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I sure hope that statement is wrong and believe it is.
I think you get the whole thing back - admittedly there is some mixing and some loss. WHen we took our first dog to be cremated we drove about an hour in the country to the fellows house. It was a set up in his backyard. We watched him take our dog in and remove/pulverize the remains and what we got back wound up being in a plastic box. We had him do a "clean one" and the chamber was clean when our dog went in.
Oh, I agree this stuff does not matter but it is for our peace of mind at the time. THe remains are just that.
My fathers ashes are about twice in weight what the dog's ashes were.
On a side note.......for real they teach boyscouts how to dig shallow graves? That is more than a little bit disturbing. (And I work a cadaver dog)
I sure hope that statement is wrong and believe it is.
I think you get the whole thing back - admittedly there is some mixing and some loss. WHen we took our first dog to be cremated we drove about an hour in the country to the fellows house. It was a set up in his backyard. We watched him take our dog in and remove/pulverize the remains and what we got back wound up being in a plastic box. We had him do a "clean one" and the chamber was clean when our dog went in.
Oh, I agree this stuff does not matter but it is for our peace of mind at the time. THe remains are just that.
My fathers ashes are about twice in weight what the dog's ashes were.
The portion I was given was in a plastic box the size of a shoe box. The remaining ashes were given to us in a large, tall clear bag. I was surprised how heavy it was. We took it to the mountains (in another state) and spread her ashes in her favorite place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grannynancy
On a side note.......for real they teach boyscouts how to dig shallow graves? That is more than a little bit disturbing. (And I work a cadaver dog)
They don't actually do it. They were taught by being told. Not sure if all troups teach it, but his troup did and I doubt his troup is the only one.
I don't think it's disturbing. It's a survival skill. I wouldn't doubt if it's taught to all soldiers in the military too. His scout master is a WWII veteran.
Not sure what you got but don't want people to think they are only getting a token sample of their loved one in the box - here is an article that discusses mass and volume of human cremains.
Perhaps she was comingled with other decedents and you got all of them? A full human skeleton only weights about 20 lbs and that still has a lot of water in it. There are about 4-5lbs of minerals in the human body.
I bring my dogs home to rest...........this is the place they love and the family they love so it makes sense to me. I hate to say this but we prepared twice prior to winter setting in when we had older dogs and equipment available to dig. We had a spot ready with wood covering it so nothing fell in it. My vet put my dogs down, then a tech carried her to the car, I wrapped her in her favorite comforter from my bed and put her in the hole. All I kept telling my self the whole time was I LOVE THIS DOG and want her at peace. It was NOT the most pleasant thing I've ever done in my life but my responsibility to a poochie that would have given her life for me
Not sure what you got but don't want people to think they are only getting a token sample of their loved one in the box - here is an article that discusses mass and volume of human cremains.
Perhaps she was comingled with other decedents and you got all of them? A full human skeleton only weights about 20 lbs and that still has a lot of water in it. There are about 4-5lbs of minerals in the human body.
Why would you not want them to think it if it's true?
Because it is not true and it is emotionally important for some to get all of the remains.
The average adult male human produces about 7.5lbs of cremains, the average female a bit less and dogs would obviously produce much less. If it is important for people to make sure they are getting their pets ashes then a private cremation (which costs more) is done. You can't get 100% because some will stick to the walls of the retort and the thing that crushes the bone but you get most of it, not just a small fraction.
The article showed the weights of the remains of about 300 humans by a respected forensic anthroplolgoist - the volume about 3 liters if you did the math...not far from the size of an average shoebox, which is what you normally get. I have no clue about the plastic bag.
Last edited by grannynancy; 12-06-2010 at 06:32 PM..
I have a 10 year old Golden Retreiver and a 6 year old Bernese Mountain Dog. When the time comes I will have the vet come to the house and put them to sleep in the comfort of their own home. I plan on burying them in the back yard underneith the pear trees. This is a place where I also have the hammock and I lay out there all the time in the summer. My dogs always lay underneith the hammock, so it will be comforting for all of us to know that we'll always be near.
I have seen times where our vet will go out to a car if it is a large dog to do the " sleep" shot.
Other then that I have brought a pet inside, and then from there took my pet home for burial.
We dug a deep spot for her.
A large dog can be carried on a board with a little help.
Today, because we are far from home, we chose to go into the vet here. Now our pets remains will go to the crematory and then to us. All taken care of by the Vet here. He will come back home with us.
I believe children need to learn about death, and loosing the things we love. So I would go the regular route of visiting the vet, and if you could....take the dog home for burial.
Our Vet told us he wished more people would go this route.
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.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can do this on my own when the time comes?
Okay, first, rigor seems to set in with small animals almost immediately. One of my puppies was killed and rigor set in immediately. Conversly, when my shar-pei died I had here wrapped in a blanket in the garage on a table for several days so my nephew could help me bury her - she showed absolutely no signs of rigor. It was extremely difficult to dig a hole big enough for her because my back yard is primarily a heavy clay. You also have to make sure no other animal digs him up.
In most incorporated cities, it is against the law to bury your dog in your yards. It is here - but I didn't care.
Now for the tough truth. I worked at a vet and it lasted one week. It was right around Christmas and this guy was in tears and brought what looked like Lassie in to be euthanized because his arthritis was so bad. The woman at the front desk asked him if he wanted his dog cremated and given the remains for such and such price or did he want to go with mass cremation at no charge. He opted for mass creamation. What they did, however, was put the dog to sleep and I watched at one of the technicans put the dog in a garbage bag and actually tossed it in a dumpster to be landfilled. I came home in tears and was so shoked by it. Needless to say I was so disturbed about this, I called them and quit the next day.
Since I lived in the suburbs and not the major city limits animal control here takes stray animals and dead aniimals to this particular vet to handle housing them for several days until the owner has a chance to claim them. They also take the dead animals there for 'disposal,' Not only did they lie to this man that dog deserved better than that.
I don't know if all vets do this, but I know plenty that do. If you opt to cremate your dog, by pass the vet and go directly to the pet crematorium yourself.
Last edited by Thursday007; 01-26-2011 at 08:29 PM..
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