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What to Do When Your Pet Will Outlive You

What to Do When Your Pet Will Outlive You

Deciding on a Care Plan for Your Parrot, Tortoise or Other Long-Living Exotic

Being a responsible pet parent means thinking about the future of your pet’s life. Sometimes that means deciding in advance about end-of-life care for your pet. But sometimes that means planning for a future where your pet outlives you. This is a question faced by many elderly pet parents and those with terminal illnesses, but it’s also a practical consideration for anyone choosing the companionship of an animal that could live a very long time.


Getting a pet is always a long-term commitment, but some pets stretch this beyond regular expectations. Large parrots can live to be 70 years old, and even smaller birds are likely to live well into their 20s. Some tortoises live more than a century, and even popular turtle varieties like red-eared sliders can reach age 50. Koi fish can reach 100 years or more, and many other fish varieties can live for decades with proper care.


If you’re planning to adopt one of these long-lived exotics or already have one in your care, planning ahead for the future is essential.

A Pet Trust for End-of-Life Planning

One of the best ways to ensure your pets are appropriately cared for after you pass away is to set money aside in a special trust for their care. In a trust, you designate funds and specify how they must be allocated and what standard of care is to be provided. There is a trust beneficiary, who will be named as your pet’s caretaker, as well as a trustee, who ensures that the terms of the trust are followed. This allows you some peace of mind as it puts a legal process in place to ensure your instructions are followed after you’re gone.


Pet trusts can be put in place for any animal and can be made as detailed or broad as necessary for your specific needs. An attorney with experience in estate planning can help you to sort out these details.

Special Considerations for Exotic Pets

It’s often easier to find a willing and competent caretaker for a dog or cat than for a more exotic pet. Large enclosures, specific temperature requirements, unique diets – not everyone is equipped to handle the needs of a large bird or reptile. You may not have friends or family up to the task, and you don’t want to worry about what kind of care your pet will receive if something happens to you. Making considerations in advance and having a care plan established will give you peace of mind.


When looking for a caretaker, it’s often best to ask around within the hobbyist community for your type of pet in your area. You can ask your veterinarian for tips on who to contact or run a search for local rescue organizations specializing in your specific pet. If your pet originally came from a breeder or rescue, you might also want to reach out to them for guidance. They might be willing to take your animal back in an emergency or point you toward long-term planning resources.


If you decide to work with a rescue organization, it’s a good idea to choose one that’s been around for a while and is firmly established. This helps ensure that it will still be in business years from now when their services may be needed.

A Lifetime of Love

Your companions are with you for a lifetime – and loving them means planning for every future outcome. Having a plan in place for their care without you is important, but so is having a plan for saying goodbye if they pass away first. That’s where Best Friends comes in.


Our Albuquerque pet cremation and memorial services are available for pets of any size and shape, from dogs and cats to birds and reptiles. We offer pre-planning assistance and can help you think ahead to the future, but we’re also on-call for when you need us right away. If you have recently lost your pet, or are anticipating their passing soon, call us at (803) 888-7095 and our team will help guide you through it.

How Much Does It Cost to Cremate a Dog?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
Losing a cherished companion is already emotionally devastating. Surprise expenses only add to your worries. That’s why Best Friends believes in the importance of transparency during this difficult time. We can’t make the pain of loss go away, but we can do everything in our power to make it easier to bear – and part of that means upfront pricing and simple-to-understand cremation packages.

How to Make a Pet Memorial Garden

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
When someone you love passes away, having a permanent place to return to can help ease the feelings of grief and loss. This is as true of our pets as our human family members. A gravesite can be decorated as a beautiful physical memorial of their precious memory.

Why Does Losing a Pet Hurt So Much?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
Heartache isn’t just a poetic turn of phrase. The emotions of grief can be felt in your body: the tightness in your chest, the throb in your head, the heaviness in your limbs. Losing a beloved animal companion can be a mental, emotional, and physical ordeal, just the same as losing any other family member. Pet owners often face pressure to hide or downplay their grief when a pet dies. After all, it was just a pet, right? The fact is that pets are so much more than that. They are constant companions, a source of unconditional love, and a comforting presence.

Is It Better to Bury or Cremate Your Pet?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
The decision of what to do with a beloved pet’s body is a deeply personal one. It’s also not always easy to make in the moment. When you’re faced with a loss that happens at home, or your vet asks about your preference at the clinic, your mind might go blank. Should you cremate your pet? Should you bury them? If you cremate them, do you want the ashes back? Will you scatter those ashes, bury them, keep them on the mantel or do something else with them? These decisions can leave you feeling blind-sided, and you might not know the best way to proceed.

Why Do Pets Hide When They’re Sick?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
It can be nerve-wracking when your fur-baby is seriously ill or feeling the effects of old age. Because they cannot speak to us directly, it’s hard to know for certain how our animal companions are feeling or what’s going through their minds. That uncertainty can lead you to asking yourself a lot of difficult questions.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Adopting a Senior Pet?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
When you’re looking to grow your family, a new puppy or kitten is often the first thing that comes to mind. But adopting a senior pet can be very rewarding. Whether you’re looking to add a second companion or are opening your heart to another pet after a loss, consider inviting a senior pet to live out their golden years in your home.

What is Anticipatory Grief?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
Part of being a pet parent is knowing you will say goodbye too soon. No lifetime ever feels long enough when it comes to a beloved animal companion. Seeing your fur baby grow old and slow down can be painful. Watching them advance through the stages of a terminal disease, knowing you will have to make a choice sooner or later about when to let them go, can be one of the most agonizing parts of pet parenting.

Famous Pet Cemeteries Around the World

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
Pets are family. And when they pass away, we memorialize them for the same reason we do our human family members. Whether their ashes are kept on the mantle, scattered in the garden, or buried in a pet cemetery, laying your pet’s remains to rest is a tribute to them and the lasting bond you share. A permanent memorial or resting place gives you something to visit after they’re gone, and it’s a visible expression of the love and care you feel for them.

Five Things to Do with a Pet Paw Print

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
The bonds we make with those we love don’t go away when they die. This is just as true of our pets as any other loved one. Their spirit may be gone, but we feel just as strongly connected to them as when they were by our side.

A Pet is Never “Just” a Pet

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
“It’s just a pet.” There are few things crueler to say to someone grieving the loss of a furry family member. Yet people are often quick to dismiss the pain associated with pet death. Sometimes when we are coping with the loss, we can even internalize that dismissiveness and feel self-conscious or ashamed of our feelings. This only compounds the pain, adding more negative emotions to an already difficult time. Pets serve a vital role in our lives. They are precious to us. Pets are part of the family. In some ways, they can be even closer to us than many of the people in our lives. It’s only natural that their loss would affect us deeply.

What Is the Rainbow Bridge?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
If you’ve spent much time around pet parents online, you may already be familiar with the idea of the Rainbow Bridge. Perhaps you’ve seen someone say, “Muffin crossed the bridge today,” or seen someone express sympathy as, “Play hard at the bridge, Buddy.” Or you might have seen a motif of rainbows and bridges on cards and memorial items and wondered about it. What is the Rainbow Bridge, and what does it have to do with pet loss?

How Does At-Home Pet Euthanasia Work?

By Tukios Websites • September 7, 2023
The tragedy of pet ownership is knowing that your furry friend’s lifespan will never be long enough. Though their lives are short, our pets pack a tremendous amount of love and wonderful memories into the time we share. And when they approach the end of their lives, we as pet parents can return that love with a beautiful final gift.
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