11/08/2025
So let’s have a conversation about planning for your pet(s). So many pets end up in shelters, horses at auctions, and animals given away without concern because their owners passed away without any direction or plan on how their pets should be cared for. Do you have a plan? My husband and I added a plan to our will, an attachment, that allows for changes without going through the expense and time of actually changing the entire will. I contacted a rescue that I have worked with in the past, and they agreed to take our pets in the event that something were to happen to myself and my husband. It states that a designated friend will arrange for their care until they can be handed to the rescue. It even states that one of our dogs (who has since passed) would be euthanized since she was older, aggressive, and not good with change. There’s no way she would have handled being turned over to another household and euthanasia would have been the best option in her case. There is a copy of our will at our home and our friend knows where it is…she knows our pets and we have lists of their necessities and care instructions. We also have a pet sitter who knows them all. Of course we’ve also designated a monetary amount for not only the rescue, but for our friend to care for them in the interim. At the time we did this, we had 8 dogs, 3 cats, a horse and 2 rabbits. Now we’ve downsized to 3 dogs, 2 cats, a tortoise and a turtle, but of course we would want them all secure with a reputable rescue that would work to find them homes. What are your thoughts? (This recently came up in conversation with a horse rescue that receives so many calls from family members because the owners have passed away and the horses are left without any plan as to their future).