Not getting pessamistic; as he's fine at the moment, however my cat Oscar has chronic renal faliure which is terminal he is 21 and I cannot bear the thought of loosing him forever. I like the idea of having his ashes, however I realisticaly cannot see us moving so maybe burial in the garden?
What are the pro's and cons of burial V cremation, for pets.
I know loosing him will competley floor me and would like to have a plan to put into action, rather than try and sort something out then :(
Karen

Hi Karen, just a suggestion, but when a friend of mine lost her much loved collie cross, she had the ashes placed in a large planter, and put a rose bush in the pot. So if they move they can take Sheba with them.

liberty

I have done the same with my baby boy Wilfred, he suffered from a condition called "Blocked Tom" and unfortunately had to be put to sleep last year.  I've got a rose bush planted in a planter with his ashes.

Thats a good idea. Very good idea. He loves the garden and I could put the planter by his fav observation tree :) used for people watching, as we are a fascinating species we actually turn the soil over so cats can use it as a "toilet" without excerting to much energy ;)

If you let the vet do the cremation how do you know your getting "your" animal back? this has just popped into my head.
Karen

I'm not sure how it works if your Vet does it. My friend took her dog to the Pet Crematorium herself, and then collected the ashes herself.

liberty

I used the Dignity pet cremation people (Hartley Witney, Hamps), when I 'lost' my Boxer just over 2 years ago.
They guarantee individual cremation. There's a guild that they belong to of Pet cremation people with standards etc.
They were fantastic, they collected Trudi from the vets (my then vets tried to push their own crem people and weren't happy when I insisted that I wanted to used Dignity), they used a Volvo estate with tinted
glass to collect her (I paid extra for this), they laid her in a bed, not bagged, with a special blanket underneath her.
They cremated her, and put her ashes in a beautiful casket with a name plate on.
I then went to collect her. But they have a chapel of rest if you want to see them  before
they are cremated etc.
The sad thing was I took a friend with me who used another cremation service thru their vets,
they got an ornate casket back etc, but their dog was much bigger than Trudi, but his casket doesn't
even weigh a 1/4 of what Trudi's did. So her suspicions were aroused that she hadn't got all of her dog back. :(
I wouldn't hesitate to use Dignity again, their service was fantastic, and they genuinely cared too.
I am going to use them when the time comes to say goodbye to Bandit (my oldie cat, 15 y.o.)
which looks like this year :(  They have wonderful caskets, even carved cats etc.
I didn't bury Trudi's ashes nor scatter them, I also wanted to take her with me if ever I moved.
So she sits on my dressing table by my bed and gets the sun in the morning, just as she liked to
when she was alive (except she was on my bed).

It's a lot easier if you make up your mind before the 'deed' happens as you can plan who you use, feel comfortable
and set all the arrangements in place. The other thing why I didn't take Trudi to the cremation place is
I had donated her heart to Edinburgh Vet School, and wanted to remember her as she was (I did go to see her after she
had died but before they took the heart).
I also was personally reccommended to this place and I think that helped a great deal too.

Kirstine

I was just about to say make sure it is an individual cremation as I know this is not always done :)

I had Annie (pony) cremated individually. They picked her up (which I didn't see as its not very dignified :( ) and cremated her on the same day. When I went to pick her up the ashes were in a lovely box with "Annabel" and the date on a brass plate. Bob, my friend, had taken a piece of her mane and her tail for me. It was so touching and it gave me closure I think. I cried my eyes out on his shoulder (good job he's a friend!) and brought her home. She stayed here a while, then I took her up to her favourite hill and scattered her ashes myself.

I wouldn't hesitate to have a pet cremated again - it helped me so much. I could not have not known what happened to her. She's free now, in her favourite place :)

I prefer cremation to burial.  Our first family dog was buried in our garden and some years later we moved.  It was upsetting to see several years later that some building work had gone on where he lay so he had obviously been disturbed and more than likely discarded.
You never know what the future holds but at least cremation gives you the option of keeping their ashes close to you or scattering them in a favourite place.
Lara x

Thanks very much, I would hate to think of him being disturbed. I think cremation it will be (hopefully many many years from now) I never thought about it before oddly. But maybe being told what Oscar has is terminal is what has prompted me to look into it. Thanks very much everyone. Karen

I have had 3 dogs cremated and i  have sprinkled their ashes in the forest where we regularly walk , i feel at peace knowing that their souls are running free, thats me silly old fool.

We decided on something that some people dont understand. We're in the position of having to plan ahead, and put a lot of thought into the different "methods" we could use. When it came down to it, we decided not to go for individual cremation. Ruby's spirit would not be in her body any more, so it would only benfit us, at a large cost, when that money could go towards something which might prevent another dog getting in the same situation. So, the money that would've gone to the overpriced cremation for our peace of mind, will go to an animal shelter that takes in ex puppy farmers/BYB's bitches. OR it will go to a spay/neuter campaign. For Ruby's memory.

Hi Kathy, it's a very personal desicion as to what you wish to do after you lose a pet. As long as it gives you a little comfort, that is the most important thing.

liberty :)

I can understand that, to be honest. My problem with my pony is that I could not bear for her to go to meat/abbatoir/somewhere else. She had basically been left in a field to fend for herself for ten years, so I felt she deserved a fitting end to her life. It cost me over £300, but it was worth every penny.

For 21+ years now I have loved and cared for Oscar and his sister and for some reason I have to know "where" he is and always have done, maybe because he was so ill treated as a kitten before I got him; he and Cleo have been around so long it's almost imposible to consider they may not be here. Although at the moment both are as well as can be expected :) I like the idea of something "seeable" maybe I will contact an organisation that spays/neuters cats, or something. Karen

Why not do both?
Cremation and then keep his ashes just incase the unforseen happens and you do move.
(I know I used the money that I received from my pet insurance to pay for Trudi's, the insurance
people don't pay for cremation costs, but it was the purchase value as she died below 11 years old.
So I used it to pay for her cremation and a fitting memorial tribute in the dog paper's breed notes
as Trudi was well known on the open and breed champ show circuit).

Then have a seeable memorial in his memory? Perhaps a local cat sanctuary would be more
than grateful for a donation in Oscar's memory.

I must admit, I donated a salver in Trudi's memory for the runner-up (2nd place)
in Boxer racing. As this is what Trudi achieved at 9 years old! racing against much
younger dogs. She LOVED racing and would race whenever she was given the chance to.
This salver gets presented to the runner up in the racing every year that the working day is held.
It's a fitting tribute and memorial to my special girl as the year we won we just got a rosette and
that was all. So it's nice to think that all the subsequent winners have had Trudi's salver on display.

:)

I have had my dogs cremated, and found the whole process very helpful with the grieving, esp. as we travelled to do it ourselves. It was very hard, but i still have their ashes (we had them done individually) and one day i may either scatter them in the forest, or have them scattered with me and my other half...

Lindsay

When I lost Titch I took the ashes to his favourite park, overlooking the sea, together with a lovely bunch of red roses, all ready to scatter them from the cliff top - and then I couldn't (tears in eyes now, thinking about it, 4 years  later).  so I came home, and put the roses by the box, until I too hit upon the idea of the tub and roses.  I found a lovely rose called "Sweet Dreams", and planted this over the ashes, in his memory.  The following January on a Trip to a show in the USA I found a musical snow globe with a black American cocker in Angel Wings and a Halo sitting on a cloud.  It has an incredible smushy verse on the front, which makes me cry everytime I read it, but very appropritate (will post if anyone wants to see it), and it helped me a lot, it sits by his photo in Silver frame, and is my Titch memorial.  However I also donated £100 of goods to make/sell on behalf of our new (then) DNA fundraising camapign, in his memory.  He also got a wonderful memorial piece written about him in Our Dogs, not becasue he was a fabulous shows dog (never went to a show in his life) but with a little story telling that however wonderful some of our show dogs may be, it is often the 'rejects' who win the most special places in our hearts, and build up a fan club of their own, just due to wonderful characters.
bye
Gwen