Woman Starts Rescue For Senior Pets After Adopting Deceased Grandfather's Cat
One of the most heartbreaking scenarios you run across in the animal rescue community is the plight of pets belonging to the elderly. Few elderly people have the ability to make arrangements for their pets when they are deceased or can no longer care for them and many times, elderly people who should be living in care facilities refuse to go, because it will mean surrendering their animals. When these animals do end up in shelters, they often fare poorly, as they are usually older themselves (which makes them hard to adopt), and have no idea what happened to their loving home.
Angela Rafuse was twenty-six and living in her parent’s basement when she inherited her grandfather’s senior cat, Mackenzie, after the old man passed. Soon, she learned that pets like Mackenzie were all too common across her home country of Canada, and founded anon-profit to help match up the pets of seniors and terminally-ill people with people who were willing to adopt them as soon as their original owners could no longer care for them.
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“Rather than housing animals in a foster system,” Rafuse explains, My Grandfather’s Cat aims to arrange for pets to “move directly from their home into a second forever home.”
Related: 5 Senior Illinois Shelter Cats Looking for Forever Homes Have Nothing but Love to Give
The service is innovative because it actually gives the original owners a say in who adopts their precious fur babies.
“Our goal is for the animal to stay with their human up until the very last day to provide comfort and companionship to their human. We often help in situations where a senior is moving into a retirement home or care facility due to declining health, a person has been diagnosed with a terminal illness or a person has unexpectedly passed away and the family is unable to adopt their pet.”
The Plight of Homeless Senior Pets
Senior pets often don’t fare well in shelters. Everyone wants a puppy or a kitten, and senior pets sometimes come with special medical needs that make people wary of taking them on. But many senior pets have a lot of life left in them, and there are benefits to getting an animal who has been well cared for in their life. For one, a senior pet probably has less energy—if you’re looking for a dog or cat that’s mostly couch potato, a senior might be your best bet. Secondly, senior pets usually come well-trained, and you don’t need to put a lot of effort into teaching them the basics.
Make a Plan for Your Pets in the Event of Your Demise
Many people don’t plan for what might happen to their pets if they die or are otherwise unable to care for them. It’s a difficult scenario to face, and comes with many hurdles. Even if you specify money in your will to someone to look after your pet, that does not guarantee that there will be any takers, and the laws to enforce such a provision are inconsistent to non-existent. In many cases, especially among the elderly, there is no one who can take on the job, and the animals wind up in shelters, alone and confused—or worse.
Since starting the charity, My Grandfather’s Cat has placed over two hundred animals in new forever homes. And people are watching the journey and taking notes on how they can help the pets and the elderly in their own communities—or plan better for themselves.
“I am seventy-two and in relatively good health,” writes one observer in the comments. “I have two five-year-old cats and a four-year-old dog. My biggest concern is who will take them, will they get to stay together if I die before them.”
“You are truly doing the Lord’s work,” says another. “Not just in saving the animals, which is already amazing, but bringing peace to the humans who loved their furry friends and know they will continue to be loved.”
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