cremation or burial?

**anna_66** · 03-23-2006, 08:33 AM

You know as sad as this thread can be I really like hearing each of your thoughts about it and why you'd like to have it done a certain way.
It definitely is a personal thing.

**lv4dogs** · 03-23-2006, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by beeniesmom

Actually.... niether.
I read somewhere that, for a substantial sum, you can have your dog or cat remains turned into a precious gem. It's similar to cremating and it is very expensive.

http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/whatisLG2006.aspx

Carmen, are you getting Beenie & Frankie turned into gems?
I saw that before & it really is beautiful, I'd love to get something like that done but I can not afford it.

My dogs will all be cremated. This way I can keep their ashes & dispose of them when the proper place & time comes along.
Actually I'd prefer to bury them, but only if I had the land and a permenent house that I knew I would live in forever but I don't see that happening in the near future.

**beeniesmom** · 03-23-2006, 09:55 AM

Sue, I'd love to do something like that but do not know if I can afford it either.
HOPEFULLY, it will be a VERY long time from now. Beenie is 2 yrs old and Frankie is 10 months.

**zoomer** · 03-23-2006, 09:59 AM

I want to cremate my Georgia Girl, we'll probubly bury Buddy, and we will most definetly cremate Alaska. I hate thinking about them passing away though

**Dixieland Dancer** · 03-23-2006, 10:54 AM

I have three of my past loved ones buried in the woods behind our house. I even have crosses on the head of their graves. The summer before last I had problems with neighborhood kids making ATV trails all over the woods. They didn't run over the graves but they made a loop around them. It disturbed me to the point that I went down and asked them to either move their trail away from the graves or I would post the property private so they couldn't use our woods anymore.

Fortunately they moved the trail away from the graves without a major hassle.

All this got me thinking though. I may not always be there to preserve their final resting spot. While I know it is just their carcass and that their spirit is in heaven (yes I believe dogs have a spirit), it is still a sacred spot!

My present and future dogs will all be cremated and so will I. My will requests we all be scattered in various spots we loved along lifes journey together. It means a lot to me to know that our ashes will always be united as well as our spirits in the end. I also think it will be a meaningful journey for the loved ones I leave behind (humans) to revisit my favorite places on earth while they fulfill my request of places to be scattered. I guess in summary.... In ashes or spirit I never want to be seperated for eternity from my fur kids!

**labmomma** · 03-23-2006, 11:02 AM

What are your plans when your time is up? If you want to be cremated you could have your pet ashes blended with yours and then buried. That way you'd all be together for all of eternity.

**Suki Wingy** · 03-23-2006, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by labmomma

What are your plans when your time is up?

I don't know, like I said though, being left out for "sacred" jackals or something seems like the most honorable way to be exposed of.

**ParNone** · 03-23-2006, 11:10 AM

As much as I'd like to bury mine, it would be really hard here. We don't have dirt, we've got clay and when there's been little rain that clay is more like rock. To dig down 4 feet or more, I'd have to hire somebody and since it's not legal to bury a pet in your backyard, that rules out that option.

So when Maddie passed away, I had her cremated. She's in an urn, sitting on the fireplace mantel. I have a plan to spread her ashes over the bluebonnets in the spring, but so far I haven't felt ready to do it yet. Maybe this year or maybe I'll wait until it's Murph's time and they can be reunited in the bluebonnets together.

Par...

**elizabethann** · 03-23-2006, 11:38 AM

I always hoped that I ever had a house in the country, I would have a little pet cemetary and bury all my pets there. No house in the country so I had my 2 cats cremated (about 15 years ago - ashes are at my Mom's house) and would probably do that for my current 2 cats and my dog.

My Mom & I have a deal that who ever dies first, we will have the current cremated cats buried with one of us.

I think if Fenway were to die though and I had him cremated, I would take his ashes all over NH (to his favorite hiking spots) and spread them there.

**elizabethann** · 03-23-2006, 11:43 AM

P.S. This may sound weird but did you ever see the movie Poltergiest? Remember when the little girl's bird died (I think it was a bird - can't remember). Well they buried it in a box and she put a picture of the family in the box and said "this is for when he's lonely", she put some food in the box and said "this is for when he's hungry" and then she put a little blanket in the box and said "this if for when he' cold". That's always stayed with me to this day and I thought if I were to bury my pets, I would do the same thing.

**lute** · 03-23-2006, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by anna_66

You know as sad as this thread can be I really like hearing each of your thoughts about it and why you'd like to have it done a certain way.
It definitely is a personal thing.

agreed! i'm happy to see that no one is arguing.

when other pets such as cats, birds, rodents, etc die i bury them in the back corner of the yard. unfortinatly when i was younger i didn't know about cremation. my family's favorite dog, Porkie, died a few years ago when we lived in Terre Haute, IN. he's buried in the backyard at our old house.

i wish i could go back and get him cremated. he was such a great dog.

i LOVE that turning your dog into a gem thing. not sure if i'd be able to afford it, but it would be VERY nice to have. i would love to have Gracie losest to my heart.

**Sophist** · 03-23-2006, 01:45 PM

Burying, and likely planting something over the top of them. It seems the most 'natural' reasonable method to me, and I would feel like the plant had a little bit of their spirit in it, and would look at it as a living memorial.

**Pam** · 03-23-2006, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Ginger's Mom

I decided that I did not want her ashes back. I have never regreted that decision. I thought it would be much to hard for me having my dead dogs ashes. I wanted to only to remember her as she was when she was alive and the very special bond that we had, and not be constantly reminded of her death.

Joyce I guess my thoughts are more along the lines of yours. All of my dogs have been cremated and I don't have any of their ashes. Burying them, especially in my back yard, would be impossible. It is dense with trees so thick tree roots are under everything. I have even had trouble finding spots to dig to plant flower bulbs.

My thinking is that they are not there any more anyway. This is exactly how I feel about a human's passing. They are in a better place and I want to cherish their memories in pictures and thoughts of happier times. Of course this is only my opinion and I respect everyone else's thoughts on this too.

**Thandi** · 03-23-2006, 03:03 PM

Only one cat was buried in our garden, many many years ago. The rest of our animals have all been cremated and left at the vet. We remember them as they were and don't need their ashes as a reminder. That's the way I want to go as well, but not left at the vet

My husband and brother-in-law went to cremate their mother, they found that a very moving experience, but I'm sure not many would go there!

**jackie** · 03-23-2006, 03:43 PM

I recently had to have my rabbit Hunny PTS, I chose to have him buried, the vets offered the service, and he went to a pet cemetary. My cat and step father´s dog are buried side by side in the garden, which is horrible considering they hated each other in real life.

The dogs will be cremated.

Oliver I am not too sure about. As horrible as this sounds, I am just not as attached to him as I am to the dogs, or my past cats. He is very aloof and likes to be close in the same room as me, but not too close.