Memorial Service By Invitation Only

[iris lilies]

DH isnt sure what the Swiss do with the actual bodies, but he thinks their bodies deteriorate faster due to no vaults and other sutff. He isnt sure.

His mom was cremated, so when her ten years was up, her headstone was removed, she had to make room for the newly cremated person. DH again isnt sure what happened to her ashes, but 3 of her kids were just there to visit her grave (now not hers) in 2017. They stood around and talked about the former gravesite. Things are really crowded in this little kirkuard in this Swiss village, I mean the headstones are cheek by jowel. DH said the area for cremationis empied faster than the area for bodies because there are many more cremations.

[SteveinMN]

Re pet cemeteries--when BILs beloved dog died he wouldn't hear of having it cremated.

When our dog died last fall we had her body cremated but declined the individual ashes and the urn and the pawprint and whole bit. Didn't need them. Maybe the dog wasn't beloved enough... I don't need a shrine or marker for anyone/anything that has died. I don't even generally look at the embalmed body at (human) funerals. That body is not the person I knew. So the physical markers don't do much for me.

[razz]

Any burials in the UK, I was told by a former resident, must pay an annual maintenance fee for any gravesite used. When payments stop, the gravesite may be reused. I cannot remember what she said about the former occupants except that it was a long history of occupants over centuries. High density countries have some high density gravesites, it seems.

She was highly amused that her DH who had been adamant that he wanted no gravesite, just scatter the ashes; he who didn't want any plot, that as in the UK that could be reassigned at some point, suddenly advised her that he had bought their grave plots in their little community in Canada. What is there to prevent the same thing from happening at it sometime, she wondered? People are funny about death and related issues.

[catherine]

When our dog died last fall we had her body cremated but declined the individual ashes and the urn and the pawprint and whole bit. Didn't need them.

We had a little cherrywood box that the pet crematory gave us when our first dog died, and the ashes are still in it. It creeps my daughter out, but what creeped her out even more is the second cherry box we got when our second dog died last year. So now we have two little boxes side by side in the living room. And I didn't ask for the paw print, but I got one.

I'm pretty sure I'll declutter the house of the ashes before moving--probably in the creek behind our house where both dogs loved to sniff and play.

[JaneV2.0]

Among my beloved's last directives was to sneak his pets' ashes into the crypt with him, to be tucked together into his final resting place at Willamette National Cemetery. So the little rascals got a proper military burial.

[iris lilies]

Among my beloved's last directives was to sneak his pets' ashes into the crypt with him, to be tucked together into his final resting place at Willamette National Cemetery. So the little rascals got a proper military burial.

That is so nice!

[iris lilies]

I am like Steve, I do not keep pet remains around for long. We have our important pets cremated, keep the ashes around for a few weeks, and then scatter them. Foster dogs and short term dogs are dispensed by the vet.

The vets around here are now doing some kind of paw memorabilia at no cost. Sometimes it is an ink print on paper, sometimes a plaster footprint. I keep it around for a bit and then toss.

One of my close dog friends has all the ashes from her favorite dogs and will be buried with her, or thrown in her ash pile.

Many decades ago as an undergraduate, I wrote a paper in my Death and Dying class about human attitudes towards pet death. There is such a range of material to write about, I had to pick and choose. You can see all of the varying values here on this thread!

I know more than one person who kept dead pets in their freezer until an appropriate time for disposal. Sometimes it was a wait for the ground to soften when the pet died in the dead of winter. Umm, ok, I will admit it, that was my mother. Another person, if I remember correctly, was collecting for a group rate with the crematorium to do multiple pets.

[Tammy]

Living in a farm, we dug a grave and buried our pets behind the barn.

[JaneV2.0]

"One of my close dog friends has all the ashes from her favorite dogs and will be buried with her, or thrown in her ash pile."

That's my plan.

[Simplemind]

We have our dogs buried in our small orchard by the creek where they loved to play.