect kill shot was genius.  Not only is the audience now glued to their seats in anticipation, you’ve broken one of the many zombie-film “no nos” and made a child the initial focus of the outbreak.  Not to say it hasn’t happened before, it’s just rare is all.

After that we have the event in which Rick is shot by a couple outlaws running from the cops.  Rick is in the hospital and wakes up thinking is friend and fellow officer Shane, is in th room.  Only to find the flowers Shane left are wilted and dried out.  Obviously having been there for weeks untended.

OK, that’s enough scene for scene action.  Needless to say the hospital is trashed, complete with a half-eaten corpse in the middle of one intelligently avoided hallway and a doorway on which is written “Don’t Open Dead Inside.”

We’ll give Rick credit here.  Unlike many would-be heroes of zombie lore, he avoids making obvious mistakes at the outset, and makes his way out of the hospital and into the corpse grounds.  We’d also like to give the production team credit for the brilliant job they did with the visual effects of both the zombies and the corpses.  Both are completely convincing.

After dealing with Bike Girl (above image) and making his way home to find his wife Lori and son Carl gone, Rick is then faced with the choice of going in search of his family, or going in search of humanity period. That’s when he gets brained by a shovel.

Now comes the obligatory explanation time complete with a man’s fallen wife and their child’s inability to deal with that.  Rick kills his first zombie and then learns that Atlanta is supposed to be the land of the living.  With help from the military and the CDC, Atlanta is the bastion against the spread of zombification.

After a hot shower and loading up with ammo as well as another zombie notch in Ricks belt. Rick heads for Atlanta leaving his saviors behind where they hunker down again and take out a few zombies including another attempt a Mom.  Rick encounters Bike Girl again and takes care of her as well.

On his travel to Atlanta, Rick broadcasts on the CB trying to raise anyone out there.  Of course someone is out there and one of the party is Rick’s old friend Shane.  Of course there are more survivors and we can see some expected personal conflict coming between Shane and Rick in the future.

Rick then gets himself a horse, since inevitably his car runs out of gas and continues onto ATL uncomfortably.  Making it into the city proves easy, but we can already see that it isn’t the expected center of hope we thought it would be.

Well it doesn’t look as if the army and the CDC were able to do what everyone had hoped and not Atlanta is overrun by the undead as well.   Suddenly there’s the sound of a helicopter overhead, and finally we have the tank scene.

If you haven’t scene it, we’re not going to explain it here.  So go watch the show. It’s better than we’d hoped, and we had pretty high standards for this one.  Well done AMC.

I live in a second story loft with floor level access into the loft. I’m looking to move into another second story loft but I don’t know “tactically” what to look for in the new loft to help increase my defense. Do you have any articles or links on what traits a home should have to stand your ground in? Should it be second story or first story, should it be by an open area like a golf course etc etc.

Well, Max, first off we recommend reading the following articles:

• Urban Preparation:  Part 1, Doorways
• Installing a Security Door
• Surviving Zombies in an Urban Area
• Walls and Zombies: How to Prepare your Home

After that, and to answer your questions a little more specifically, we have these suggestions while you’re looking for a new place.  Yes, a second story (or higher) is wise if you live in an urban area.  It gives you just that much more time to realize what’s going on and prepare for an attack.  It’s a bit easier to defend, and if you can cut out any stairways, it becomes even easier.

If you can find a place near a golf course, park, or other open area, that too would be recommended.  Open areas allow you a larger field of fire, while also giving you the advantage of seeing the undead coming.  The more time you have to take aim, or jump into your panic room, or run out the back door, the better.

We also recommend you avoid getting a place near the freeways.  Yeah, it might be a little more convenient for getting to work, but when there is an outbreak you’re in trouble.  All the unprepared seem to think running is the best option, and off they go right onto the highways, causing huge traffic jams.  It’s like a petri dish for zombification to spread in.  All those people packed together is dangerous, so make sure you find a place as secluded as possible.

Well, we hope those give you a few starting tips.  When you do find a place, let us know, and don’t forget to start writing up your escape plans as soon as you’re relocated.  Fortune favors the prepared, and all that, right?  Good luck and thanks for reading.

So if you’re prolific online, Click Here, and enter the Spread the Dead contest.  The more people you expose to the site the more points you get.  The more points, the more likely you are to win.

Good Luck to all!

Sadly, this is true of all prepared foods, not just the spongy, delicious, yellow bastards.  Fruit and vegetables rot, meat goes rancid, even canned foods and MREs eventually pass their “consume by” date.  After that they’re no more than fertilizer.

So one of the most important things to know after the zombies come is what is safe to eat, and what will kill you just as dead as having your brains gnawed on by the undead.

Eventually we’ll be able to farm some and grow our own food stuffs, but in the meantime, mother nature will have to provide for us.  One of the most abundant items (with all the rotting flesh sitting out) will be mushrooms.

There are hundreds of edible mushroom varieties, and just as many deadly ones.  So you had better know which is which.  We recommend picking up a good book full of helpful pictures that will guide you to the right types to consume, and those to avoid.  ”100 Edible Mushrooms” is a helpful book, and one that currently holds its place of honor in our collection.

Make sure you pay close attention to the preparation requirements for the mushrooms you come across.  Some will be poisonous unless boiled, and some are safe to eat right off the forest floor.

The safest thing to do will be to wash and cook anything you find to eat.  No one knows what type of bacteria or other junk may be on the mushrooms you snatched.  Remember, after all, where mushrooms grow best.

In the following video, you can learn the basics for installing a steel security door.  As we mentioned before, you need to make sure you get an ANSI certified door to ensure the high production standards we recommend.

A couple things to note about this video.  The bolts they use have roughly the same diameter as a quarter, so they’re pretty tough.  It also points out that the frame is the weak point of a security door, not the door itself.

This is important to note, not because Zombies will get through the door frame, but as it is an area of concern when dealing with roving bands or humans that might see you as a threat or as week enough to attack.

For this reason we feel it necessary to stress an extra layer of protection over the door frame itself.  We suggest welding a steel strip or plate over the outer frame of the doorway.  If possible a single piece is preferred to two or three separate pieces as it allows less purchase for any tools used against it.

If steel is not available, then you may attempt to brick over the framework.  This isn’t as secure, but it will give you enough time to make your escape or build up your counter-attack.

We’ll be live blogging the show when it’s out, as well as writing up wrap-up reports on each episode. So stay tuned to those and be ready to let us know what you think about the series.

To wet the appetite we’ve gotten the following short film from AMC. The show itself is live action and you can see more clips over at the official AMC site. This, however, is just too good to pass up.

Like fire, ice, when used properly, is a tool that can be as useful as it is dangerous.  From cooling your drinks, to sculpting, to building shelters, ice is indispensable as well.

So, how does this tidbit of information help us in protecting ourselves against the zombie scourge? Well, knowing how to use ice and the cold can save you from the undead just as easily as fire, acid, or a good rifle.

The first thing you need to know is how ice and the freezing process effect the zombie.  Now this is a controversial subject, as some authors have lead us to believe that freezing does nothing to zombies. This is patently false.

Freezing destroys cells. Any cell, regardless of whether it is alive or dead.  Cells are made primarily of water, much like anything else in a body.  When water freezes it crystallizes and expands. As the freezing water (or ice, as I like to call it) expands it tears the cell membrane and organelles, shredding them and destroying them.

After being frozen the cells of the organism (undead or otherwise) are gone, liquefied by their own liquids. As the creature thaws those cells lose their cohesion to one another and literally melt away.

Here’s an experiment you can try to see what we’re talking about.  Take some meat, hamburger, a hot dog, steak, whatever, and put it in the freezer without any packaging. Wait a few days to ensure it freezes completely through. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw out.  You’ll see a significant change from the original product.

If you do this repeatedly, freezing and thawing and freezing and thawing, eventually you’ll end up with a pile of goo.  If you do it with something with bones, say a whole chicken, you’ll start seeing the flesh fall away from the skeletal structure leaving just the bones on the plate.  Everything else will be in a slushy mess on the counter-top.

The water that you froze out will sublime away (evaporate directly from a solid to a gas) in the freezer or on the counter.  The other parts of the cells, the lipids, the mitochondria, etc. are that pile of goo on the counter. They were torn away from the cells they used to be part of and are now, literally, fragments of their former selves.

So what does this mean for the zombie? Zombies are just undead humans and are thus, still made up of cells. When they freeze the cells burst and turn into goo. So after one hard winter any individual zombie will be destroyed…for the most part.

As we’ve seen zombies can survive wounds, gashes, compound fractures, gunshots, and just about anything else that would kill a normal man outright.

While we’re not sure what causes this, it seems to be that a zombie is no longer a uniform organism and instead is turned into more of a community of cells.  Cut out part of that community and the rest goes on, not as efficiently, but it survives.

So freezing will destroy a zombie, if that zombie is so thoroughly that every cell is destroyed (an unfortunately unlikely event) part of them will survive until the spring thaw.  Granted they will not be as efficient as they were prior to freezing, they’ll be just as deadly when encountered.

The best time to deal with a zombie (if there is such a thing) is when it is completely frozen and cannot attack you in any way.  If you are fortunate enough to happen upon the undead at this time, simply smash its head into as many tiny icy pieces as you can.

Now, we feel it important to note that freezing will not always kill a zombie. As mentioned above, only a hard strong cold that freezes and destroys every cell in the body can kill a zombie. The fact is, most of the planet does not experience cold of this magnitude, and the places that do, are difficult to get to.  While that does make them good places to hide out from zombies, it also makes them difficult places for humans to survive as well.

Most of the planet that does experience a winter of any significance will only get cold enough to freeze the outer layers of the human body. While this is deadly to a live human, an undead one may make it through to spring.  The light frosts and slight sub-freezing temperatures that most of the world call winter won’t even slow a zombie down, much less terminate their existence permanently.

So here’s the wrap-up. Zombies can’t survive a thorough freeze any more than you can. But since most of the world never gets that thoroughly frozen, we will need to be as vigilant as ever during the cold months to ensure the safety of our families and ourselves.

So even though the snow is whirling by the windows, and you’re curled up next to the fire with the last hot cocoa on Earth, don’t answer the scratching at the door. Get out your gun, and be ready to defend yourself.

Photo Credits:  d’n'c, Bob Fornal

While we don’t really recommend a baseball bat as a primary weapon for dealing with the undead, the thought of playing a little Zombie Brain Baseball does appeal to us.  This shirt, “Zombie MLB” is sadly no longer available from Tee Fury.  Sorry, but we just found out ourselves.