What Do You Do When Your Beloved Pet

[DesiRayMom]

I have 3 boxes of cremains on my nightstand....they get goodnight kisses along with everybody else.

 

When I am gone, DD have strict instructions to sprinkle us all together, probably out on my sister's farm.....which is

where I grew up. Hope we can run & play together forever.

[BatterseaBrindl]

We live in a very rural area and all ours buried here...6 dogs + 2 cats. One of the horses is buried way out in a back field and two other will join her when it is their time.

 

After the first two dogs were buried there, we started a 'pet cemetery garden' and we just keep adding to it.

We lost two dogs and a cat this year, so the garden continues to expand. We're lucky to have the space to be able to do this.... and we are never, ever moving from our farm.

 

I have small rocks painted with each pets name, that goes in the garden near 'their spot'.

A dear friend of mine passed away this fall & I planted a cedar tree in her memory and she also has a small painted rock.

I find it comforting to maintain that garden....but usually I'm balling my eyes out at the same time.

 

Here's a small corner of it from last spring when the tuplis were up...

 

 

 

 

Oh...I believe your vet will look after arranging for cremation if that is your choice

[fourofem]

I have 7 urns on my shrine...my two cats, Sparkle and Beacon, my Scottie, Ellie, my black and tan hound, Bob Barker, my pitbull mix, Homey, and my greys, Lewis and Kevin. I have pictures of each displayed by their urn. When my time comes, I want their all of their ashes mixed with mine and we will all be buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, but I do have that written in my will.

[Guest mcsheltie]

I bury them and plant a tree over them as a memorial. I look like a loon cause I talk to them as I am mowing the yard.

[Neighsayer]

The vet will arrange it.

I don't do the ashes thing. I do save the collars and tags that I bring home from that last ride, but don't make a shrine or memorial of them. I did bury a goat and rabbit in my yard when they died at home. No markers. None of my dogs have died at home. Not sure what I would do in that case. I have the horses removed when they die at home and don't get the ashes.

It is a very personal choice. Just do what feels right for you.

[MarcR]

I agree with Neighsayer. Honey was cremated (the vet arranged it), but I didn't want the cremains. For me, Honey's memory lives in my heart and the many photos I have of her. I felt the same way when I lost K.C., perhaps the best cat I will ever have.

 

I know many others feel differently and I respect that choice. It is, in the end, a very personal decision.

[Guest madredhare]

I would have to agree that it is a very personal choice. While I have never had one of my pets cremated, we are very fortunate to have a Pet Crematorium about 20 minutes from us. Friends of mine have used this service and they said that they treated their pets like their own family.

 

I brought my Dixie girl home a couple of days after she passed. We needed time to get a grave prepared. I must say I personally thought this was traumatizing, particularly for me, not really anyone else. It was difficult enough to make the trip to the vet the first time, but to then have to go back and get her body to bring home.

 

Dixie is the only one of my dogs that I have buried at home. In hindsight, I wish I had either cremated my other dogs or brought them home to bury them. I still feel guilty about not burying my other dogs.

[Guest dragontearz]

I bought a nice wooden box with a greyhound tile inset in the lid, put some of Guinness' ashes in a container inside the box along with his favorite stuffy and his collar, and it sits on the mantle- I then spread the remaining ashes in all the places he went with me-camping places across the state, family and friend's houses, parks, etc.

[Guest greyhound515]

After the crying stopped-daily for about the first two years because my dear Daphne saw me through a round of chemo that darn near killed me-I started coming here to write letters to my dear departed girl. About a month after her passing I got a call from the GAP ladies (thank you, Shirley & Cathy!!!) that there was a "special needs" female who really needed a home. I started visiting my shy Diva at the track and after 3 or 4 visits, she quit running from me. She was a super-spook, terrified of everyone and everything. Diva would not have been a good first Greyhound for ANYONE!! She would poop herself if anyone she didn't know tried to pet her or run and hide in the nearest corner. She has blossomed into wonderful friend and companion and adores our feline companions, especially lil' MewZette, who sleeps with Diva and I and is slightly larger than her head.

 

I let the vet keep Daph's body because I want her spirit to run free in our home. The night she crossed over at about 3-4AM I heard her tags clinking and I swear this was her way of telling me she had arrived at the Bridge, that she was fine and I still believe this. Call me crazy, I don't care. I miss her and can't wait until we meet again, but the best tribute I can pay me beloved girl is to keep adopting one hound at a time.

 

Oh and as a PS, I have Daph's tags and will someday have them platinum-covered and made into a charm bracelet, which will (hopefully) be the Tiffany's one with the heart.

[Guest houndog990]

 

It wasn't until later that we found out that if you don't pay for a cremation, or take the body home for burial that they end up in a landfill with the trash. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="sad1.gif" /> You can't imagine how horrible we felt when we discovered that our wonderful and loyal Max was disposed of that way --- I'll never let that happen again to any of my beloved dogs!

 

where i live there is an elderly farmer who will pick up the weeks' animals and bring them home and bury them in the woods on his land.

[LadyGrey]

All of my Greybabies that have gone to the RAinbow Bridge are in beautiful marble urns that are as close in color as to the babies that are in them. I have them all in my bedroom with their collars and tags and favorite toys.