Euthanized pets

Either you take your pet home and give it a proper burial or pay to have it cremated, then they call you when the ashes are ready to pick up. If you don't choose either of those options, they place the animals in their cooler until they have multiple bodies, then do a group cremation. Sometimes, sadly, they just are placed in a dumpster for disposal.
 

Ask your vet. You have property so if you are sadly considering having a pet put to sleep you could bury the pet at home. If you do not understandably feel up to that, do ask your vet. There may be an additional charge. I think the pet cemetery and crematorium about two hours away comes to my town one to two times a week for pick up. Both times I took my cats there for cremation myself.

I once asked a vet if you really get your pet back and she said she knew she had because the hardware in her dog was in the ashes.
 
I've lived in my home for 32 years. I have had between one and three German Shepherds at any given time. I have a small pet cemetery at the back of my property which now has 6 dogs and a friend's cat buried there! RIP Toby, Rex, Axl, Sheeba, Gretchen, Heather and Spooky the cat. I presently have Jojo, Max and Bailey.
 
I buried my previous dog, but will cremate the next one. I live in a patio home and simply don't have a good place to bury a big dog. But who knows..... he might out live me and have to bury me. He's pretty good at digging holes.
 
I've always paid to have my pets cremated, not crazy about the idea of burying them in the yard. When we bought our first home, I was puttering around in the back yard with my dog, planting some flowers around the little 'doll house' storage shed. While squatting on the ground, I turned around to check on my pup and I saw part of the head of a Doberman sticking out of the ground. An old woman owned the house before us, and she probably didn't have the strength to dig a deep enough hole.

Anyhoo, I freaked out and grabbed my dog by the collar and took him into the house asap. My husband was out of town on business, so I ended up calling Animal Control and asking them to come and take the body. They were great, came very quickly and took the dead dog away.

I don't save the ashes from cremation, but I have saved a couple of paw prints in clay from two of my dogs who were euthanized.
 
I, too, always take my pets to the county shelter who say they cremate, but who knows what goes on after you leave the remains. They used to charge $5, but the last time I had the service, it was $15; probably even more now. Also, they tell you right off that they only do mass cremations, so if you want the ashes back, it may be a mixture. If you have the vet take care of the body it costs about $50 around here. One time I was with my mother at a vet clinic. She happened to bring this subject up and he said he just gave the bodies to someone who dumped them in a landfill. He was surprised at my mother's antagonistic reaction. He said "What difference does it make? The animal's dead." Needless to say my mother never patronized that vet again.
 
We had our beagle cremated many years ago and have her ashes. I think when we move from this home, we'll bury her ashes up on the back hill. My wife keeps her metal dog tag on her key ring as a constant reminder of how much that dog meant to her.
 
In New York they passed a law this year that allows pets to be buried in regular cemeteries with their owners. The law leaves it up to the individual cemeteries if they wish to participate and how they go about it. I have the cremains of my mothers pet, I need to check into how this works in the cemetery where she is buried.
 


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