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The pet rat I have been caring for over the past 6 months died last week. I cried for a few minutes. He was a sweet rat.
The logistics of burying him has me worried about what I will do when one of dogs die. My labrador is a big dog and very old.
My son, who is 18, volunteered the dig the rat's grave. I got the rubber gloves and put the rat into a shoe box lined with a warm towel. Rigamortis had already set in. I've found quite a few relatives who had died, but I never touched them. My son commented that it was unsettling how it looked. It was disturbing.
Since my husband is often traveling for work, it's very likely that he won't be here to help. The plan had always been that my adult son would help me bury the dog. After my son buried the rat, he came back into the house and announced that we needed another plan for when the labrador dies. He said that he won't be able to help me carry the dog now that he knows he will be stiff like the rat was. I totally understand how he feels. I feel the same way.
I have NO IDEA what we would do. Is there some sort of dog coroner that will come to the house to take dead pets away? If not, I know we can do it ourselves if absolutely necessary. If it needs to be done, it needs to be done. But I think it will be too disturbing to put my son through this. He's 18. The dog is 14. This dog has been his best friend for almost his entire life.
He readily accepted a long time ago that the dog will die soon, but this new experience with the rat impressed just what that will entail logistically. It's not an emotional thing---my son didn't even like the rat. But just learning how the dog's body will be when it dies makes him realize that it will be upsetting---more upsetting than just grieving, downright freaky scary---in a physical sense, which will make the emotional aspect even more difficult.
If I could handle this on my own I would. But he's a big lab. I'm only 120lbs. He weighs 80lbs. He's not fat. But he is tall with long legs and a long torso. He sort of looks like a deer. I can't figure out how I'm going to be able to manage this logistically. I've worried for two or three winters about the frozen ground being a challenge, but rigamortis never occurred to me.
I know this is a dreadful subject, but I need help formulating a plan. If I don't have a plan, it will be more traumatic.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can do this on my own when the time comes?
Do you absolutely know that you will bury your dog? If so, perhaps your son's friends can help out?
Have you thought about cremation? You can keep his ashes. Your vet can handle all that if you take him to be euthanized.
That is what I did. The vet after euthanization wlll arrange for the dog to be picked up by the pet crematorium and the ashes are returned to the vet in a container (I got a pine box with engraving). The vet will then call you to pick up. I keep both boxes on a shelf in my bedroom.
If you don't plan to bury the dog and need his body taken away, I believe a/c will pick up and remove.
think about how you'd like to memorialize your dog (do you want to visit a grave? do you want to keep or scatter ashes? do you just want to dispose of the remains and remember him in your own way?) and then look into pet cemeteries, crematoriums, etc. they will generally pick up your dog from your home or the vet's.
burying a large dog on your own is not easy (nor is it often legal) in the city.
I have only had 2 pets die at home in over 40 yrs of owning. Both were sudden and in the case of the dog, the vet sent a worker to come get him and cremate him. I did not chose to keep the ashes. In the case of the cat, I carried him to the vet, to be sure, as he twitched a few times after I thought he had died. Again, cremation.
Unless you are very lucky, the dog will get progressively weaker/pain-filled and it will be time to let him go in dignity, which means a vet. some will come to the house to do the euthanasia. Talk to your vet.
The main thing is digging a hole deep enough. I have only done this with cats, so it may be different, but someone taught me to wrap their bodies in a towel. It is much easier to transport them that way. Then all you have to do is dig a deep enough hole. If your son could get a trusted buddy, who would be respectful to help him carry the dog and just lay him in the hole, it would not be a really big thing.
The part about the distress should be ok, because it will help with the grieving, which really should be done for a beloved pet.
If it just gives him the creeps, then I think there are traveling vets who might be able to help you out and remove the body - don't know if they might cremate it or what.
ive always opted for cremation, and i never bother bringing the ashes home...
unfortunatly the cremation process for pets isnt as strict as for humans and you never know exactly whos ashes you are getting from most vets, but for larger pets ive found it the best solution, its relitivly easy to bury a box, but larger pets...
its even worse when you dont dig deep enough and a few months later you find your shallow grave dug up and your pet has been mauled by wildlife. (this happend to a friend)
i think the key here though is figuring out how you want to remember him, while we didnt keep the askes of our previous dogs we do have little memorials in various places around the garden.
if cremation is out of the question and she goes in the winter some vets will offer cold storage for a price (costs aboutt he same as boarding your dog) and then youd retreive her in the spring once the ground has thawed for a proper burial.
I have always cremated. I use a private pet crematorium. They will come get the animal if I want them to. I always opt for the semi-private cremation, which is 2 animals separated by a metal divider. It saves a lot of money over the private cremation. I have a 130 pound dog in a nice wooden box and 2 cats in lovely urns that look like kitty statues.
I can't imagine wanting to bury an animal unless it would be at a pet cemetery. I would hate the thought of moving and leaving a family member behind for future homeowners to unearth during a gardening project.
Any time I move to a new area one of the first things that I look for is the pet crematorium. I need to know that I know where they are. On 2 occasions I have had the urn tucked away in a closet waiting. It makes it a whole lot easier knowing that I know who to call when the time comes.
My sister lives in a place that it is legall to bury a dog so she and her husband have buried all of theirs. One old one they feared might die during the winter when or when her husband was traveling so they dug a hole in the fall and cover it with aboard and covered the fill in dirt with a trap. The dog did die while her husnand was gone but she was able to bury him thanks to that pre dug hole.
I have always had my dog cremated and my wishes are that I too am cremated then the ashes of all my dogs be mixed with mine and scattered at the beach. My dogs have thus far been put down at the vets and then the humane society picks the body up at the vets and delivers the ashes back to the vets in a beautiful wooden box with an engraved name plate on top.
oh wow, I was not ready for reading this thread, I thought I was but it gave me chills. My dogs are 1 and 2 year old inside dogs but I still worry about them. They are my babies.
My roommate's cat got out and got run over, and I didn't even want to see the body. even though I didn't see it, I still had trouble sleeping for a couple of nights
I have also opted for cremation......I dont like the thought of a large dog....decaying in the garden...We have so many rocks in the soil it is very hard to dig a deep hole and when I have buried old lobster shells......the wild critters always dig them up....so I wouldnt bury the body.....I know I couldnt dig a 6 foot hole.
When my darling Hannah died at home.....she weighed about 45 pounds.....so I could wrap her and carry her to the vet and they arranged for the cremation.....my son drove his deceased dog to the crematorium.....I will eventually bury the cremains.....of the last dog who we had cremated....but for now they are fine in the book case.
The cremains are not insignificant....ash but also crushed bone......it is not like scattering rose petals.....the cremains we buried 3 years ago were still identifiable as bone fragments this spring when I dug a new hole to plant a memorial tree.
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