our rehoming service

how it works

My Grandfather’s Cat provides a free service to help seniors and terminally ill people arrange homes for their cats and dogs. Rather than housing animals in a foster system, we arrange for them to move directly from their home into a second forever home.

Our goal is for the animal to stay with their human up until the very last day to provide comfort and companionship to their human. We often help in situations where a senior is moving into a retirement home or care facility due to declining health, a person has been diagnosed with a terminal illness or a person has unexpectedly passed away and the family is unable to adopt their pet.

While we work to arrange second forever homes and vet each applicant, the owner of the animal has the ultimate decision of who adopts their beloved pet.

The average age of our adoptables is 12 years old. We have found second forever homes for cats up to 17 years old and with known health conditions such as diabetes. Our service is available across Canada. There are no costs associated with using our rehoming service or adopting through us.

250

To date, we have found more than 250 second forever homes across Canada.

application process

We provide our rehoming service on a first come first serve basis. When an application is submitted, it is reviewed and added to our waitlist. The applicant is contacted when we have a volunteer able to help.

While our goal is to help in every situation that meets our requirements, we are a small organization with limited resources. We kindly ask that you review our requirements below before submitting an application.

Due to the high demand for our service, it is approximately a three-week wait from the time an application is submitted until we are able to begin our process. We prioritize all applications that involve MAID.

  • "My deepest gratitude to this extraordinary nonprofit that assisted me in finding a loving home for my aging parents' cat. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

    — Tracy, Sally’s human’s daughter

  • "The service you provide is beyond excellent. Thank you for the effort you put into finding Keta a new home"

    — Keta’s human’s son

  • “I don’t think I could have found a better home for my best friend’s cat, Bert, after she passed away. I am so grateful for My Grandfather’s Cat.”

    — Emilie, Bert’s humans best friend

  • ”Swiffer is adjusting well to her new home. She comes out for pets and does her little dance. I can’t wait to show my mom the pictures.”

    – Swiffer’s humans daughter

  • ”Tom has always held a special place in Nana’s life, and he is honestly what kept her going after my grandfather passed away. The task of rehoming him was so large and my place was already so full. You guys completely took all the stress related to that away.”

    — Amy, Tom’s humans granddaughter

  • “MGC has changed my life forever. Reminding me that there are still really, really good people left in the world. My dad would be smiling now looking down knowing that Belle and Shiloh have finally found their forever home.”

    — Erin, Shiloh and Belle’s humans daughter

requirements

Our rehoming service is intended for seniors and terminally ill people to arrange homes for their pets before they move into retirement homes, care facilities or pass away. We often help in situations after someone has passed away, or when a well intended family member has taken an animal and the home isn’t a fit.

Our adoptables must be owned by a senior or terminally ill person who can no longer care for their beloved pet due to health conditions, or they have passed away. The adoptable must be spayed or neutered and have a safe place to stay until a second forever home can be found.

We help cats and dogs of all ages and known health conditions. Our rehoming service is not intended for medical emergencies and situations of extreme neglect. Animals cannot be surrendered to us.

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how it got started

Our rehoming service was inspired by our founder’s experience adopting her grandfather’s cat, Mackenzie, when he passed away. Knowing the options were either to adopt her or take her to a shelter, she adopted her in December 2019.

After realizing many families go through a similar experience when their loved ones passes away, and many are not able to adopt the animal themselves, she launched My Grandfather’s Cat as a solution to this need on May 18, 2021, her grandfather’s birthday