Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello,

We have a current foster that is interested in doing cat hospice care. We occasionally do have cats and dogs that we send to foster in a hospice capacity but it's usually geared towards finding out if the dog or cat is able to be managed well and humanely. She wants to take in a cat as an end of life adoption to give them their best end and she wants to find a rescue that has that as one of their main purposes. Does anyone know of a group that does this? Of course, I worry that a whole organization that takes in these end of life dogs and cats might lean towards a hoarding situation but that's my own bias and I apologize in advance for that. We are in Michigan but I suspect she might travel to help one of these cats out. She has fostered for us a few times and is loving and does a good job, complete with scrapbooks made and all that good stuff but she wants to move away from temporary fostering of healthy-sick and go to fostering terminal cats.

Any advice is appreciated. (We do have a renal failure cat up for adoption plus the current hospice foster so I think maybe those 2 will be options for her now but in the future, we probably won't be able to fulfill her wants).

#FosterPrograms

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Ellen Gratch
Capital Area Humane Society
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May want to suggest she seek out a sanctuary? Such as that takes fiv/felv+ cats??
I realize it's more common now to adopt these cats out, but like anywhere, there are more kitties than homes for them.
A sanctuary may be grateful to be able to have someone who can give one of their kitties a home hospice experience.

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Teresa Corner
medical/first aid foster, feline
Leesburg IN
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How quickly do your serious medical cats get adopted?  While we limit the dogs and cats that we define as hospice and unable to be adopted to those with a very short time left, those that are considered "adoptable hospice" or "adoptable medical" do often ultimately stay with us until the end, due to less demand.  That may be a way to fulfill her needs, as well as the organizations', even if it isn't exactly labeled as a cat that isn't able to be adopted.  Otherwise, a sanctuary or a group that deals with Feline Leukemia might be a good option for her, if at a future point, you don't have any serious medical cats.

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Kim Kay
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I've served as a fospice for Purrs Abound in MI. It wasn't intentional, but the cat they pulled ended up having issues beyond what we initially thought. I've never worked with/heard of an org that only takes in hospice cases, but I've had several from other orgs as needed. I have one old man now who has FIP so he'll stay with me until his QOL declines. He's from a shelter with municipal contracts, so they don't focus on any certain type/condition. They just happened to get him in as a stray.

Perhaps a rescue that focuses on medical/seniors? While many of those animals are able to be adopted out, I'm sure they get some that are near end of life and just need a place to live out their last days in comfort.

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Sam Maurice
Humane Society of Jefferson County
Jefferson WI
https://hsjc-wis.com
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I found a few possibilities, but I would also suggest just reaching out to any of the local shelters/rescues. While they might not be specific to hospice cats, oftentimes they just happen to have one or more available. I'm currently fostering one that I found because of a story the shelter did trying to find her a home. I told them I would love to take her but I couldn't afford to adopt her, so they decided I could "forever foster" for however long she has. Some places might not even be advertising hospice cats but would love for someone to foster. Here's a few I found, 2 are in Canada and the third I'm not sure where they are.

https://www.milossanctuary.org
https://beforethebridgescs.ca
https://superseniorcatsanctuary.org

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Sincerely,
Johanna Spielman
Founder of Jamie Brianna's Legacy Fund
https://jamiebriannaslegacyfund.org/
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

I you have a senior pets/senior bonded pairs, I recommend checking out Senior Pet Adoption grants, and Emergency Medical Grants. This might help get hospice animals or senior animal out the door and into a loving home faster.