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How to protect your cat when you can no longer care for her
that companion animals are much more than mere property. They are our friends, partners or companions and we are their guardians." Richard Avanzino Introduction
If you're like many cat guardians, you feed your cats premium cat food, take
them to the vet annually for a check up, and keep them indoors so no harm can
come to them.
Most likely, you even share your bed with them.
You're doing everything you can possibly do to ensure they'll live a long,
healthy life.
In return, their love for you is unconditional.
They look to you for all their needs and give back a tenderness
you'll share with few humans.
In spite of this loving relationship, your cats' lives could be hanging in
the balance.
If anything would happen to you, their fate would be uncertain.
Why?
Only about 1 out of 3 cats that lose their guardian find new homes --
and of those,
most are kittens or young cats under 5 years of age.
If you have someone to take your cats, you're fortunate --
but even that solution is fragile.
Many times well-meaning individuals adopt the pets of friends or relatives who
pass away.
After a short time, however, they take them to a shelter.
Their intentions were good, but their life style didn't allow
them to follow through --
their spouse or child is allergic -
their own pets are jealous -
they travel too much, etc.
There simply is no reliable safety net to protect cats that
lose their guardians due to death or serious illness.
So, if you are concerned about what will happen to your cats,
we've prepared this paper to provide you with the information
you need to protect them.
Surviving-Cat Care Options
If you do nothing at all to plan for your cats' care after you are too old or
ill to care for them, the responsibility typically falls on a relative or
friend.
Their options are:
If instead of leaving the fate of your companion cats to your friends and
relatives, you plan their future as part of your estate plan --
just as you would for minor children --
there's another option --
placement in a cat retirement community.
About ten years ago, animal welfare organizations started recognizing the
need to provide for cats of the elderly and terminally ill when they can no
longer care for them.
The pain of knowing their beloved pets would die for lack of successor care
is an added burden to one whose own life is at risk.
Many elderly resist moving into long-term care facilities for fear of what
will happen to their pets --
and, when they do relinquish them, experience a sorrow tantamount to grieving
for a close family member.
Cat retirement communities give them the peace of mind they need
to give up their cats.
They know their beloved friends will be well taken care of for the rest
of their natural lives.
Retirement communities are particularly useful for elderly cats, over the
age of 7, whose chances of finding a new home are miniscule through
conventional adoption programs.
To enroll your cats in a retirement community takes front-end time and
planning on your part.
If you are interested in this approach to successor-cat care, we suggest
you contact as many organizations as you can to learn about their programs
first hand.
We've described our program below, followed by a directory of other ones
we know of.
Most accept out-of-state placements.
If you find one that you want to use, try to make an on-site visit to verify
the living conditions.
You'll want to develop confidence that they'll provide quality care for your
cats and be there through both your and your cats' lives.
Have your attorney review the contract and advise you on the best way to fund
the enrollment fee.
Although the amounts are substantial, there are ways to minimize their impact
on your overall estate.
Be sure to check out the organization's finances and their plans for
perpetuity.
If they are a nonprofit organization this information is available on the
Internet at
www.guidestar.org.
Once you've enrolled your cats in a program, be sure to let your relatives,
neighbors and friends know of your plans.
Simply putting the plan in your will is not sufficient --
wills are often not read until days or weeks after death --
and by then, your cats may have been disposed of in a manner other
than you had intended.
We recommend adding a tag to the cat's collar referring the cat to the
safe shelter.
Estate Planning Tips
Funding the cost of surviving cat care can be managed in different ways.
Here are a few examples.
When you get ready to select a retirement community
to set up survivor-cat care,
make sure you contact your attorney to review the contract
and advise on how best for you to handle the funding.
Life Insurance.
You may set up a life insurance policy to pay the cost.
If you have a paid-up life insurance policy that is no longer needed for
the care of a friend or relative, you could assign the policy to the
organization making them the owner and beneficiary of the proceeds.
This would require the approval and cooperation of the organization.
Trusts.
A charitable remainder trust could be established with the
organization paid annually for the cost of your cat.
Upon the death of your cat, the organization could receive the balance
of the trust as a tax-deductible contribution.
Will Bequest.
You can use your will to direct the transfer of the cats to the organization
together with the money required to fund their care.
Here
is a sample phrase:
"I give $________ to the [cat retirement organization]
to provide life care for my cat, [name], if she is alive when I die."
The organizations listed below are ones we've found that provide fee-based
life-care arrangements for pets orphaned due to the death or serious illness
of their guardians.
Fees charged range from $3,000 to $25,000 per cat placed.
Because the programs are all subject to change we've provided just the
addresses and phone numbers for you
to contact directly for program specifics.
Listing the organization should not be taken as an endorsement.
We have not investigated or certified any of the programs they operate.
This list was last updated in February 2005.
Assisi Animal Foundation
Associated Humane Societies
Bide-A-Wee Home Association
The Bluebell Foundation
C & W Rustic Hollow Shelter
California Feline Foundation
Home For Life
Kent Animal Shelter
National Cat Protection Society
Pet Tenders
Tabby's Place
Texas A&M University
Vivisection Investigation League
Volunteers for Inter-Valley Animals
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