Loving Care for the cat you leave behind

The tuxedo kitty, Dalyma, is available for adoption. She was taken in after her owner went into hospice. She’s eight years old, very petite and sweet. Like all our senior cats, she comes with lifetime veterinary care assistance. This means we cover the cost of an annual exam and vaccinations for life.

The tuxedo kitty, Dalyma, is available for adoption. She was taken in after her owner went into hospice. She’s eight years old, very petite and sweet. Like all our senior cats, she comes with lifetime veterinary care assistance. This means we cover the cost of an annual exam and vaccinations for life.

Rita Fletcher

Your pampered feline pet—do you have a plan for continued care when you are no longer able? Think a shelter will? Most shelters won’t take cats due to overcrowding and constant cage placement for your companion is traumatic.

Hearts That Purr Feline Guardians, a nonprofit group, is a new concept you need to know about. It is for orphaned felines – homeless due to placement in hospice or a nursing home, terminal illness, incapacitation, or death of their caregiver. Your furry friend will be placed in a private, low-density residential group home, a foster home or adopted; they will roam freely in a feline only environment where they are guaranteed a lifetime of care and attention.

Jeanmarie Schiller-McGinnis, a local Tucson businesswoman and cat lover opened a retirement home for pampered feline pets. Older cats, sick cats, blind cats, bonded pairs who cannot be separated are taken in, not turned away but you must make provision in advance of the emergency! Donations may apply.

Want to volunteer? Get involved in their foster program, Senior Citizens and Senior Kittizens. Older cats are matched with older people to guarantee the cat will have a forever home and lifetime veterinary assistance. If you can no longer care for the cat, they come back to Hearts That Purr. Volunteers are also needed at the Home (located around the Ina/Oracle area) to visit and play with cats.

Volunteers and cat owners without a pet estate plan for are urged to call this group for more information: www.heartsthatpurr.org, 520-297-3780.