How weird would it be?

[Michelle&Lolli]

How weird would it be to dig Eddie up and have him cremated? 

I was such a mess last week and have no money anyways.  But I did a search of my area over the weekend and there is a pet cemetary/crematorium in a local town.  They only do pets and cremate each pet separately so you know you are getting just your pets’ ashes.  Some places will cremate several at a time and then divy up the ashes.  Anways, it would cost $65 for the cremation and then however much for the urn.  

I have a sneaking suspicion I am being a tad crazy.  It would be one thing if it just happened.  The biggest sadness I have is that I don’t have anything that was *his*.  With my dog, I still have her pink bowl and collar.  I have nothing that was necessarily Eddie’s besides his wood box.  Which he never did much with except to hop up on and stare at me cause he wanted out of the pen or treats.  LOL 

Apparently my vet takes a clay paw print of pets who have died so i was called today that that is ready to be picked up.  So I will have that.  Plus my cousin is an artist and I’ve asked to make me some kind of memorial picture – either a painting or sketch or something.  I had a good cry last night and let it all out.  I kept holding off cause I didn’t want to accept that my Eddie was gone or deal with the pain.  I will always mourn him and I’m not sure that I’ll be able to look at pictures of him for very long.  I can’t of my dog without starting to cry but I am not feeling so desolate.  I still get teary when I think of him.  And apparently I won’t be able to take baths for a while.  lol  Eddie used to have to come find me when I would take baths, so I left the door open and he’d hop around and check things out and then leave.  I have tried to take a couple of baths and i just start remembering and crying.  (I do take showers. lol) 

I will quit rambling and asking weird questions.  I had planned on cremating Eddie but it happened so suddenly I wasn’t prepared.  As we all do, I had figured he’d live to a good old age and I’d have the funds available. 

[jerseygirl]

Well it hasn’t been very long since he passed. Did you place him in something?  Check with the crematorium if they accept exhumed pets. You do what you think will give you closure. I would worry what actually exhuming him would do for your own peace of mind though. That could be very difficult. Talk to the operators as they would have experience in talking with people who have lost pets and some of those details that are not normally discussed.

For me, I don’t really think of the body as them anymore. Directly after a pet has passed I would, as that would be a tangible thing I would need at that time. But after I would think of them in spirit and my own memories. When the time comes, I think I will bury pets and then after more time has past, I would plant something at the site. I like the idea of a new living thing springing from the spot where the body rests.

I can understand wanting to have something physical of him. Do you have a brush with his fur? Some members have kept fur in a special place. Plus the paw print is a nice idea. Another thing you might like to do is put together a booklet of photos of him and write a little about what he was up to, infuse it with his personality. That was a thing I got strongly about Eddie, his unique funny self! And it was your anecdotes that conveyed this so well.

 

[LittlePuffyTail]

I strongly suggest that if you do decide to cremate that you get a loved one to retrieve him. I think it would be too hard for any bunny Mommy to deal with. Did you bury him in your yard? If so, I would also suggest what Jersey did: plant a tree. You could plant a beautiful flowering bush and think of him each time the flowers bloom and maybe make him a little monument marker. I did this with my guinea pigs. I took a large brick and painted a pretty design and their names on it. You could also order a little gravestone marker custom made with his name on it. There are tons of pet memorial sites online that sell these. I hope you can finally find peace with whatever you decide. I know how hard this it.** Hugs

[Sarita]

Hugs to you. Yes, first I would talk to them and let them know the circumstances if you are truly serious about doing this. But really, I think planting something would be nice. I think it would be hard for you to dig him up and take him – to me that would be so hard to do. That’s so nice about the paw print and I think that would be a nice thing to have to remember him by.

I have to be honest about the cremations – I have about 6 or 7 boxes right now from my one cat and all my rabbits that have passed away and I’m not really sure what to do with them. They are all in a drawer and frankly it makes me sad to see them and also anxious about what I what I am going to end up doing with them since it would be wrong wrong wrong to just throw them away.

[Andi]

*HUGS*
It’s not weird, we all deal with death differently and ened different sorts of closure to help us heal from a loss.
I agree, if you want the ashes call the place and see what’s possible, adn if you do go with it don’t exhume him yourself, get someone else to. I think that coudl be hard to do for most anyone.

I don’t believe the body is anything once the spirit has left it. And before i lost a bunny i had always not cared what happened to the body. But when I had to say goodbye to my first bunny i did end up getting her cremated. And since then i have had all my rabbits creamated, even one who wasn’t mine but I felt he was special and even in death i wanted to make it feel like he had a loving home with me anyways.

I to have all these urns of ashes on a shelf in my office taking up space. My plan now is to get picture frames where i can hold ashes in the back of the frame, and have a picture of the pet in the frame. Whatever ashes are left over i want to spread in a field and have a little memorial for all my little fur friends who i had to say goodbye to.
Oh, and i scrapbook. I am scrapbooking pages for my bunnies as well. I find them hard to look at without tearing up, but I smile a lot to thinking of the great memories I have from each one.

[Battie]

I’m sorry for your loss. 🙁

I can see why you would find comfort in having him cremated, but I’ll add my voice to those saying not to get him yourself. I think that would be extremely upsetting.

I think it’s really nice that your vet gives paw prints. I wish they’d done that for family dogs of the past. Little mementos like that can be comforting.

For animals small enough to be buried, I actually find some peace in the idea of them providing life to the plants and little creatures, but then Andi’s description of the cremated rabbit always having a home tugged at my heartstrings too. In short, I don’t think any idea of what to do with the body is weird as long as it respects them and gives you comfort.

*hugs*

[MimzMum]

I don’t have much to add to this thread other than what everyone else has already said, except for that I have 5 acres here where my house is and we have a ‘graveyard’ off to one side of the house. All the animals we brought with us from California and the ones we’ve had up till now who have passed on here are buried there. There are times I think it’s good to have them in the ground there, “dust you were, and to dust you shall return”. Yet if I ever have to think of leaving this house, I am going to be hard pressed to know what to do about that yard. I have thought it would’ve been better to cremate them all, but we didn’t take this option and now I feel kind of trapped. I don’t want anyone to disturb that area, but I may not have a choice in the future.

I know that everything that made my animal companions who they were is at the rainbow bridge…but still it’s odd how we attribute such meaning to the remains. I would say you have to go with your heart. You are very fortunate to have that pawprint…I wish I had done something like that. But my most recent loss, my dog Shadow, I had time to plan to take some of his fur to keep and cut some of my hair to place with him in his grave. It may have been nothing more than symbolic, but it helped give me some closure.

I agree, do not exhume your bun yourself. And if you decide to have him cremated, be advised that someday you may want to also release those ashes. As we age, our attitudes towards death and it’s environs can change. Be sure, as much as you can, that this is a course of action you can look back on without misgivings.

[Author]

Messages