In a perfect world, pets and their people would never need to spend their time grieving. Unfortunately, we live in a world where life is a privilege, and planning for your loved ones after you die is one of the many ways to show your love. But what happens when your pet outlives you?
Pets who outlive their owners can easily end up in dreadful situations if there is no specific plan for their future care. Keep reading as we explain how you can avoid this for your close companions.
When Pets Outlive Their Caretakers
While many pets live much shorter lives than their human caretakers, there are others, like long-living parrots and tortoises, that can easily outlive their human’s natural lifespan. Illness or tragedy can strike at any time, leaving your pets in a vulnerable position without you to care for them any longer.
This can go one of two ways, and that depends on whether there is a plan in place or not. Taking the time to establish who will care for your animals after you die (and whether they receive funds to help them do so) can make a world of difference for your pets that outlive you.
If there is not an established plan, legal responsibility often goes to your next of kin. If they are unable or unwilling to care for your animals, they could end up in a shelter or in the care of someone unknown to you.
While it may seem morbid, setting up a plan ahead of time (even if you’re not expecting your life to end anytime soon) gives you much more peace of mind over your companion’s future care.
How to Keep Your Pet Safe if They Outlive You
Creating a plan doesn’t have to be complicated. The ASPCA even offers free pet planning resources to get you on the right track and organize your ideas.
In short, to create a “Care in Case of Death” plan, you need to:
- Determine your pets care needs (both financial and physical)
- Create a list of care contacts for your pet
- Choose a suitable long-term caretaker
- Create a contingency plan in case things change
- Make your wishes officially known
Even getting halfway down the list can make it a lot easier for someone to care for your pets if something happens to you.
Determine Your Pet’s Needs
When talking about a pet’s needs, you need to consider both the financial responsibility and actual care tasks someone may need to perform to take care of your companion.
Financially, create a budget for monthly and annual needs. For example, the monthly budget may include food and treats, supplements, pet insurance premiums, and medications. Annual budgets often include routine checkups and vaccinations, dental cleanings and care, boarding or travel expenses, licensing, and large item replacements.
Care needs should consider your pet’s daily schedule and how they like to live their lives. Do they need a large yard to roam around in? How active are they? What do you currently do for enrichment, and what do they expect on a daily basis?
Understanding these needs helps you determine who can meet them, and they can help you when speaking to your potential choice and letting them know the gravity of accepting this potential role in your pet’s life.
Create a List of Care Contacts
Creating a list of care contacts can accomplish two things.
First, it works as a general emergency contact list for your long-term caretaker. This list should include:
- Primary veterinarian and any specialists your pet sees
- Boarding facilities and/or pet sitters
- Groomers
- Trainers and/or behaviorists
- People your pet is familiar with who can provide care if needed
This list can also function as a list of options to choose your long-term caretaker from.
Choose a Suitable Long-Term Caretaker
First and foremost, your long-term caretaker should be someone who can and will provide optimal care for your pet. This means meeting or exceeding their current standard of living, ideally someone who would make the same decisions for your pet as you would. Can they meet the demands of your high-maintenance pet?
This may be the future guardian of your minor children (if you have any), often a friend or a family member. Ideally, they have had plenty of time to become friends already, and you know there are no personality clashes.
You should also consider who they have in their household. Are there young children or other pets in the home that may introduce a great deal of stress? Have they met every person in that household?
Choosing the right person is a big decision, so take your time and don’t be afraid to change your plan as situations change.
Create a Contingency Plan
Because you won’t be around to make last-minute decisions if your initial plan doesn’t work out, it’s a great idea to create a contingency plan. This may include contacting multiple people to step up if other options fail, but it should also look like researching local rescues and shelters to find the best rescue agency for your pet.
While we don’t want our pets to end up in a sad fundraising ad, there are things we can do to prevent this. Getting in contact with your local rescue can help you create a contingency plan where they provide care for your pet while working to find the best home possible.
Having these conversations beforehand and documenting them in your official estate plan ensure your executor knows exactly where to look if they run into issues.
Make Your Wishes Known in Your Estate Plan
Making your wishes officially known in an estate plan or will is the best way to ensure your pet goes exactly where you want them to if anything unfortunate happens to you.
You can also outline the level of oversight you want their future caretaker to have, and you can even allocate them funds to help provide the best care for your pet. While a lump-sum paid out to the caretaker is most straightforward, you can even set up a pet trust with a separate trustee to provide a higher level of checks and balances.
Whatever you do, make sure you review this plan and update it often. Keep official documents, like your list of caretakers and care instructions, in a known area and document this in your plan.
Planning for the future can be scary, but it makes the future less scary for the pets you leave behind.
