Do any of you aging seniors live alone and if so, do you worry about what might happen to your pets if you were to pass on?

Other than to check my mail, I haven't been out of my home in three weeks. It's not that I coudln't go out if I wanted to, it's just that I don't see the point. Having retired, I have projects at home that preoccupy my time. In terms of food, in addition to a refrigerator, I have a freezer as well as a 2nd refrigerator in the garage along with a wall of shelving that's filled with canned food and dry goods like flour, oats, beans, and rice. 

I typically stock root vegetables like red skinned potatoes, onions, and carrots because they will last longer than leafy greens. My freezer is also stocked with all sorts of frozen fruits and vegetables along with various types of meat, poultry, and seafood. 

As someone who by nature is a reclusive introvert, I LIKE being alone at home with no other company than my cats. With my 64th birthday looming in just a week and a half, one thing that has occurred to me is the rather morbid idea that if I were to suddenly keel over and die, who would know?

I do not by choice, have any friends. I long ago decided that developing and maintaining a friendship takes too much energy. Then again, I have also been a horrible judge of character and the people whom I regarded as friends turned out to be nothing more than moochers who would constantly take and take and take without ever giving anything in exchange.

I am not worried about death insofar as I have had a full and rich life. I am also not particularly worried about passing any time soon. Both sides of my family have had some good longevity with very few of my relatives having passed before they were in their nineties. My father was 93 when he passed last March. My mother is 90 and she's still alive and kicking. My maternal grandmother lived to be in her nineties as well as both paternal grandparents.

Here's my concern.

I have cats. If I were to pass, my cats would eventually starve to death or die of dehydration. I don't know if anyone would notice because I have an auto deposit for my pension as well as an autopayment for all monthly expenses. So long as my expenses don't outstrip my income, I could literally die and barring any maintenance issues; ten years on the air-conditioning would still be working and the lights would still be on (at least until they burned out). 

I'm not sure of what to do about this. Are there any anging seniors out there who live alone and have pets? What provisions, if any, have you made for people to periodically check up on you to make sure that you're still alive and/or to rescue your pets if you are no longer among the living?

I have met older people who love pets but no longer have them due to this very concern. After their pets aged and passed on, they never replaced them. 

This seems like a lonely way to live but on the flipside, I wouldn't want any of my fur babies to unnecssarily suffer when it comes time for me to kick the metaphorical bucket. 

Pictured below is Chi-Chi, a lovely tortoise shell cat. She's the alpha female of our home.