Pet Care Instructions for a Trusted Friend: An Adelaide Carer’s Plan for Mum’s Dog When She Goes Into Hospital

You’re the one who drives across Adelaide to check on your mother in her Norwood unit. She has a fourteen-year-old cattle dog cross who has been with her since your father died. She’s increasingly frail, and when she went into the Royal Adelaide for ten days last winter, the dog ended up at your place with no notes — no vet, no medication schedule, no idea which food brand she actually buys. You’ve already had the awkward conversation with her oldest friend, who has agreed to take the dog permanently if it comes to that. Now you need to write down what that friend will need to know.

The problem

When an older Australian is hospitalised or dies suddenly, their pets are one of the first things to fall through the cracks. The household stops. The fridge contents get tossed. The pet sits in a quiet house, or gets handed to whoever can take it that afternoon — often a neighbour who never agreed to anything long-term. RSPCA shelters across the country routinely take in animals surrendered after an owner’s hospitalisation or death because no plan existed and no one knew who was supposed to step in.

ASIC’s MoneySmart guidance on wills and estate planning reminds families that pets are legally property in Australia — they pass through the estate, which can take months to administer. Your mother’s friend doesn’t need to wait for probate to feed the dog tonight. She needs the vet’s number, the medication list, the food brand, and written confirmation that your mother wanted her to have the dog.

What the Digital Legacy Vault does

The Digital Legacy Vault is an asset-instruction register: you record what exists, where to find it, and who you’ve nominated to receive the instructions. The simplified version (built for individuals and families) records, per pet: the animal’s name, age, breed and microchip number; the vet clinic and phone number; current medications and dosing schedule; food brand and feeding routine; behavioural notes (anxious around men in hats, doesn’t like the back gate left open); and the name and contact details of the trusted friend who has agreed in advance to take the animal. The vault records the friend’s consent — so there’s no ambiguity later about whether they actually said yes.

The boundary matters: the Digital Legacy Vault is not a financial product, not a custody service, and not legal advice. It’s an instructions register. That’s what keeps it outside the AFSL regime and outside AUSTRAC reporting — and it’s why a carer can set it up in an afternoon rather than waiting on a solicitor’s appointment.

How it works

  1. You (or your mother, with your help) add each pet to the vault — name, microchip number, vet clinic, medications, daily routine, food brand.
  2. You nominate the trusted friend as the recipient for the pets module. The vault sends them a request and records their acceptance, so their agreement is documented.
  3. You add any pet trust or bequest details — for example, a small sum your mother has set aside in her will to cover vet bills for the dog’s remaining years. The vault records that the arrangement exists and points to the solicitor holding the will; it doesn’t hold the money.
  4. If your mother is hospitalised or dies, the vault releases the pets module to the nominated friend under your release rules. The friend sees the pet instructions only — not the rest of your mother’s affairs.
  5. The friend contacts the vet directly with the microchip number and continues care. No probate wait, no shelter, no guessing about medication.

Why this matters in Adelaide

Adelaide has one of the older median-age populations of any Australian capital, and a high rate of solo-living older residents in the inner suburbs — Norwood, Prospect, Unley, Glenelg. Many of those households have one dog or one cat as their primary daily companion. RSPCA South Australia and AWL shelters are well-known to local carers, and so is the pattern: an older resident goes into hospital, the family lives interstate, and an animal that has been loved for a decade ends up on a kennel run. A single instruction module — vet, meds, food, the friend who already said yes — is usually enough to keep that from happening.

Sources

Join the waitlist

Join the waitlist — first access when the Digital Legacy Vault opens for Adelaide carers

We’re opening waitlist access in tranches. Sign up to be notified when carers organising affairs for an aging parent in Adelaide can register their first pets module. The Digital Legacy Vault holds instructions about what exists and how the nominated friend can find it — vet, meds, food, routine — not the animal itself, and not access to any of your mother’s other affairs.