PAWS members often ask what can be done to provide for their companion animals in the event they are no longer able to care for their animals due to death or disability. The following outlines some of the points you may wish to consider when planning for the care of your animal.

Your will should provide in general terms for any animal you have now or may acquire in the future. Allow for the possibility that you may not have a particular animal at the time you pass away. Accordingly, it is usually not a good idea to name a specific animal in your will.

Be sure that your attorney and your designated personal representative are fully aware of your wishes regarding your animal. In the days immediately after your passing, your animal may be confused or frightened. If someone the animal already knows can take care of him or her for a few days, that will reduce the stress until a new home can be arranged. Also, it may be possible for PAWS to provide special foster care during the transition if the people close to you know to call us or if this has been prearranged.

You may wish to create a trust fund that will provide for the continuing care of a particular animal. The existence of the fund may increase the animal's chances of finding the very best new home. For example, your animal may need specialized veterinary care for a chronic ailment. The added expense of such treatment may be a deterrent to someone who otherwise could provide your animal with a wonderful home. By setting up a trust fund now, you can provide for any extraordinary costs of caring for your animal. (PAWS can serve as trustee, if you would like, to administer the trust according to your wishes. In any event, the trustee should be both compassionate and attentive to the details of administering the trust.) When the animal passes on, any funds remaining in the trust can be distributed to PAWS to help other animals.

The best choice is to place your animal with family or friends who are already familiar with him or her. Let your family or friends know of your wishes regarding your animal. Put your wishes and agreements in writing, providing a copy to the person or persons who will be caring for your animal in the days immediately following your passing. Indicate PAWS as a contingent guardian in case circumstances change and your first choice cannot provide permanent care. Your will should provide for legal transfer of the animal's guardianship to PAWS.

If you wish PAWS to provide Lifetime Care Service, either as your first choice or as a back-up to another potential guardian, we will gladly do so. If PAWS is designated as the guardian of your animals, please let us know as soon as possible. To arrange for PAWS Lifetime Care Service, call the Director of Development at 425.787.2500, ext. 807. We ask that you maintain an up-to-date veterinary record along with a brief description of the animal's needs (diet, likes/dislikes, etc.) and any other information you would want your companion's new guardian to have. This should be kept in a readily available location and made known to whoever will be closely involved in your arrangements when this need occurs. While your will should include a provision that PAWS is to have legal custody of your animal, it is important that this not be the only record of your desires in this regard.

PAWS will see that your companion is quickly placed in care while we find the best and most appropriate new home. Your animal will receive any needed medical care from a PAWS veterinarian. If there is a question about your animal's care, we will consult with your veterinarian and any immediate family members. The new guardian will be carefully screened before placement and we will follow up with calls and visits, if necessary, until we are confident the match is a successful one. Our behavioral consultants will also be available as needed.

The Lifetime Care Service will provide for your animals as you would wish. There is no fee for the service, but if you wish to make a bequest toward the care of all animals—yours as well as others—who are helped by PAWS, it will certainly be appreciated, and, as appropriate, put to whatever special uses you might care to stipulate. PAWS is pleased to help in any way we can.

As with other references to PAWS in your will, please always refer to PAWS as "The Progressive Animal Welfare Society, Inc. of Lynnwood, Washington."

1. Contact your lawyer or estate planner as soon as possible to make a legal change in your will. You will be specifying that PAWS will become the legal guardian of your companion animals in the event of your death. If you are planning to use PAWS only as a "back-up" to a friend or family member, specify that PAWS will become the legal guardian only if the specified caretaker cannot fulfill that responsibility.

2. Specify your wishes as completely as possible in your will or in an attachment to your will. The more detail PAWS has, the more fully we can provide the care you desire for your animals.

3. Keep your companion animals' veterinary records and a description of their habits, likes, dislikes and personality traits in a readily available place. (We suggest in an envelope in your refrigerator. It seems strange, but it's an easily located place.) Ensure your personal representative and your family know where you keep these records.

4. Provide PAWS with a copy of the part of your will pertaining to the animals and any information about the care your wish for them to receive. If we know you are planning to use our service, we can be more prepared when the time comes.

5. Consider leaving a bequest in your will to assist with the care of your animals. It is much easier for PAWS to find new, loving homes if expensive care costs such as veterinary expenses are covered.

6. If you are interested in reducing your taxes now, you may consider speaking with an estate planner regarding setting up a trust or annuity to provide for all animals—yours as well as others—who are helped by PAWS.

Now that you know about the PAWS Lifetime Care program, perhaps you'll consider bringing a companion animal into your home.

If you have been wanting the companionship of an animal in the latter years of your life, but worried about who would care for him or her when you are gone, you may be interested in our "Seniors for Seniors" program.

The "Seniors for Seniors" adoption program places senior cats and dogs with seniors looking for a new companion. By adopting an older animal, you will bring a companion into your life that is compatible with your long-term needs. PAWS will work with you to ensure that short-term care for your animal is available should you become unable to care for the animal. Should you become permanently unable to care for your animal, PAWS guarantees that we will take him or her back and work to find a new, loving permanent home for your animal.

More information is available on adopting from PAWS and the “Seniors for Seniors” program. Or call 425.787.2500 x828.