Who Will Provide a Home for your Cat? Do You Have a Plan?

Who Will Provide a Home for your Cat?

Marie’s Maggie in the sun room

Do you have a plan in place in case something happens and you are no longer able to provide for your cats?  We became Maggie’s godparents for Marie and we took that promise to heart.  Even though we had hoped Maggie and Marie would live many more years together it was not to be.  We had just adopted Annie and Eddie so adding Maggie presented a slight challenge but one that we were prepared to meet.

Years ago we also welcomed Hazel into our home when Ed was no longer able to stay in his home due to illness.  Hazel and Gracey never became best friends but they lived peacefully together until Hazel crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Currently we are godparents to Hobbes part of my sister Barbara’s family and  of course our Mercy, who is adored  by Paul’s mom.

One of the biggest worries I had was what would happen to Gracey if something happened to both Paul and I.  Gracey was a special needs cat requiring ProZinc injections twice daily, glucometer readings, and a special diet.  Paul and I didn’t even take trips together because one of us needed to stay close by home for Gracey.  This didn’t feel or seem like a burden to us because we loved her, but asking someone else to look after her seemed a burdensome thing to ask.  If something would have happened to us, Barbara would have taken care of Gracey.

Do You Have a Plan?

As we were moving Maggie into our home, I began to think once again about the importance of making a contingency plan for your family members.  I remember our friend Ingrid writing a post about this topic on her site  The Conscious Cat.   Ingrid details steps that you should take to plan for your cat just in case.  She points out that nobody wants to think about becoming ill, or dying but we owe it to our little loved ones to plan for their care just in case we can no longer remain in our homes.  Ingrid reminds us to  find one or two responsible  friends or relatives that you trust will keep their promise and legalize the arrangement.

There are a few other things you can do to ensure continued care for your cats in the event that something happens to you:

Carry a wallet alert card with contact information for your emergency care givers.
Make sure that emergency care givers know how to contact each other.
Post emergency contact notices inside your front door. Include favorite hiding places for your cats on this listing – depending on your cat’s temperament, he may be scared when a stranger enters your house.

You can find Ingrid’s post here: Who will care for your cat if you can’t?

You will have peace of mind knowing that you made arrangements for your loved ones.

Thank you for caring for all cats big and small.