Question for those who have had a furbaby cremated

[luvwinnie]

Thankfully we were able to arrange to have Winnie's ashes be taken to our beloved vet's office...AKA Winnie's second home. THe hosp. she was at told us WE would have to call a crematory to arrange to have her picked up and then they would MAIL her ashes to us.
Maybe this is the norm elsewhere, but our vet does not do this and it seemed odd and impersonal to me...and stressful to have to take care of this today. And I didn't want my baby SHIPPED like a piece of freight.
Has anyone else encountered such a policy?

 

[helenabear]

That isn't the norm here, but we have a few regular funeral parlors that will do animals in addition to a crematory that specializes in pets only. That is the one that my vet uses most, unless you request a funeral home (those also can arrange services and the like if you need it).

For my baby Cleo who died in February, my vet had her picked up at the office itself (she died on a Saturday) and I believe Tuesday or Weds the service dropped off the box with her ashes (engraved it as well for me) so I could pick her up and bring her home. (all this was about $60 or so, including her wood engraved box)

I might call around some funeral homes and find out if they will do what mine did for me or not. At the very least, you wouldn't have to have her shipped and could pick her up yourself.

I am so very sorry for your loss though

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

When we had our Beagle put down, someone came to pick her up. We paid extra to have her cremated alone. I got her ashes back in an urn about a week or so later.

I had no idea that some funeral homes did animal cremations as well. That's interesting!

Luvwinnie, sorry about your dog. I haven't been able to catch up on all the threads, but have seen some of yours out of order. I'm really sorry for your loss.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

At the clinic where I work, the funeral home picks up and drops off directly to us. I personally drive my own pets to the funeral home when they die, it's my last tribute to them I guess... Then, they are dropped off back at the clinic.
As for mailing ashes, my Uncle who lived out of town was cremated and sent home via the US Mail. So mailing human cremains is common I suppose.

 

[java]

We had Harry cremated. I bought a ceramic urn with a picture of a bulldog on it- that looked just like him.
Our Vet sent it out I think. But they called us to come pick it up. At that time they gave us a beautiful card and his ashes were given to us in a wooden box(so I really didn't need the Urn) Harry is still in that box as I don't want to move him yet.
And be prepared. It is a whole lot of ashes and not all tiny. There will be some bone fragments. That was unexpected for me.

 

[perdidobay]

I've had two dogs and one cat cremated.
In each case, the Funeral home came and got the body at the vets office, did the cremation and returned the cremains to the vets office. The vet called me and I picked them up.
I used a local pet cemetary's services. I picked a nice wooden box that holds the cremains and has a slot on the front to hold a photo. It has an engraved plaque on top that they engraved for me.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[DLBDS]

The vet practice I worked at had the bodies picked up. The ashes were then returned in a plastic bag which was in a plain brown plastic box with a label on it. With all the horrific news stories you hear in the world today about funeral homes and such, there's no real proof that what's in that bag is yours. I've accepted that it is. What else can ya do? For my poochy-pooch I took the plastic bag with the ashes out and put him in a cream colored (his color), fake fur wine bottle bag that has a satin lining and a satin tie. I also put some cotton batting in there to make it cushy. He stays on my bed. I sleep with him like a teddy bear. DH just deals.

 

[Snowysmom]

First of all, I am sorry for your loss. We had 2 of our dogs cremated. Both times the pet crematory came to the vet to pick up our pet and we did a private cremation. We did have to call the crematory to notify them to pick up our pet. The people I talked with were very nice, comforting, and did not have a problem with me crying on the phone. The first time, the ashes were returned to the vet in the wooden container we picked out. Last year when we had our Snowy cremated, the ashes were sent UPS in the container we picked out. I really would have had a hard time going back to the vet to pick up her ashes since she had been sick for a long time and I have very bad memories of being there with her. The vets were great but she was very sick. I did not have a problem with shipping her ashes in the container. It is really hard to lose a beloved pet.

 

[bballmom56]

Our vet's office took care of all the arrangements. There is a local pet cemetary/crematory in our town so it's very close by. The cremains were returned to the vet's office in a beautiful cherry wood box with a card of condolensce from the crematory. I picked them up at the vet's office and we all cried again!

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

When I had my 2 "furbabies" cremated (I had them euthanised at home) our vet took them back to the office and then they were picked up the next day by the company that does the cremation, when they were done the company returned them to my vet and then the vet called me to say the remains were ready for pickup.The ashes were in a black plastic bag and then were put in a floral metal container. So sorry for your loss!

 

[aynt79]

When we had my Blacky put to sleep our vet arranged all of the cremating and then called us to pick the remains up (at the vet's office). He came back in a little baggie in a silver tin, packaged up a plain "gift" bag along with the rainbow bridge poem and a certificate that it was really him. We weren't given the choice of private vs. group, but the certificate's wording seems that it was private. I didn't ask, and at this point don't really want to know anyways. They also sent us a sympathy card that everyone had signed.

Have you decided what you will do with the remains? I've had Blacky's remains since April and still don't know what I want to do. I was going to bury him at my mother's house where all of our family pets have been buried over the years, including his mother and sister, but I'm not sure if I am comfortable with completely letting him go yet. I read on here awhile back about somone who found a build-a-bear type animal that looked like thier pet and sewed the remains inside, but I haven't seen any that looked like him yet. One thing that interests me is http://www.lifegem.com/, but it is $$$. DH told me to go ahead and do it since he was an extra special cat to me, but it's a very expensive tradition to start up for any future pets.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Sorry to hear about Winnie.

I don't know what is normal, but when Lucy was put to sleep, the vets office said there would be no charge to cremate her. I don't know if this is because we had just spent alot of $ on her in the last 2.5 mths. BUT, if we wanted her cremated alone, then we would have to pay for that. That's the way we went. They arranged it all.

The vets office called when they had her ashes back. One of the girls there even had some last photos of Lucy that were taken a few times she had to stay over. When I picked up Lucy's ashes, they were in a blastic bag inside a black ceramic urn. We then found a lovely couple online who makes pet urns with painted portraits. The husband makes the beautiful oak boxes & the wife paints the portrait of your pet on the urn from photos you provide - with name & dates if you wish. http://adirondackpeturns.com/ Once we received this wooden urn, we moved the plastic bag of ashes into it. We added a letter we wrote to Lucy, along with a few of her favorite toys. The urn is in our bedroom.
Lucy's urn (photo by the painter on their website): http://adirondackpeturns.com/memorials/lucy2.jpg
Photo she worked from (I sent her 3 photos total to show fur & eye color): http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4002141&a=30071057&p=60265157
Photo I took when we got the urn: http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4002141&a=30071057&p=60263420

Sadly, our vets office has closed since then. We have transferred Splash to their sister office. Splash is 19. While this office is just as great (& everyone knows us & Splash by name already), I'm not sure what to expect about cremating procedures & costs when the times comes. We will be getting another painted urn like Lucy's. Although the thought of "collecting" these kinds weirds me out. Someday, perhaps they will be buried together somewhere nice.

 

[Iansmom]

When Miss Kitty died, we rushed her to the Emergency Vet. (It was the first time I'd dealt with a dying pet and I didn't know for sure.)

they gave us the name of a local guy that does cremations and we had to call him. He went to the Emergency Vet and picked her up. After she was done, he hand delivered her to our home. We paid him when he dropped her off.

This past July when Chrissy (aka Miss Priss) was diagnosed with a brain tumor, we knew we wanted her cremated to sit beside Miss Kitty. So before Chrissy was put to sleep, we'd already made that arrangement with the vet. They had one specific company that they used (and I didn't feel like I had a choice to use the same guy we used for Miss Kitty.) This place picked her up from our vet's office, cremated her and brought her back to the vet's office. I received a separate bill from them in the mail. I had to pick Chrissy up from the vet's.

I'm so sorry to hear about Winnie.

 

[christineann]

My lab Jake was cremated individually by a local crematorium, and his ashes were returned to my vet's office. They cried with me when he made his last visit, and they cried with me when I picked his ashes up and thanked them for all their kindness to him and to us.

Can you find a crematorium that has a different policy than the animal hospital's? I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've had three of my dogs cremated privately.

First time, the vet came to the house and put the dog to sleep there. DH and I brought his body to the pet cemetery where they also have a crematory. They did a nice little ceremony and we came back 3 hours later and picked up his ashes.

Second and third times were through our vet. Same pet cemetery/crematory sent a truck which picked up the body (stored in a freezer as pick up is just once a week ). The ashes were delivered back to our vet's with a certificate from the owner of the crematory stating that the remains were that of our dog and that the cremation was private.

We struggled over what to do with the ashes but last summer my DH made me a memorial garden out back where we placed the ashes directly in the soil. It was important to me they were never moved, so that solved the worry about that. They all lived here and loved the yard, so that was a good solution.

I'd called a local human crematory at one time since it was closer and they told me it was against state law to cremate dogs in human crematories. I'm surprised to read here that some were able to cremate their animals at funeral homes, but glad you had that option.

 

[Mom2Em]

We had Wolfgang cremated. The local funeral home picked him up and we got him back in a tin urn in about a week.

 

[DebbieB]

When my cat died 4 years ago, the vet took care of it. They sent her to a crematory in Ohio and was delivered back in about a week. I have her on a shelf with some pictures, an envelope of some pieces of fur and some cards I got.

 

[dkferret]

I have a friend who works at a funeral home and we've tried to get our animals cremated through him, but he said it's against the law to cremate animals in a human crematory.

I usually take my guys to a pet crematorium and get the ashes back after a few days. I know some places do multiple animals at once, and your pet's ashes may be mixed with other animals, but you have to trust that what you got is mostly just your pet. You can do private cremations, but they cost more, and again, you have to trust them. How would you know?

There is a local pet cemetary that will let you do a private cremation and you can actually WATCH the procedure (to ensure it's your animal and ONLY your animal). You then watch them put the ashes into a container and take them with you. No doubts about whether it's your animal if it never left your sight from the time you walk in until you leave.

My vet will let you drop off dead animals if you don't want any ashes back, and after they get so many, they do a group cremation. (Nominal fee is charged, like about $5 - $10.) Many animal shelters do this.

 

[Sleepy]

We had to have our 10 year old cat put to sleep 2 months ago because of intestinal cancer. Things are so different here in Italy (wish I had been in America for that). I was thankful to find there were crematory options for pets as I did not want to leave my baby in Italy when I moved back to America. Anyway, the options were single cremation or group. We chose single as we did not want Guido and Maria with our baby. It was more costly with just our baby. The only way we could be assured he was the only one was for one of us to watch as they placed him in the furnace. It was truly the most horrific thing for my husband to do. I just could not do it.

We were able to pick him up the next morning. I was a bit shocked to find they do NOT grind the bones to ashes and I had to bring my own box for the cremains. It cost us 355 Euro for the cremation.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

How would you know?

As to the question of how to know if it's your pet's ashes when you choose private cremation (short of watching, which personally, I couldn't do), I know the owner of the crematorium I chose provided a letter of "certification" on his good name that it was my pets' ashes. I just looked up the website for more information and turns out he belongs to the International Associaton of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories. Does that guarantee a private cremation? Probably not, but it's a good start. Here's a list of pet cemeteries and crematories in various states with such membership.

http://www.iaopc.com/pageDisplay.jsp?pageid=12981