By Kathy M. Finley
Have you made plans to care for your cat and other pets in case you become incapacitated or die?
To make sure your cats find good homes in an emergency, you need to develop a plan for caring for them in the short, medium, and long term. There are two important steps before developing a plan for caring for your pets in your absence: 1) identifying at least two individuals who will be responsible for either caring for your pets or finding care for them and 2) determining how these individuals will be alerted if you are temporarily incapacitated or die. Once these two steps have been completed, you can develop short-, medium-, and long-term plans for the care of your cats.
Choosing the Right Person to Care for Your Pets
In choosing a caregiver, consider close friends and relatives. However, make sure that the person(s) you choose likes cats, your cats like them, and you trust them implicitly to care for your furry children. Depending on the age of your cats, this could be a 10–15-year obligation. You should have at least one back-up caregiver, since circumstances might change for your chosen caregiver, making it impossible or difficult for them to care for your pets.
When considering individuals who might be the best caregivers for your cat, you need to consider their circumstances. Do they live in an apartment where cats are prohibited? Do they have adequate space to care for pets? Do they have animals that may not be compatible with other pets? Are there children in their household? Do they have a job that involves extensive travel? Are they in good health? Do they have the financial resources to care for your cats?
You should provide your caregivers (and emergency contact) with keys to your home, care instructions for your pet, your veterinarian’s name, and information about the permanent care of your pet. Most importantly, stay connected with your chosen caregivers. Circumstances often change for these individuals, and they may no longer be able to care for your pets.
What if you cannot find anyone to care for your cats? There are sanctuaries and pet retirement homes that can care for your cats permanently or find a loving home for them. However, these require formal provisions be made before your crisis, and that a donation be made to the organization. Veterinary schools operate some of these programs. For example, in Indiana (where I live) the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine runs a Peace of Mind Program that finds a permanent home for your pets — but they require a $25,000 bequest. The attached resource list provides information on these programs in your state. Anyone choosing this option should visit these retirement homes and sanctuaries in person before designating them as caregivers. The resource list also contains an evaluation form for this type of facility.
Create a System to Alert Caregivers
No matter how carefully you plan for your cats’ future care, it will not help if your chosen caregivers are not notified when you become incapacitated or die. You should carry a card with emergency contact information in your wallet, put it on your cellphone, and post emergency contact information in your home (usually on a refrigerator or the inside of your front door). Emergency information should contain either the name of the caregiver whom you designated or your main emergency contact who is aware of your plans for care of your cats and is able to contact these individuals to provide that care.
Perpetual Care, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding loving homes for pets after their caregivers die, offers two free “File of Life” packets to place in your home. You should put this packet on your refrigerator or inside your front door. The packet contains two cards: one for vital information about you (including your name, emergency contacts, allergies, medical insurance, medications, medical conditions, etc.) and one for you pets that contains their names and whom to contact for their care in case you are unable to care for them.
The packet also contains a sticker to put on a door to indicate to emergency personnel that you have a File of Life Packet in your home and a sticker to indicate the number of pets in your home (which should not be permanently affixed to the door so emergency personnel know that it is current and not there from a previous owner). The packet also has a wallet card that contains the same information for both you and your pets.
Formalizing Your Wishes
There is a commercial on television for trustandwill.com where a woman looks at her sister and says, “You are their favorite aunt and we decided that if anything happened to us, we want you to take the kids.” Then a narrator steps in and says: “Doesn’t count … What you need is a will.” The same is true for your cats and other pets. You need legal documentation to ensure that your cats are properly cared for when you pass. As a responsible cat owner, you also need to have plans for the short term and medium term.
Moreover, you need to include “care instructions” for the caregiver (and have these available to them either before you die or via the executor/administrator of your estate). These instructions should include your cats’ food and feeding instructions, favorite toys, habits, social interactions (how do they react to other pets, children, people?), medical history, veterinarian’s name and contact information, and whether your cats need to be adopted together if you have more than one.
Developing Plans for the Short-Term, Medium-Term, and Long-Term Care of Your Cats
Short-Term Care. Most of us have caregivers for our pets in the short term. When we go on vacation, we usually employ a pet sitter to make sure our furry friends receive the food and attention they need. Given the unreliability of travel today, it is always a good idea to check with your pet sitter to make sure that they are available after the date of your scheduled return (just in case of a flight delay or other issues that might prevent your return). You should also leave emergency contact information in case something happens and you will not be able to return to your home for several days. Your emergency contact should have information about the care of your pet in the medium and long term.
Medium-Term Care. Finding care for your pets in the medium term may be a little more difficult. It is very possible that you might have to go into a rehabilitation center for months. Again, you should identify someone who can care for your pets until you recover.
Obviously, the best care is from a trusted friend or family member, but make sure you have funds to provide reimbursement for pet food, supplies, and veterinary care, as well as gas money for the person caring for the pet. Another option is to find longer-term boarding services through places like Rover, or your veterinarian might provide ideas on foster care or boarding. The best solution is to leave the cat in its home, but that might not always be possible. Make your emergency contact aware of the medium-term care options you have developed and have funds available to that person so they can obtain the proper care for your pet.
Long-Term Care. There are legal options that will ensure that your pet is cared for in the long term. In addition to these legal arrangements, you might consider designating a person who will oversee the future care of your pets (like a trustee or administrator of your will) who has power of attorney in the event of you becoming incapacitated. This is not necessarily the person who will care for your cat, but someone who can make sure that the cat receives care and someone who has access to funds to provide support to the caregiver until your will is probated or your pet trust is enacted.
You should consult an attorney about the following legal arrangements for your cats’ long-term care.
- Writing a will that includes instructions for your cats’ care. You should designate a caregiver, along with a backup caregiver, in case that person is unable to care for your cats at the time of your death. You should leave funds to this person so they can care for the pet. Be aware that the executor or administrator might hold this money to ensure that proper care is being given to the cats. There also should be a plan to dispose of the remainder of the money once the pet dies so there is no incentive to euthanize the pet just to receive the leftover money. The actual plans for caring for your cats should be shared with the executor of your will and the chosen caregiver (as well as your lawyer having a copy ).
- Setting up a trust. This can be expensive and complicated but allows the caregiver to have access to money to take care of the pet immediately. There are two types of trusts. One is set up while you are alive (inter vivos) and the other when you die (testamentary). The former allows money to be dispensed while you are still alive, which is important if you are in a long-term care facility and require someone to care for your pet in the medium term.
- Establishing an animal care panel. This panel is convened to ensure that the wishes of the pet parent are carried out. It consists of the pet’s veterinarian, friends, estate planner, and attorney. Together, they develop a plan that includes a live-in caretaker, long-term funding, a trust and trustee, and an attorney.
Other Options
While establishing plans for care of your cats in case of disability or death is essential, you might want to consider rehoming your cats if you are at a stage in life where it is becoming more difficult to care for them properly. Rehoming a pet is always difficult, but it might be the most humane option for the pets in this situation.
Also, it might be helpful to provide financial support to the person taking the pet.
Final Observations
If you have not planned your cats’ care for when you are no longer able or around, please make this a priority this year. It is the ultimate demonstration of how much you really love them and have their welfare in mind.
About the Author
Kathy M. Finley is a lifelong cat lover. After a successful career in the nonprofit sector, she used her writing and storytelling skills to write about cats and other animals have helped her put her own life in perspective and face life’s everyday challenges. She has a blog called “Cat Scratches and Scribbles” and has published guest blog posts for numerous organizations.
Finley is an award-winning member of the CWA and served as its secretary in 2021. In October 2023, her book, My One-Eyed, Three-Legged Therapist: How My Cat Clio Saved Me, was published by Purdue University Press in their Human-Animal Bond Series and has won eight awards. She volunteers in her community through her service club, Altrusa International of Indianapolis, and received the 2024 District Six Governor’s Award for Outstanding Service. She also volunteers for CICOA’s Pet Connect, where she delivers pet food to elderly and disabled pet parents so they can keep their pets. She and her husband, Jeff, and their two cats, Sylvester and KitKat, live in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Very informative, Kathy! A lot to think about, but if we care about our cats, these issues are imperative.
Very good article! After our 20 year old cat passed in the Fall, we decided to adopt from two places two cats..one
and one half and one 7 years old. The adoptions took place a month apart , so lots of adjustments still happening. We have had them chipped and worked with two places if something happens to us who would get them, and what family members would be a great match….hopefully nothing happens but this article was very good at telling people to really think about “what if we are not here”, hospitalized, etc. We are in our 70’s healthy but having a plan is good…thanks for this good article. I am a proud member of the CWA.
What a valuable guide! I’ll be following up on these steps. Thank you!