Every year, World Pet Memorial Day gives us a chance to honour our furry friends who have passed on, the loyal companions who padded beside us through life and left paw prints on our hearts. This day is a time of remembrance, for every tail that once wagged at the sound of your keys, every warm purr curled against your chest and every goodbye that came too soon.
But while we honour our departed companions, let’s also remember those still here, still waiting.
In Singapore, the SPCA reported 283 cases of cruelty involving 453 animals in 2024, with abandonment being the most common form of cruelty. There were a total of 257 animals involved, many of them older pets left behind when their novelty wore off.
What if this day wasn’t just about remembering the past? What if it became a day for second chances?
Why Older Pets Stay Behind
Tucked away in quiet shelters and foster homes across Singapore are senior pets– greying, gentle souls who’ve been cast aside not for bad behaviour, but for something far more heartbreaking: their age.
At Fur Folks Home, a sanctuary for ageing and ailing animals, founder Dr Angeline Yang has seen it all. “People want a pet to grow up with their kids, to play with them,” she says. “They don’t want something old that comes with supposed problems.”
Older pets often languish in shelters while their younger counterparts find homes within weeks. Some spend months, even years, waiting. Some never leave at all. According to Angeline, many senior pets in shelters like the SPCA don’t have serious medical conditions- they are just overlooked.
Younger animals tend to get adopted much faster than older ones in Singapore, leaving many senior pets waiting in shelters for months, or even years. Some never leave at all, spending their final days in confinement, or worse, facing euthanasia due to overcrowding or neglect.
The Choice No One Wants to Make
What people don’t realise is that euthanasia isn’t always a simple yes or no.
“Some people choose to put their pets down the moment quality of life declines,” Angeline shares. “Others keep them alive even when they’re bedridden because they see them as family.”
She explains that when owners are left without support, they might delay seeking help, sometimes out of fear or guilt. That’s why she always listens carefully to the family’s opinions and works with them to explore their options.
“Sometimes I say, ‘I can let her go whenever you’re ready,’” she says gently. “You just need to give people the choice.”
To ease the pain of goodbye, Angeline offers home euthanasia through her VetMobile service.
“It can be traumatising to be separated from your pet during their last hours. Doing it at home means complete transparency. People know what’s happening.”
Angeline admits, “It doesn’t get easier. You don’t get used to watching something die. But I just try to do a good job and give the family a good ending.”
Seeing Love, Not Expiry Dates
They don’t need fancy procedures. Just love. And when they go, they go peacefully, not in a cage.
So yes, this day is about loss. But it’s also about what we can still do for the ones we haven’t lost yet.
Angeline believes many people hesitate to adopt senior pets because they fear the medical costs and emotional toll. But as she puts it, “It depends on your expectations. I have four cats at home. I keep them healthy with what I can afford. I don’t do unnecessary or overly intensive treatments.” Not every condition requires an MRI or CT scan.
She reframes it simply:
“Another way to look at it is: if you don’t adopt these animals, they’ll die in a shelter alone. But if you do, they get two years – or more – of a happy, loving life. They get to feel comfort. They don’t need fancy procedures. Just love. And when they go, they go peacefully, not in a cage.”
Adopting a senior pet isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.
“Some people aren’t suitable, and it’s not their fault.”
But for those who are open to it, it’s one of the most meaningful things you can do.
The Beauty of Second Chances
She remembers a beagle during COVID – healthy, but so smelly no one wanted him. And yet, he found a family.
“All animals have their own quirks and personality, you just need to open your heart and home.”
This World Pet Memorial Day, let us honour the ones we’ve lost, by changing a pet’s future. Look past the grime, the cloudy eyes, the slow steps and see the love still burning in their eyes.
Because the more it hurts to lose a pet just means the more love there was.
Now imagine being the one who gave that love, not when they were new, but when they needed it most. Because sometimes, the best love stories begin later in life.
Will you make space in your heart for the forgotten?