Have you lost a pet? How did you choose to memorialize him/her?
 

I was wondering if anyone has had this dreaded experience and if so what you did to memorialize your lost pet? I've been kindof pre-planning for my lil Chewy as he is 15 and showing signs of the inevitable. I know when the day comes I will be a basketcase, so I'm trying to prearrange everything so I don't have to make those decisions when my mind is mush.

Did you choose to cremate your pet? If so, did you distribute the ashes somewhere special or do you have an urn in your home?

I'm leaning towards an urn and have found a few I like that are somewhat cheerful (despite it being a sad situation). I want to remember Chewy with happiness.

If you did get an urn...I would be interested to know what kind of urn you chose and if your happy with your decision.

I certainly appreciate you sharing about your beloved fallen pet. PS - any advice on the subject would be so appreciated...I haven't been throught this before and could certainly use all advice! Thank you and bless you.

I just posted in the RIP thread. It was one year ago today I had to put our 10 yr old Lhasa Poo to sleep. I still cry over her I have no idea how long it takes to get over the loss of a beloved pet. Our Yorkie is our baby now and we love her but still miss Millie. Our pets who died at home are buried here Millie was in pain so I put her down at the vet so she was cremated. I did not want the ashes back it's just not something that comforts me. You can never really prepare for the death of someone or a pet you love. However if you do choose to get ashes back please pick them up. When I worked at the animal hospital we had so many people ask for ashes back, pay the extra money for it then never pick them up. We had a shelf just for the unclaimed ashes there were so many. I guess people are grief stricken and say they want ashes back but then change their mind later or maybe it's just to painful for them to go pick up a box that used to be their pet. Some just don't want to return to the place where they last held their pet. They in hind site would rather remember the pet the way it lived not in a box.

I have a friend who is blind and the only pet she ever got ashes back from was her seeing eye dog. She said the dog had done to much for her over the years to just let him go.

We bought an 8 week old puppy last summer and he passed 3 weeks later. We buried him at the park, it is a wooded area off a trail. We go to this park very often and visit, our 3 year old daughter also knows he is there and we always say hello to him when we're in the area! If I owned my own home I would of done it in the back yard but we rent an apartment so that was not an option for us.

It is not legal here to bury your pets in the yard. One neighbor actually turn in another neighbor for buring her Chi in her flower bed in the back yard. They were faced with a fine if they did not move the dog.

I think thats bull. If you want to bury your dog in your own yard you should be allowed. I recently lost my pittie. We decided to bury him in the back yard and got him a nice memorial.

I totally agree as long as you don't bury the animal upstream of someone's well water etc. Most people are on city water now so ground water contamination should not be a big deal (I could be wrong).

i dread that day, but i do have a plan. i will cremate lexi and keep her in
an urn, but when i die i want her buried with me.. if i go before her, i told
my mom they have to dig me up and still put her with me..

Guess i didnt think of that since ive lived in the suburbs all my life and have always had city water. But its still sad they were told to move their dog. id keep my dog there and pay the fine. im just stubborn that way :D

I don't remember the fine for sure but $500.00 comes to mind. It was a few years ago now.

I've had 3 pets that have passed away...and to memoralize them i bought a music box which plays "Puff the magic dragon". In the box theres a lock of my pet's hair and their collar. I chose Puff the magic dragon cause with all my pets if they werent feeling well...id hold them in my arms and sing this song to them...except id replace dragon with "doggie". The music box is absolutely gorgeous..its mahogany and it sits on a shelf in my walk-in closet. So i think of them everyday when i go to get dressed. I know its nothing that can ever replace the pain...but it brings a little peace.

My Sophie passed 2 months ago:( We had her cremated and got her ashes back. Right now the ashes are in a box that the vet gave us and I put a picture of her on it. I also put a lock of her hair in the box and her stuffed animal near it. Later on I will get a special urn for her but for right now she's there on my shelf in the living room. Oh how i miss her

That is so beautiful!

When my cat, Einstein, died a few years ago - I did get her ashes back, and they are in a cylinder shaped wood box. I don't know why, but it was comforting to the get the ashes for me.

I'm so sorry you are going through this and understand how difficult it is. I recently lost my first dog, Bailey. He was 14.5 yrs old.

I chose to have him cremated and found a beautiful urn, that sits on my fireplace with his ashes and my favorite picture of him on it. It is very comforting to have him with us. There are still days that we sense and feel him here, visiting. My other dogs always know.

This is a post I put up, at the end of my post is a link to a video I made for him, if you care to watch it to the end, you will see the urn that I have him in.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/our...et-bailey.html

You can also find it and other beautiful ones at Angelashes.com

I just recently (6/1) lost my 14 month old yorkie, Max. He was in surgery and had a heart attack and the vet couldn't bring him back. My vet who was absolutely wonderful, asked me if I want his footprints and what to do with the body. I chose to have Max cremated. I also bought a plastic tub and put his blanket, collar, leash, clothes, and favorite toys in it. Max's ashes are still in the box, but when I find an urn that I like, I will get the ashes transferred.

I also wrote a Letter to Max in the RIP section and have my favorite picture of him as my desktop on my computer. Each night before I go to bed, I can look at his face and let him know that I am thinking of him.