By Paige Lambert
Like children and their chores, there are many tasks adults loath and try to avoid. This can range from doctor visits to future planning, like writing a will. Many believe it only affects them — that holding off won’t cause any serious damage.
But what if that delay would put man’s best friend in limbo?
That is the situation the PAWS shelter in Kyle tries to avoid by offering a perpetuity care program.
The initiative aims to provide care for a pet should the owner predecease them. In concert with the shelter, the owner develops a plan on how to care for the pet and find it another home. Each plan is created on a case-by-case basis.
Monica Dangler, shelter director, said older people with younger pets make up the majority of people who sign up for the program.
“When [the program]’s needed, the pet is no longer a young one, it might be twelve years old by then,” Dangler said. “Sometimes those pets will live out their lives at the shelter.”
Yet even with the benefits, Dangler said the PAWS perpetuity program is rarely used. Most families just assume their loved ones will take care of their furry friends because they did, Dangler said.
This assumption not only put a stress on the family, but on local shelters as well.
Dangler recalled a time when a lady brought in her mother’s 10 cats, asking the no-kill shelter to take the felines.“We just didn’t have room for them, five pets alone fills up one of our kennels,” Dangler said. “If she has used the plan, we would’ve been prepared for them.”
As a result, families are stuck between a rock and a hard place, to keep the pets or send them to a shelter.
Julie Steward, Kyle Animal Hospital reception supervisor, said she sees a lot of families in this predicament.
“You can tell if that’s the reason why they have the pet,” Steward said. “Most have a feeling of responsibility, especially if [the pet is] from the parents.”
Steward said most of the pets in this type of situation are dogs and cats. Even with the sudden responsibility, most families have an idea they will unofficially inherit the pet.
That’s what happened to Suzanne Hallam of Mountain City, when her mom was diagnosed of cancer last September.
In December when her mom went to the hospital, she would ask about her nine-year-old lab, Bailey, and made sure she was fed.
“She got to where she didn’t ask about Bailey, and [my siblings and I] began thinking, ‘what are we going to do with Bailey?’” Hallam said. “And I said, ‘I’ll take her.’”
Taking a pet to a shelter can be stressful for the animal. Keeping the pet within a family, as Hallam did, can save a pet from any more trauma, Dangler said.
“She was used to us, and I couldn’t do that to her. I thought she had been through so much since my mom passed away,” Hallam said.
Without any kids or pets at the house, Hallam said the transition of taking care of Bailey was easy.
However, there were some trials when Bailey first moved in, especially when the dog wanted to travel with her, Hallam said.
“When she would see me start putting my stuff in the car she would start following me around,” Hallam said. “She is older and it is harder to get her in there, so that was kind of a chore.”
Despite the challenges and Hallam’s reluctance to take on a pet of her own, she took Bailey because of the situation.
“When that dog looks at me with those big sad eyes, I just really think about how much she meant to my mother,” Hallam said. “She gave my mom a lot of peace, and gave her purpose during that time. I just can’t let the dog down.”
