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I fail to understand the connection between being retired and dealing with dead pets. Before or after retirement we handled the issue in the same manner.
Gemini1963, I had a red hen that sat in my lap when I was a kid! Her name was Major. She was one of five chicks Dad gave me for Easter one year. Later he got several dozen more. I didn't know what the plan was.
I watched Dad chop off their heads on a stump in the back yard and they were placed on the table for Sunday dinner. I don't remember being able to eat them. My dear dad. Wish he'd been thoughtful enough to spare that red hen.
Forty years worth of kitties and a few grand-cats lay under our sumac in the back yard, all "natural" burials. (I think that's the current hip phraseology.) There's a small stone statue of a mother cat and kitten and a plaque which reads, "Those we have held in our arms for a short while we hold in our hearts forever."
Guess that's a dead giveaway to any city inspectors who could possibly have the time or inclination to come snooping for illegal kitty remains on city grounds. I dare them.
Cremate them and scatter in pet's favorite place to play, or make the cremains into a stepping stone memorial using a stepping stone kit from the craft store. It's easy to pull up the stone and take it is you move.
I also don't get how this is a retirement issue anymore than any other age. Pets will die, people will move, it's just everyday life for everybody.
Cremation - in the beginning I kept the remains but they start piling up after 30 years so I just had them cremated and buried at the pet cemetery. I have pictures of all of them so I feel no need to keep the ashes.
Cremation - in the beginning I kept the remains but they start piling up after 30 years so I just had them cremated and buried at the pet cemetery. I have pictures of all of them so I feel no need to keep the ashes.
Yes, the thread could have been in the pet area instead of here. But...
I wanted to know what retirees, meaning older people who have had long, meaningful lives, do with their beloved pets who have traveled along the road with them over the years. I think there is a difference when you are closer to death yourself, than when you are young, have young kids, are busy in a profession, thinking about new goals, etc, etc. I also think pets mean more to retirees, than to those who are busy with life and maybe not home that much with them. JMHO
So, sorry if this question is misleading to some. In my experience this is a question I have never resolved as each pet goes to the bridge.
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