Here's the other shoe...

[pomtzu]

Donna, you really shouldn't be upset with the vet, since they contract with a third party for the cremation.

I have had remains returned to me in various containers, depending where they have been done. I've had a cedar box, a heart shaped decorated tin, plastic urns, and brocade boxes shaped like a treasure chest. Usually the humane society does them, and we have several places around here that have pet cremations as a specific business. Even one of the funeral homes in Dover does them at their crematorium. It just depends on who does it as to how it will be returned to you.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

like Pomtzu said, the remains are packaged at the crematorium, not the vet. If they put it in something nice, the price would be higher. You want an urn, buy one. They are in the cremation business, they're not a funeral home. There is a pet cemetary around here that does cremation but I don't know what they send ashes home in, since all of my animals have been buried in the yard intact. My vet did give us a cardboard coffin though.

Anyone else keep thinking of the scene from Big Lebowski about the urn? The guys said the ashes were going to be sprinkled, but the funeral home insisted on trying to sell them an urn. In the end they brought the ashes out in a coffee can.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

MoosMom, I'm glad you got your sweeties ashes without having to wait til the 3rd.

I think it's normal that the ashes are in a plastic bag. That's how our Jack Russell's were, BUT the bag was inside a cute little box shaped like a treasure chest and covered in a nice material. Lucky for us, that box fit inside the little dog-house shaped urn we got...so Aggie's ashes are in a bag in a box in a box. She's the first pet we ever had cremated. We always just buried our pets here on the farm...but Aggie was so special I got to thinking that if we decide to move when we're older, I couldn't bare the thought of leaving Aggie's bones here. I wanted to be able to take her with us wherever we go. Her urn is to go in the casket of which ever one of us goes first.

[cassiesmom]

But the remains were returned to the from the crematorium to the vet's office, so the vet's office could have placed them in a more appropriate container before Moosmom picked them up, or they could have told Moosmom what to expect. A plastic bag just seems heartless to me.