What are you going to do with your dog's remains?

[Southpaw]

This is a hard question for me.

I have Molly's ashes in an urn - that was a no-brainer. (My mom wanted her buried up at our cabin, but ultimately due to the timing of it all she caved in to my wishes).

This is the hard part: I don't want to bury any of my pets. I won't do a mass cremation. I WANT to keep their ashes, but what the heck am I supposed to do with all of them as I have more pets pass away?? I can't have urns all over the place....

I told myself Molly was the only one I would keep. And then I thought, well I'll probably want to keep Jinx's too because he's my first cat and he's awesome. And reading this thread has made me think... obviously I'm gonna want Juno's, too....

So yeah. I don't know.

[Saeleofu]

I can't have urns all over the place....

Why not? A friend of mine has a shelf started as a memorial shelf. Each pet has their ashes and a small remembrance item (collar, toy, whatever) on a shelf.

Or, you could scatter the ashes somewhere.

The one thing I worry about with cremation jewelry is what to do when I have a lot of pets gone. One charm on a necklace is fine, even two or maybe three. But if there were more, I'd want to look for something a bit larger to put everyone's ashes together in.

I don't pre-plan what to do with human remains, I figure they know what they want, and when the time comes, their wishes will be followed, not mine. I personally would first like to be donated to science. If that's not possible, or if there are remains when they're finished, I'd like to be cremated and spread somewhere gorgeous.

[PWCorgi]

Solo cremation and urns.

I will be that 90 year old woman with urns everywhere. And I plan on making it awkward to all visitors by telling them life stories of all the animals. Then they won't come back. Mission accomplished.

[Fran101]

let the vet deal with it.

I don't really attach memories or the idea of a living thing to the remains.. so I certainly am not sentimental about remains (would not keep them around, wear them etc..)

I think Paco and a few others makes jewelry from old collars/tags.. that's something I'd like to do.
Or perhaps a nice piece of art.

but remains wise? Likely nothing.

[*blackrose]

All of our animals have been buried on my parent's property, behind the garden shed. That's what we'll continue to do.

If they ever move or that isn't an option, I'll probably do a group cremation where their ashes are spread on a pet cemetery. I keep their collars and such as momentos. And I'd one day love to have mini figurines of them all.

[crazedACD]

I've been cremating and keeping the ashes in a box/urn. I don't know what I'm going to do in the future, I don't think I want tons of urns around. I might look for something large and put them together, or I might spread them somewhere. I would like jewelry or a keepsake but I'm afraid of losing it.

When I was at the clinic in TX, if someone didn't want cremation, we dropped the bodies at the landfill :/. I remember someone called because they didn't know what to do with their dane that died, and we went and picked it up with a stretcher. Went to the landfill and just rolled him off onto the heap. It bothered me.

Although I'm not too sentimental, and I would be fine with mass cremation, the idea of my dog lying in a landfill is too disconcerting for me. I'd probably imagine the body in the landfill all the time.

[milos_mommy]

I think I'll vote for cremation - urn. I'd also consider spreading their ashes somewhere special (for Milo, some body of water, the ocean I guess). My childhood dog was cremated and his ashes are still in the tin we got returned to us on a shelf near his photo.

If I did own property that was special to me or I planned to be at for a long time, I would consider burying my dog(s) at the time there. But for now, although this has been my family's home for 20 years, we don't have enough of an attachment to it or a nice enough yard for me to want to do that.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by Saeleofu

Why not? A friend of mine has a shelf started as a memorial shelf. Each pet has their ashes and a small remembrance item (collar, toy, whatever) on a shelf.

Or, you could scatter the ashes somewhere.

I don't know I just don't like the idea of it... I want their ashes, but I don't want a billion urns. And much too attached to scatter them. When the time comes I'll just have to find an out of the way place to put them I guess, because I don't think I'm going to be able to handle not getting ashes back.

I have like, a shrine for Molly lol. Her urn, and then on one side of it is the portrait Allie drew, and on the other side is a shadow box with her collar, clay paw print, and sympathy card from the vet.

[Flyinsbt]

Originally Posted by Saeleofu

At my vet the bodies get sent to Animal Control and mass cremated with the euthanized shelter animals and roadkill, and I don't know where the ashes ultimately end up. Not a pet cemetary. That said, that's what my parents chose to do with their last dog. My last dog (childhood dog) is buried in the back garden.

I'm fairly sure that's what happens with mine, that's what we used to do at the vet I worked for, years ago. I'm just not concerned about it. I can't even tell you what happened with my mom's ashes, we really weren't sure what to do with them. My sister took them home while we thought about it, and I don't know if anything was ever decided on, if so, I was out of the loop.

If I were living somewhere with more space for it, I might bury the dog on my own property, I really just go for the least expensive but appropriate disposal.

[BostonBanker]

Those By-And-By urns are lovely!

My guys will get solo cremations, and be kept in urns until I die. I then want them all combined before they are spread. I'm not someone who intends to ever have a huge number of dogs at once, so it should stay a fairly reasonable size collection.

It bothers me a bit that I won't be able to treat Tristan the same way, but there are very few places equipped for horse cremation, and the cost is very prohibitive. I already have a tail-hair bracelet with his hair and Boston's combined. I'd like to get a horse hair pottery vase done as well, and will keep that with the dogs' remains. He will be buried on the farm where he lives.