Pet Acquisition Post-60: 4 Thoughts to Sniff Out in Advance
Pets sustain us and keep us healthier, happier and more hopeful as we age – no bones about it. A recent story in Harvard Magazine cited an American Heart Association finding that pets reduce our mortality rate by 24 percent and Mayo Clinic confirms pets keep us in much better shape, both physically and mentally.
But new challenges to pet ownership emerge as we age, including medical diagnoses that can keep us away from our furry, feathered friends or make it impossible to care for them, as well as unforeseen financial issues and living arrangements that reframe our capacity to keep them. These are tough scenarios to imagine, but it is a reality we should all expect and plan for during our second half.
Let’s sniff out a few ways to mitigate pet ownership challenges in advance so our glorious Golden Years don’t go to the dogs.
Plan Ahead
Have candid, real-talk conversations with your friends, loved ones and caregivers about how your pet will be cared for should you be unable to do it and how much it will cost.
Before you get a pet, make sure your friends and family are in on your planning. If you expect to offload an animal on another person should you become infirm or unable to care for it, communicate your wishes to your loved ones long in advance of the crisis. Make sure you have saved or budgeted enough money to cover vet, food and maintenance bills for at least a 10-year stretch.
Establish a relationship with a vet who makes on-site calls, so you can keep up with vet visits if you become incapacitated or unable to drive. Plan for all contingencies and communicate these plans with the people in your sphere. Aligning plans with the expectations of others, particularly the ones who will be supporting you during your Golden Years, is a must when it comes to pet ownership.
Choose Your Pet Thoughtfully
Consider carefully the breed or type of pet that best suits your lifestyle as you age.
Before you bring a pet into your home, think about the kind of animal that best fits the environment in which you live. How big is your house and yard? Does your HOA allow pets? What is your budget? What are the physical requirements for owning this pet or that?
Once you’ve answered those basic questions of environment and affordability, start thinking about the kind of breed that would flourish in this space. Is it a dog, cat, bird, rodent? Forbes recently published a list of good dogs for seniors, so start here if a dog is in your sights. Dog and cat breeds have very different strengths, so make sure you’re aware of them before bringing them into your home.
Pet and Travel Considerations
If travel is a big part of your second-half vision, do not get a pet. And if you must, implement a concrete plan for care and cost coverage.
Not much else to say here except that pets are a huge and expensive anchor point if you want to travel or be gone for long stretches. Doggy daycare can cost anywhere between $40 and $280 per day, according to a recent story in Rover.com. Pet sitters, dog walkers and generous friends are other options, but all must be investigated thoroughly prior to having a pet on the scene.
Adopting vs. Buying
Consider adopting a senior, rescue or feral pet, or foster one.
When reviewing options of pet ownership, it is generous, loving and wise to think about senior, rescue and feral contenders. Senior dogs and cats are desperate for a loving home. They are usually housebroken, slower moving, gentler and happily into their third act – meaning there is a more reasonable timeframe in play for managing them.
Rescue pets are a good thought because they generally must be returned to the rescue organization if you can no longer care for them. And feral pets require as little or as much attention as you give them – no binding arrangement is at stake here.
As we age, it is important to be open, communicative and realistic about pet ownership, its expense and associated logistics. While having a pet is beneficial to our health in many proven ways, it opens the door to problems that can change the scope of our senior experience.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Do you have a pet? How do you plan to manage potential challenges on the horizon? What factors did you consider before acquiring your pet?
I have four cats (one just died) at age 75, three of which are street cats rescued in my 60’s. I purchased a separate life insurance policy for the care of the cats if I pre-decease them. I have no family nor close friends. They have been a lot of fun and company and also a lot of work because I like to keep my house clean.
Furthermore, I have more pets than the HOA pet limit but do not care. The HOA is full of a bunch of selfish old micromanagers and I keep the cats indoors and they have outstanding vet care. I have the resources to care for them.
My community has an overpopulation of abandoned and street animals, and I decided to respond to the crisis, to hell with the HOA. If I knew how HOA’s operate and the narcissists involved, I NEVER would have moved to my current property and would have chosen single-family housing.
Trapped, neutered and sterilized a colony of cats near former residence in early 60’s and cared for them for 10 years until they died off. My community was euthanizing 500 cats per month until two amazing women started a trap-neuter-release program, which has evolved into an official non-profit organization for street cat rescue.
Will continue to have cats until I die, will adopt older cats in the future.
And yes, have had 7 surgeries since adopting the cats, and a 6-week hospitalization for a life-threatening spinal infection. Was lucky to be in touch with a cat sitter, and paid her $600 per month. Did not have any close friends or family nearby. Pretty scary.
Life is risk. Love or fear, pick one.
I have 5 cats now, formerly 6. All of them came to me as strays that I took in, including 2 pregnant cats who had litters of 5 and 6 respectively. I kept the 2 mother cats and 1 kitten each and rehomed the other kittens to excellent homes where they are cherished. The other two cats are full grown stray tomcats, who were neutered by my vet and have been with me for years now as combo indoor/outdoor cats. Yes, it’s a lot of work and I’m 64 this year. It has begun to dawn on me that my dear pets are a lot of work BUT they are helping to keep me active and engaged in their care and welfare. I have told my cats that I intend to stay alive for them until the end LOL but, just in case, my darling daughter and sons have agreed to provide homes to our furry family members in the event of my demise. As an older person, I now realize that I have to consider the ‘mechanics’ of providing a home to a furry friend.
I am a 74 year old woman with no family. I have a 13 year old Shiba Inu dog who is the love of my life. I rescued him when he was 2 years old and he has been with me for 10.5 years. I have made arrangements in my will for him to be rehomed if something should happen to me. However, I know that he is a “hand full” and he also has separation anxiety so I do not know how rehoming would work out. I just pray that I outlive him. Recently, I had a cardiac health crisis and my prayers were that I would not die so I could take care of him. Thankfully all is well now. When my little furry boy is gone; I will not get another pet because I do not want the worry of wondering what would happen if I cannot take of him/her.
I have two mini-dachshunds that are a light in my life. If I die before they do, they’ll go back to the dachshund rescue where I got one of them, along with money to support them. They are a bonded pair, so can’t be separated.
Our beloved 5 year old girl, a Berger Picard, died unexpectedly in January. Her companion, our 8 year old boy Picard was mopping and listless, as were we. My husband and I went around and around about re-homing a female Picard who’d retired from showing and needed a new home. ( people aren’t just dumping these girls when they’re done showing and breeding, but there can be behavioral issues between spayed and unswayed girls in a home). We decided after a lot of consideration, to get a girl puppy. I’m 65 and my husband is 70. We have the home and yard, as well as the finances to have another dog. We also knew what we were letting ourselves in for with a “new baby.”
a good part of our circle of friends are in the breed club with us, so it’s a big part of our social lives. We made arrangements for both our boy and our girl to be re-homed if we couldn’t care for them. It’s written, with copies of instructions to the “godparents” and our adult kids. Financial resources, a stipend, has been set up for each dog. We don’t know what will happen in the future to us, but our dogs will be loved and cared for regardless.
Time to take the puppy out again- it’s every 2-3 hours, but it’s really invigorating for me to get up and out!