How do vets dispose of dead animals?

[robertson]

I am dreading the day I lose my darling dogs, which will hopefully not be for many many years yet. Already I'm wondering what I would do when they die. Burying them in a pet cemetery seems reasonable, but burying them in my garden seems unwise - it's small & what happens if we move house one day? Yet I can't bear the thought of vets just putting dead pets in some kind of bin or incinerator. What exactly is their procedure & what is your preference?

[hammerman]

I'm sure you can have a pet's "cremation" and you can then scatter the ashes where you like.

If not and you ask the vet to dispose of the dead animal, it'll just be incinerated !!!

[horselady]

I had our last dog cremated and then I had the ashes back in a wooden box. I put them in the garden, as we are now moving I went to dig the box up the other day to find it has disintegrated and gone powdery along with the ashes, (it has been buried for 6 years) to be honest I am glad because she loved this garden and now she's "staying" here even though that probably sounds daft to some people.

[commoner]

A sad thing to contemplate I agree..........I have always had a cat or two in my house for more than 70 years..........I always bury my cats in their favourite spot in the garden.........just seems the nicest thing I could think of and takes up so little room.

[NACL]

a girl i used to work with was really in love with her dogs. she had one cremated and kept the ashes in a little wooden box with a little engraved plaquared on the front. she kept it in her house on a shelf.

[Toureman]

If you have your pet put down at the vets or take your dead animal to the vets it is not"cremated" as we think of cremation.

It is simply put in a plastic sack and dumped in a room with other bodies until it is collected to be incinarated by some worker who treats it like any other rubbish.

Sorry to be blunt but that's how it is done.

[shaneystar2]

Hmmm... when the time comes to have an animal put to sleep make sure the vet is informed of YOUR specific wishes as to what you want to do with the body .Some people are so upset and just leave the surgery with no thought as to what may happen to the body.
Otherwise they are stored in a freezer and disposed of in an incinerator by the local authorities .So make your wishes clear.
http://www.pets2rest.co.uk/pet-euthanasia.htm

[lankeela]

Most vets in my area (East Anglia) use a pet crematorium and they are collected and cremated all together but they also do individual cremations when you can get your own dogs ashes back. They are also quite a few 'private' pet crematoriums now that are run by 'dog' people, and their services, although not cheap, tend to be a bit more sympathetic. Personally I leave them at the vets and let them go to be cremated - I have no belief in any 'afterlife' or feelings for ashes being scatterered - I prefer to remember them as they were.

You can also buy pet coffins to bury them in or have them cremated in or caskets for their ashes. Your local vet will have details of pet crematoriums or try Yellow Pages.

[lankeela]

Try this:

www.poffins.co.uk

[lankeela]

Agree with shaneystar - let the vet know in advance what your wishes are and they will keep it on file, then you won't have the upset when the time comes.

[shaneystar2]

What lankeela says is very true ..although some of us would like to believe our pets and our loved ones go to a "hereafter " nobody knows do they?
I certainly don't believe in an afterlife and would not want anyone weeping and wailing when I am gone. I hope to have a humanist funeral and have my ashes scattered wherever.
My way of looking at it is that our pets have hopefully had a long and happy life with responsible owners who have done the right thing for them at the end and life goes on.
Enjoy your dogs now robertson and worry about things like that when the time comes.
I have wept over many a dog but my conscience tells me I did my best for them.
It's each to their own really and whatever brings the individual the greatest comfort and what they believe in..

[lankeela]

shaneystar you and I have a lot in common! Actually I am not having a funeral at all - I am leaving my body (!) to a medical school at a hospital (when they have 'finished' with it they cremate it). If I had to have a funeral I would have one of those special coffins painted yellow and shaped like a skip!

Back to the pets, there is a 'woodland burial site' for 'organic' (not sure if that is the right word for it) burials near Norwich and I believe they also do pet burials.

[shaneystar2]

Hi again ..this must be Colney Wood lankeela....it's actually very lovely and where I want to go. They do indeed do pet burials. You are in the same area as me I believe ..Norfolk.

[lankeela]

Indeed I do.

Look at this

www.crazycoffins.co.uk

[clair3934]

I work for the Bristol vet school at landford we have a driver that collects the bodies of the animals from the vets that the owners do not want back, he brings them back to the main school and the students use them much the same way as human med students use cadavers they disect them to learn all about the animal, I think this is really good its training people that will help and save the lives of our little friends.

[lankeela]

clair are the owners of these dead animals aware of what is going to happen to them?

[clair3934]

As far as I know they have to sign a disclamer or something I don't really deal with this sort of thing though I just know that this happens, I think that its quite good though in a way we can give back to other people by donating our bodies to medical science and our little furry friends can do the same for there own kind

[kepla]

With all the recent talk of conservation of reduction in pollution I think it is important not to waste valuable resources like protein.
I suggest you read the famous Korean Cook-Book: 'One Hundred Way to Wok your Dog'.

[gobie8791]

I am going through this problem at the moment. My dog is 14 years old and has had a good life. I am going with the advice from the vets.

Kepla: You want to think about others feelings. Leaving posts like yours can be very upsetting for pet owners. You are a sad sadistic person, if you own a pet I feel sorry for it.

[lisajane72]

We have just received the devastating news that our beloved 6 and a half year old rottie Max probably has a bone tumour. He had his x rays yesterday and his chest x ray suggests that the tumour has started on his lungs. This is an unfortunate thing with this breed that osteosarcoma seems to spread quicker than in other breeds with the same problem.
However, our vet has said that it looks to be an unusual tumor(and seemingly aggressive) so has asked for a second opinion and has sent the x rays off today.
We are now playing the waiting game but think that this will be bad news too.

Due to the apparent rarity of his condition, we are looking to find out more about donating his body (if the news is bad), to veterinary science so student vets can learn more about his condition.
I strongly believe that this would help us to know that he was helping others even after his passing, however upset we may be at the thought of losing him soon