When Emily, 54, suffered a stroke last December, she wasn’t the only one in trouble. Disoriented, Watkins took her French bulldog, Samson, out for a walk without putting a leash on him. She ended up in the hospital, and Samson ended up lost, roaming the uptown streets alone.
When a pet owner suffers a sudden health emergency or grows too old or ill to take care of an animal, their pets can end up in dangerous situations. We take out life-insurance policies and draw up wills to protect our human family members but often neglect to think of our animals.
“If someone had a child, they would make a plan for that child,” says Nancy Taylor, CEO of Bideawee, a rescue organization in New York City. With pets, too, she says, “pre-planning is the key.”
With little family for support and no such preparations, Emily’s friends mounted a search for Samson while his owner was hospitalized. He was found at a shelter on 125th Street, and her good friend, Yvonne, 60, agreed to take him in. Samson was diagnosed recently with cancer, and though Puffer cared for him throughout his illness, he was put to sleep three weeks ago, while Emily remains in a brain-trauma facility undergoing treatment.
It’s not only an owner’s physical health issues that can spell trouble for a beloved pet. Last month, suffering from severe mental-health issues, actress Amanda Bynes lit a fire in a neighbor’s front driveway while clutching her Pomeranian, whom she’d doused in gasoline. The pet is now safely in the custody of Bynes’ parents, while Bynes is in a hospital receiving psychiatric treatment.
Not all dogs are lucky enough as to have a friend or family member willing to take them in. Taylor says she regularly sees pets given away because of an owner’s frailty, sometimes by the people who might be expected to step in and take care of them themselves. She recalls: “A woman who suffered from mental illness was hospitalized, and her sister brought her pets to us intending to surrender them. We weren’t comfortable accepting them, so we obtained permission from the owner to speak to her psychiatrist, who was quite clear that losing the pets would be detrimental to her condition and advised against it.” A brother finally stepped forward and agreed to care for them until his sister was able to.
Experts say pet owners —and their friends and family — should be prepared for situations like these. Here’s how:
n Think beyond the shelter: Allison Cardona, who heads up the ASPCA’s Cruelty Intervention Advocacy program, says that surrendering an animal to a shelter isn’t always the only option. She suggests contacting the ASPCA. She and her team can help to arrange temporary boarding or foster care, or in some cases in-home help.
n Draw up a pet trust: Taylor suggests owners “nominate a person as a guardian, and a backup,” to look after their pet in case of emergency or death, and to make it official with a document called a pet trust. “It’s not a good idea to do this in a will because a will can take months or years to go to probate, and then the pet is in limbo,” she notes. With a pet trust, “the transition is established upfront.” A pet trust can be drawn up by an attorney or through a more affordable Web site like Legal Zoom for as little as $39.
n Consider other alternatives: Bideawee offers the Loving Legacy program, which promises to look after a pet if the owner is no longer able to do so. For an undisclosed fee (depending on a pet’s age and needs), members can rest easy knowing their furry companion will see out the rest of its days gallivanting around Bideawee’s 150-acre campus in Westhampton, LI, or placed with a loving foster family. Taylor’s thoughtful finishing touch? “At the end of a pet’s life, it will be memorialized to the owner’s specifications at Bideawee’s serene Pet Memorial Park,” she says.
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