Cremation or Burial

[LittleRibbie]

I just saw an ad today from a company in Ocala advertising cremation services for animals...from a gerbil to a draft horse. My dogs that have passed I chose cremation b/c I knew we would be selling the house we were living in then and did not want to leave them. Like most people I presume, that choose cremation,I have them in their urns and have a special place for them. So far I've been blessed and have never had a horse or larger pet cross the bridge but what do you do when your horses get their angel wings. What about the smaller horse farms or single horse owner that may not have a tractor to even dig the hole? Rental property?

Now that I have a house that I want to grow old in and hope to never leave I think I would prefer to bury animals on our property and not go the cremation route.

Has anyone here ever had their horses cremated ( sorry, I hate that word )?

Rest in Peace to all our animal friends that have left us this year and in the past!

Moderators, if you feel this topic is in poor taste I will not be offended if you need to remove or edit. I just thought it might be interresting to hear what others do in these situations.

 

[shadowpaints]

the horses are buried, as are goats, foals. kitties and dogs are cremated, usually, there have been a few that got buried instead.

 

[Miniv]

We've been blessed with having properties that have been large enough to bury our fur-family members big and small......

However, we have also chosen the cremation option for three of our dogs AND one of our miniature horses.

Although I know that they are no longer connected with their physical shell any longer, I am glad we have the ashes which we can take with us, in case we ever do move.....

Larry and I had a very very special kitty who we buried in the front yard of our previous house and it was sad leaving his burial site behind. His name was/is, "Quince", so we planted a Quince Tree over where we buried him. I hope the landscape stays the same for many years....

The pet cremation place in this area is doing a very special thing. They have a connection with a glass maker who will take just a little bit of ash from your pet's "urn" and create a paper weight, a candle holder, or a glass teardrop necklace....in memory... It's actually very beautiful.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

We have a 160 acre farm, so burial has never been a problem. We have buried our calves, cats and our foals, and we use to bury our dogs. I have my own little area of a pet cemetary. I also have some friends animals buried there. However, as much as I loved everyone of our dogs, when Shado passed away in 2007 I just felt this strong urge to have him cremated,which I did. He is in a very special place in our bedroom along with his picture, and I have a deep shadow box hanging on the wall by his pic with all his other "memories" in it. I do plan on having my 4 furkids cremated if something would happen to any one of those as well and do the same. 3 of our arabians and our 2 saddlebreds, along with Patti , my draft are also buried in my "cemetary", but I did have my 5 gaited saddlebred cremated and have his oak box sitting, on a bookcase, along with his pic and some ribbons & trophies. He was a once in a lifetime horse to me, and I wish so many times that I would of had my Patti cremated as well. She was my draft driving mare.

Miniv, I love the idea of having a necklace. That would really be something extra special. I wish ours did that.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Sad as the topic is, it is one which must be addressed by most of us at some point if we own furkids. In some areas you may find that burial is not allowed. But, regardless of that, we all need to have the info available.

Where I am located there is a State lab about 20 miles away. Great for necropsy, plus all other tests. But I found that they actually turned all of the animals brought there over to a rendering facilitiy. Ok, that is about 35 miles from me and they charge a small fee, by weight, but $33 minimum. There is always the issue of "time"....day/night, day of week, etc. And there is the issue of equipment to handle the dig at the site. Not all of us have such equipment.

To be honest, since I have been in the position of needing this service, I considered advertising with local vets, feed stores, horse groups, etc., the service of going to their homes and assisting with the burial site prep/cover. Plus, I feel their pain! Then, my son moved and the equipment left also. Hey, a backhoe costs several hundred for the day, including delivery, etc. But that is the next option....then working it. Cremation is available for smaller animals and they will take a mini, if delivered. Dogs/cats they will pick up.

I really did look into this a few years ago when I had an unfortunate loss and needed immediate help. On Saturday night, mid summer and high heat, you need to work fast. That prompted me to search ideas.

At this point, there are NO backhoes close that will travel but, one at a rental facility 20 miles out. I'm set up for a phone call and credit card over phone to have it delivered -- again. I do have a special area (as we did at another farm).

 

[Minimor]

We bury all the animals here--there's an area in one pasture where we bury horses. We don't have any specific area for the cats and dogs. The cats, I try to put them somewhere in the yard where they liked to spend a lot of time. Some are out by the garden, some are under the trees in the front yard, some are in the back yard under the trees, three are in the back yard in front of the flower bed by the back door.

We don't have a tractor and cannot bury horses ourselves. We do, however, have a neighbor that has a backhoe, and for a small fee he will come & dig the hole & bury a horse. He charges $50-$75 so that's pretty reasonable. If we had to get a backhoe service from town it would cost quite a bit more, likely somewhere between $100 and $200.

We have in the past had the rendering plant pick up horses--usually when it's been winter time & the ground is frozen solid. Now I'm not sure what we'd do with a winter time death as the rendering plant no longer accepts anything but hogs. It's really too bad, because the rendering plant was a very economical option for anyone that couldn't bury their horses--the charge was only $7.75 for the truck to come & pick up.

For us, cremation of a horse just isn't an option--you have to get the body to the crematorium which is 100 miles from here, and the last I heard the cost for the cremation was around $1000. That is just too costly when we can bury instead for less than $100!

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

There is a local place that picks up horses. You can have a communal burial or single one. When we lost Maddie we had them take her. We did the communal- she had lots of friends that day- the flatbed was full.

When the foal died this year, we had him cremated. And when my dogs go, they will be, too. I had to leave behind my Arab when we moved to TX, I don't want to leave them if I ever move. And, when I go, I want them buried with me!

Lucy

 

[NoddalottaFarm]

My Mini, Samson, died unexpectedly so we burried him here on the property. There was no time to try and find someone who did cremation, and I'm not a sentimental person, so keeping their ashes doesn't mean to me what it does to others. We had to rent a backhoe to dig the hole and that was hard on me. My husband called all over until he found one that was available and that we could get to our property. I'm very glad we burried him as our only other option was a rendering facility. Even though I'm not too concerned about where a body goes when the soul leaves, I can't imagine the renderer's truck backing up to the barn. <<Shudder>>

As far as my other "babies", they all get burried. My back yard is like a mini pet cemetary: hamsters, rats, dogs... it goes on and on. We've always burried our furkids... ever since I was little.

 

[wrs]

When we lost our beloved dog Chien a few years ago I couldn't bring myself to bury her because we lease our property, so we had her cremated. I have a spot for her in our bedroom with pictures & momentos of her. I like the thought she can go with us. We've lost 2 big horses & they are buried on the property there was no other option available for them. For the minis if at all possible I'm wanting cremation for them. If we ever settle somewhere, I'd like to have a cemetary for my animal friends.

 

[Katiean]

My family says I am sick and twisted. I do bury most of my animals when they die. A 7" tall 450 pound Ostrich did go to the land fill because they wanted $100 for the rendering plant to pick her up. For my fur kids (dogs and cats) I buy a plastic box and make a mattress and blanket for them. If they had a special toy it goes in the box with them. When we moved from our last house I really struggled with the fact that my little Yorkie male had died the year before and I was going to have to leave him there. I finally went out with a sheet of plastic and a small storage tote and dug Bubba up. I think I can leave him now but his tote has sat by the fence (not buried). I have not opened the tote since I put him in it. I joke and say he is in a crypt. I just have not been able to bury him. Am I crazy or sick because of this?

 

[Matt73]

We bury dogs, cats, etc. I suppose if Royal had been euthanized or died here on the property, we would have buried him. He was euthanized at the clinic in Guelph and they did a post mortem (and "used" his body for teaching purposes) and then cremated his remains. They sent his forelock and a braided bit of his tail. I really don't care either way to have the physical body/or ashes. It's just a vessel and does not represent that being to me. I'd like to, myself, not have a plot or anything when I pass on. Just cremate me and sprinkle me somewhere...

 

[hobbyhorse23]

We have a well so by county rules are not allowed to bury anything large within a certain distance of it so the horses have to find some other place to go. This has always been hard but never more so for me personally then when I lost my Arab over this last Memorial Day weekend. It was the first time I'd had to arrange it myself and talking to the rendering guys was traumatic. Some of them were so callous and clearly considered my best friend of many years to be just another dead goat or hog. I am not paying $350 to have you treat me and mine like a day job, jerk.

One of them wasn't that bad and kept a clean truck but I still wanted to look at other options. I think it's honorable to use the body but the mental images of what was necessary to turn my partner into "soap products and bonemeal" made me sick.

The crematorium that we'd used for the last horse couldn't pick him up that day (Friday, and I called at 9AM since he'd been put down Thursday night) and wanted an overtime fee of $150 to get him the next day. Considering a communal cremation was already $550 (private with ashes returned was $1.10 per pound) I couldn't afford that! I was about ready to call the rendering guy back when the other crematorium on the list the vet gave me returned my call and was perfect. They were local, no overtime fee, charged $0.50 a pound for communal cremation which for a 900lb horse was $100 cheaper, and they came and got him Saturday morning in a clean white box truck where he was the only occupant. They were so respectful! I didn't watch them load him but I was nearby waiting to pay them and I could tell they were really careful and they even kept the tarp over him while they loaded him so I wouldn't have to see anything if I accidentally came back too soon. I was touched by their thoughtfulness as I'm sure that made it harder for them to do their work.

I can't afford to pay double for that sort of service but it was certainly more than worth the extra $100 over the rendering truck.

Having a horse put down and disposed of around here is going to run you almost a grand, something which adds insult to injury after the pain of losing your best friend. The least they can do is not make it worse.

We've chosen to leave our smaller animals with the vet when they've been put to sleep and I don't think we asked what was done with them. The last several were cremated and returned to us as Mom simply wasn't ready to let go of that particular dog yet and I felt the same about the cat. The ashes have sat here however, gathering dust, and we've both said we probably won't have the next animal cremated. For us the ashes simply don't represent the friend we loved and since the little urns are sealed (!!) we can't even get them open to sprinkle them somewhere significant. What's the point?

Leia

 

[gimp]

Having done some dissections and anatomy lessons at the rendering plant I would NEVER let one of my animals go there. I know it is just a hunk of flesh, but there is something about my need for respect that just can't stomach it. If I cannot afford cremation my critters will be buried and return to "dust" that way. (I think Leia may have dealt with one of the plants that I went to for my studies...Tukwila?)

 

[Margo_C-T]

Rendering is no longer an option for horses in my area; they simply won't accept them, even for a fee. Now our options are: cremation(my 'in-the-city' vets' office personnel were kind enough to go to bat on my behalf, and were able to arrange a reasonable fee(group cremation, no ashes returned)for the 38", 375 lb. mare I had to have euthanized due to founder a year and a half ago--and I was VERY grateful!) Or--take the body to the city (Albuquerque)landfill yourself(it is FAR from where I live), pay a fee of $75 and have to watch the less-than-considerate way the personnel there handle it---or, hire a'private contractor', who will pick up the remains from the vets' and take it to the landfill...UGH! Due to the vet office, I actually paid LESS for the cremation than I would have to the 'private contractor', who seemed unfeeling and barely spoke English- I was SO relieved that her body wouldn't do to ther landfill!! Even with a mini, cost with me taking the horse into the city to the vets' office, was near $250 for the euthanization and cremation; it would have been a bit less for one of the smaller minis, due to the weight.

I could bury one here, but the cost would be about the same, by the time I had to hire a backhoe...and when you disrupt the soil here, it can be barren, or grow up only in weeds, 'forever', so I hate to do that.

I HAVE buried all of my pets in the past 25 years or so, here...in the front corner of my 'other' 5 acres next door. When my aging Ridgeback passes, as I feel she likely will within this year, I will be able to bury her here, too, as I've already nearly finished digging her grave. I knew I must 'do it ahead of time', as I'm not up to digging such a large hole all in one session anymore.

Sad for the time to have come when it can be even harder to do the right thing because of the increasingly high cost....

Margo

 

[Hosscrazy]

Rendering or home burial are not options for me. We have a wonderully compassionate person here in So. Cal. who meets you at your home along with your vet (for euthenasia) and she takes the horse to a mass burial site.

Liz R.

 

[gimp]

I have a friend who calls the game farm. She has done it for three biggies and says they are very respectful. There is just no easy way, and that may lead to more dumping of older or debilitated horses in the future. It's all quite sad.

 

[SilverDollar]

I recently lost my first horse (a biggie). He was 32 and was a very special horse with a heart of gold. I knew for years that I was going to have him cremated since burial is not an option for us. I've never had any of my animals cremated (we've buried our small animals on our property) and will still continue to do that, but for some reason I just couldn't have this horse taken to the mass burial site. (Liz--are you speaking of Roberta? She's who handles all the horses in our area and she is a wonderful and compassionate person.) What was really interesting is that I received a call from the crematorium and they asked if my horse died of colic; he didn't, but I asked why they asked me that. It turns out that during the cremation process they found an enterolith the size of a softball. They set it aside for me and I put it with his cremains. My horse never colicked and never showed any symptoms that he had such a large stone. I never would have known this unless I'd either done a necropsy or cremation.

 

[Dee]

I do both. All my pets have been cremated and we have buried the ashes in special places on our property. We just have flowers planted or a rock with their name where they are. Sounds weird I do both I guess. We have just always been at the vet with our pets when we put them down and I wouldn't be able to carry them limp out to the car after. We have also lost some in winter so cremation works best. I'm just got one to keep the ashes. I just feel closure when they have a resting spot. Person opinion for people. I don't feel there is a right or wrong way.

 

[angilou]

Just wanted to let you know I used to work for a vet and he was talking to a man that worked at a crematory. They can't afford to fire that up for every animal brought in, so they wait till they have several and burn them all at once, so your urn has the remains of many different pets, not just yours. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Oh gosh, I forgot I had posted this...guess I had a busy week. Thanks for sharing all your stories. I dont know if there is a rendering plant in this area or not...I had never even thought of that.....I find it hard to fathom a local landfill being an option but Im sure ours must take animals too. I know there will be a day when we will have to plan this sort of thing and luckily we will be able to bury on our property but I feel bad for others that really dont have many options.

Angilou, ummm 4:25...right after Twisters post...