registered charity number 1123174

Leaving a Legacy and Helping Birmans

 A message from Sheba, Pet Birman of the Year 2008

Fellow Birmans, I have a message for you. We need to ask our Human Slaves to help those of us who are in difficult circumstances now and who may fall on difficult times in the future..

Some of you may remember me as Pet Birman of the year 2008 and my relatives Tia and Shashi were Runners up to the Runners up in 2006.

I am  a Birman who fell on hard times because I was not looked after properly and I ended up in an animal rescue. By very good luck my human was looking for another  Birman to employ her as Tia and Shashi had gone to Rainbow Bridge.  So I am something of a fanatic about making sure my fellow Birmans are looked after in the event of untoward happening. ( Yes I am on my soap box….)

Welfare and Rescue thankfully at that time had no cats in the Rescue. A very rare happening and in a way lucky for me, as  my Slave looked on the Internet and found me…… although I was looked after well  by the Lady at the Charity and had my trust in humans restored, it did feel like prison living in a cage and run and they were not our very loving and kind rescuers who know all about Birmans. Of course because we are so special, people need to understand our quirky ways. Well I have many  quirks or so the Slave tells me.

Others of you  may have a hard time because your owner dies or goes into a care home and you must find a new home or they are hit by this Credit Crunch and lose their jobs and you have to leave. Some of us may find the humans become allergic to us or we cannot cope with children and other animals. And some I am afraid hurt us and we have to be taken into care. Well I think you get the picture. To care for us needs money just as much as those of us in loving homes need money to be looked after properly BUT we have our lovely human friends those who fall on hard times do not.

So the Ambirmance and the Team are there  for us.

Is there anything we can help our Slaves do to help Welfare and Rescue and their lovely Slaves to look after our fellow Birmans who fall into these circumstances?

 I think we can.

My Slave is now retired but she was a solicitor and she wrote things called Wills. She used  to write some of those to look after Pets whose owners died by leaving money- something called a legacy I think to look after our fellow animals.

I know if anything happens to her that there is a legacy in her Will to help Welfare and Rescue look after me and possibly other Birmans as well. She used to  write Wills which left money without  the responsibility for a Pet to help keep rescue work funded if people no longer had Pets. As Welfare and Rescue is a charity it is especially good because such legacies are free from Inheritance Tax (not sure what that is) but I know leaving a legacy means other Birmans can be looked after and things like Vet Bills paid. That can be expensive to say nothing of food and beds and……

The Slave has a letter with her Will telling her Executors( I think they are the people who arrange all this) setting out my likes and dislikes and how I respond to circumstances. I am still very shy of new people and also very scared of dogs and children. I also have to be an only Cat.

I am very happy with my Slave who was well trained in caring for Birmans before I arrived…. And has made sure that I will always be looked after. It does help that the Slave’s Executor has recently been  taken  into employment by a Birman….. well I do my best

 Fellow Birmans you know the rest so can we do it? Well, yes I think we can  and should do so.

So please ask your Human Slave to think about this as well as giving if they can now so that Welfare and Rescue can still have the Ambirmance on the road and be there for us – Just in Case

Thank you so much
May I also say how honoured I am to have been made Pet Birman 2008

Lots of love from Sheba

registered charity number 1123174