Award-winning actor Edward Asner is best known for playing Lou Grant, the gruff and grumpy newsroom boss on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Watch him with his cat Mimi, however, and the TV persona just melts away.
"Pets are the butterflies of our lives," said Asner. "They humanize us. So it's important we take good care of them."
That's why Asner has teamed up with The HSUS. Together, we are urging fellow animal lovers to provide for their pets' futures by including them in estate plans. This means you can designate a caregiver and establish a trust to pay for your pet's care should your furry friend survive you.
To help you get started, The HSUS put together a free kit: Providing for Your Pet's Future without You. It outlines steps for adding a pet to your will, creating a living trust, and choosing caregivers. The kit also offers tips on protecting your animal through power of attorney.
That's something Asner, who filmed a public service announcement about the topic, will be thinking about now that he's a new pet owner himself. "Mimi was a birthday gift from my trusted assistant," he says. "She hangs out with me at the office. I love her, hug her, pet her. I'm like a grandparent," he says with a laugh.
Visit www.hsus.org/petsinwills to learn more about providing for pets in estate plans and order your free kit. You can also watch the public service video that Asner taped for The HSUS in December 2000.
