Cat’s owner dies. Read what happened next.
The deceased’s executors made a mistake. They forgot about the deceased’s cat. This should be a reminder that the executor1 of a Will should read it carefully and if provision for the deceased’s cat is not mentioned in the Will they should at least check the home of the deceased and look for his/her cat on the basis the executor knows the deceased well and that he/she has a cat. If the executors are not related to the deceased person and if the Will does not mention the cat then common sense should prevail, namely that there was a cat flap which indicated that there was a pet cat.
Sweet Ada. Happy again.
In this story a cuddly tabby cat was made homeless when her owner died. The executors of the Will of the deceased person boarded up the cat flap in his home to make the home secure. In doing that they were careless at the very least. Although the full story may reveal why they did this without checking the welfare of the cat who used the cat flap.
What happened is that the cat was locked out of her home and was seen by neighbours sitting on the window ledge of the house for several days. They realised she was locked out because they saw that her cat flap was boarded up. As a consequence they called a local animal rescue organisation: the Mayhew Animal Home. They rescued the cat and found a new home. Good work and efficiently carried out.
The animal welfare officer of the rescue organisation said that they found the cat (named ‘Ada’) pacing up and down outside her home unable to get inside. They believe Ada was outside in the front garden for a week before being rescued.
Ada is a fine domestic cat: friendly and affectionate. She is happy now. There is a moral to the story. Elderly people need to make provision for their cat in their Will and make sure that their nominated executor knows about their cat and understands their Will.
We are not sure if this problem with Ada stems from the deceased’s Will failing to include his/her cat or whether it was an oversight by the executors. Either way it was a near miss in terms of cat welfare. This cat could have been left to fend for herself outside indefinitely which could have resulted in her untimely death.
Note 1: the executors of a Will are charged with collecting in the assets of the deceased person and converting them to cash and distributing the money per the Will. And also dealing with other matters mentioned in the Will such as provisions for the care of pets. Executors are often relatives of the deceased person. Sometimes they are banks or solicitors (attorneys). This may be what happened in this case.