I’ve got a 12 year old Cocker Spaniel who is starting to get close to the end. He’s still comfortable and happy, but pretty much blind and deaf. The vet says it’s not time yet but it’s got me thinking, if he dies naturally, what do I do with his body? He’s certainly not a piece of trash!!
Serious replies, please.
You can choose to bury him or cremate him or hand him over to the vet to dispose of. Obviously you won’t want the latter. When I bury my dogs, I usually do so on a mountain trail that they like. It’s hard work, but I really enjoy going to see them when I can. You need to dig down to at least two feet deep - more if possible. Take a pick-axe to break up the ground and a shovel to move the dirt. I usally do so near an easily identifiable marker, such as an unusual tree or rock.
If you want to cremate, then you have the option of scattering the ashes or keeping them. For a cocker, the ashes would fit into a medium-small cookie-jar-sized container. You can search on this forum for ‘pet cremation’ to get some good advice and contact details. You will also have the choice of burning the body with others (cheaper) or alone (probably more what you’re looking for). The places recommended on other threads really provide an excellent and very respectable service.
Doing either of these will work, and will help you deal with the event, as you are still caring for the little guy after he’s gone and helping him on his way. Feel free to contact me if you need more help.
Sean
Thanks, I’m hoping it’s not coming too soon!
Personally, I’d go with burial. On a very practical note, cremation produces a lot of carbon dioxide (the only figure I have is an the average australian male being cremated produces 50kg of CO2). Whearas burial puts back into the enviroment. Seems to make more sense for a dog that’s loved running through the mountains and stuff to then contribute to that same mountain carrying on. But then thats just my thinking.
Hopefully it’s still a while off yet.
Stray Dog wrote: [quote]When I bury my dogs, I usually do so on a mountain trail that they like. [/quote]
Is this legal?
Why, what happens in the latter case? Is the body incinerated at the city trash burners? That would be relevant to the decision of what do do with one’s pet.
(Our vet keeps telling us that one of our cats isn’t going to live very long due to a persistent gum disease (I’ll bring up a discussion of that issue in a separate thread), so the issue of burial etc. occurred to me too, although hopefully it won’t be an issue for some time.)
It’s probably not legal to bury your pet somewhere in the countryside or a park. It might not even be legal to bury them on your own private property.
But I think it’s a good idea to bring them back to nature. I have a special place that is not too far from my home that I visit on Tomb-sweeping day. There my two precious long-term cats who both died in my arms are standing guard over a precious little kitten who died after I spent a week trying to save him.
I think when you lose a pet, it’s important to have a place to go back and visit. For the first few months or so, it will be important to be near them. After that, it’s good to have a place to visit on occasion so that your memories live on.
If you choose the burial method, you have to be prepared. You should do it somewhere where people won’t be passing by in clear view. Don’t use a plastic bag; use a cardboard box, paper, or cotton cloth to wrap your pet. You should do it quickly and completely; bury first, ceremony and emotional release later. Plant a small bush, tree, or grass over it. You can leave a temporary marker, such as something made with wood. Make sure you dig deep enough to leave him or her in peace.
If someone “catches” you, tell them you are planting a tree for Earth Day.
This was recently on the news:
chinapost.com.tw/news/archiv … 107988.htm
“For the first time in Taiwan, pets will have a final resting place at Taipei’s soon-to-be-opened tree burial park in the city’s Fu De Public Cemetery in Muzha”
I also have a brochure for another private one at home. I’ll post it later.
By the way, my Icon was also diagnosed to live no longer than 6 months…that was 3 years ago. Do not lose faith, you have already made a difference into your pet’s life by giving him/her a home and a place in your heart.
There’s a pet cremation place in Shenkeng, just past Muzha. They treat the animals (and their humans) with gentleness and respect. You can opt to either take the ashes away with you or leave them there. The facility has an upstairs area that to me is positively weird. Rows and rows of pigeonholes, each one devoted to a dearly departed. Everything from dogs to turtles, birds and even fish, complete with little dishes of food, water, etc.
I had my last dog cremated there and took her home in a ziplock plastic bag, where she lived for about three years until I scattered her around a tree at the top of her favourite hill. I still say hello to her nearly every day.
I’ll edit tomorrow when I get the address and phone number off the wife.
That sounds nice. I wonder whether pet cremation services are overpriced the way human ones are, though.
It was a few thousand. Less than five, I think. Includes a buddhist-type service if you want with chanting and incense and all like that. Didn’t seem expensive to me at the time.
The other thread, with more info and contact details: http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?p=496788#496788
Most of the vets here have some connection to a animal burial home. They cost from 1500 to 7000, depending the size of your pet and what you want for them, ie: a sole or shared cremation and if you want a shrine or just an urn, etc. They also come and pick up your pet right away. The one we used is based in Danshuei. They have visiting hours from 8 am to 8 pm everyday. Here is the phone number and website: 02-2622-0449, home.kimo.com.tw/psc1449/
I’ve buried a rabbit, a couple of kittens, an adult cat and a puppy along the Danshui River, in an empty lot, next to the overland MRT line and in the big plant pots on my roof. Another rabbit that had just died got skinned, gutted, stewed and fed to my dogs. I had the soup and very good it was, too.
I haven’t had to dispose of an adult dog yet.
“[quote=“sandman”]There’s a pet cremation place in Shenkeng, just past Muzha. They treat the animals (and their humans) with gentleness and respect. You can opt to either take the ashes away with you or leave them there. The facility has an upstairs area that to me is positively weird. Rows and rows of pigeonholes, each one devoted to a dearly departed. Everything from dogs to turtles, birds and even fish, complete with little dishes of food, water, etc.”
Just outside Tainan, in the Sinhua area, there is a similar operation taking care of pet ashes in a dignified manner - for a price. Two or three times a year they have a big ‘pu-du’ event with offerings, monks and emotion…
barking-deer.com
Adventures in Southern Taiwan
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In the last eight days I have buried two dogs and a cat in a bamboo copse in the hills behind the Lo Sheng (Lesheng) Sanatorium. Friends of friends who live there lent us the tools - a pickaxe, hoe and spade. The pickaxe was very useful. We buried the animals about 45 cm deep, not wrapped or boxed except for an old t-shirt wrapped round their heads.
I am grieving from the triple loss but I found that doing it myself, including the intense physical effort, has helped me somehow in releasing my grief.
Now I would advise other animal owners/carers to identify an out-of-the-way place with soft soil, - perhaps a slightly elevated location that won’t get waterlogged - and get the tools or know where you can borrow them in a hurry, to be prepared for the inevitable, whenever it may come.
p.s. If I get hit by a car or whatever tomorrow, give me a woodland burial too, please.
What terrible news. My sincere condolences.
Even if you’re not dead yet? 
Even if you’re not dead yet? [/quote]
Can we chop him up first?
Three all at once? God, Juba, that must have been awful. You’re in my thoughts. Can I ask, was it coincidence or did something happen?
On another note, that’s good advice – look for a place with soft soil. We buried Puba last week at the top of Peaceful Beauty hill behind out house and had the devil’s own job digging a big enough hole in the concrete-like hardpan up there. Just as well she was just a kitten.
Thank you for your sympathy. I’ll explain what happened in the “Juba needs help” thread just as soon as I have time.