lifeliberty
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What is a good funeral home to use to cremate pets?
No, I don't need it right now, but definitely in the future.
Does anyone have experiences? Do you have to call ahead of time and have things all planned?
I don't really know about this stuff and don't really want to think about it, but I have to. So if anyone has any ideas or can guide me then I'd really appreciate it.
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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Depending on your situation, I can highly recommend Dr. Hird at Northwest Veterinary. She can come to your home for to do the euthanasia and you can pick up the ashes from Schrodinger. It was much less traumatic for everyone than taking a trip to the office.
Cookie
Flyntonville
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lifeliberty wrote >>
What is a good funeral home to use to cremate pets?
No, I don't need it right now, but definitely in the future.
Does anyone have experiences? Do you have to call ahead of time and have things all planned?
I don't really know about this stuff and don't really want to think about it, but I have to. So if anyone has any ideas or can guide me then I'd really appreciate it.
Vets usually have a relationship with a funeral home and can help you with the arrangments. I had gotten the price information about a funeral home from my vet, but ended up having to have my cat put to sleep at an emergency vet. I believe all that I told them was that I wanted him to be cremated alone. (You can have them cremated with other animals and then get some mixed bag of ashes, which is less expensive, but really not anything that I was interested in.) They returned the ashes to me in a wooden box with a plaque with my kitty's name, year of birth, and year of death, a card with his paw prints, and some poems that I thought were incredibly sappy beforehand but made me cry when I read them again after his death.
lifeliberty
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yeah, the rainbow bridge poem....not looking fwd to that! ;)
and +1 for doing it in the home, I def need to set that up.
Cookie
Flyntonville
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lifeliberty wrote >>
yeah, the rainbow bridge poem....not looking fwd to that! ;)
and +1 for doing it in the home, I def need to set that up.
Ask your vet about it. Mine had said that they would be willing to do it. Unfortunately, my kitty took a turn for the worse over the holidays.
jennyw
Clintonville
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I don't have a lot of constructive advice to give here, but it might be worthwhile to call your vet (if it's one you like and feel comfortable with) to ask them about their recommendations about that stuff. My dog died suddenly, in the middle of the night in May; I brought him to the vet (Beechwold Veterinary Hospital) that morning, and they handled dealing with the funeral home, etc. for me, and the ashes were ready the next day.
Also I wanted to extend my sympathies. Losing an animal companion sucks. (And even though that Rainbow Bridge stuff is pretty lame, and the pet-loss websites are full of cheesy graphics and songs, they still made/make me cry. Like, a lot.)
lifeliberty
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yeah, I suppose I'll be crying like a little girl, a VERY drunk little girl, but a little girl nontheless.
lifeliberty
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whatever I do, I WILL NOT be making a fur rug out of him ala that disturbing craigslist add, LOL! (4th post down in this thread http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/the-best-writeup-on-columbus-craigslist-i-ve-ever-seen)
or like in Coraline, the old actresses in the basement taxidermied their dogs, that's not happening either.
Matthew
Hilltop
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I used these guys for one of my birds. http://www.petcremationcolumbus.com/
They were cheaper than the traditional funeral homes, came and picked the body up and delivered it the next day in a nice box with a plaque.
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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When my little guy passed in November it was pretty sudden and very hard on all of us. We ended up at Spence's (IIRC-I was a mess that day) on 256/Hill Road by Seaton Parish. We simply showed up and inquired. They cremated him and placed the ashes in a nice wooden box, along with a card and a little trimming of his fur.
TaraK
probably at the coffee shop
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I don't know what you people are talking about, as I am assured that my kitteh's are immortal.
--------------
Seriously, I'm very sorry you're having to think about these choices. Preparing, though, might make it less difficult, at least on a functional level.
patient_zero
Falafel District
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Mama in the aftermath of the 2008 snowstorm
The brother and sister team (Bill Nelson and Kathleen Nelson) at Oak Creek Vets (Westerville) offered many options and services when Mama's congestive heart failure was no longer treatable. Their charges were minimal considering the services rendered.
I made the decision to drive Mama there by myself, and bring her back home, by myself. It was the most miserable experience I've ever forced myself to do, and I'll never do it that way ever again. Have a professional come to you, and let them handle the final details, from euthanasia to cremation. I can't remember the company they employed, but they could fill you in on the details and options.
The little white clay paw print is a nice momento.
Peace.
Core_Models
Columbus
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This thread has put me in a bad place :(
I'm guessing this is for Life, and if so, thoughts are with you LL.
lifeliberty
Here
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thanks. He is 11 now and he has good days and not so good days. It is just something I have thought about over the years. And when Fate (dog that Life was raised together with) died unexpectedly (bloat) Jess was in Dayton with her husband and they had to rush her to emergency care there, well, lets just say I am happy I wasn't there, what they went through was very stressfull and sudden. That situation was especially hard being they were in a different city than Columbus and they had to find emergency services there...I'm not going to go into it, man, now I'm sad...
anyway, I'm just trying to be realistic and have a plan so I don't have to make any decisions at that time.
jennyw
Clintonville
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Bloat is what Sollie (pictured in my avatar) died of. It was terrible.
Anyway, as painful as this is, you are so wise to be thinking of this stuff now. Our family dog was 17 years when we put her to sleep, and, as macabre as it might sound, I regret that we didn't do it sooner [I couldn't bear the thought at the time], because the last few weeks were terrible. Better to make decisions when you're in a clear frame of mind, not when you're overwhelmed with grief.
groundrules
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Okay, I can speak specifically to this. It's not nice to talk about and a bit gruesome, but I'll speak about it frankly so apolgies if this sounds gruff. But believe me, this stuff is best worked out when you're still sane. Planning is so key. As an aside, there is such a thing as pet hospice- you can make a plan for comfort care as the last days arrive as well. having pain medication or a sedative on hand can be very comforting for both you and your critter. Dr. Tami Shearer is a bit of a forerunner in the field, and unfortunately no longer practices in columbus, but her website is useful. http://www.shearerpethealth.com/
With specific regards to cremation, my recommendation is Schoedinger Funeral Home downtown. They are very specific about making sure that they do one animal at a time. Other places may assure that you get your ashes by separating pets with fire bricks, kind of compartmentalizing the ashes, and like cookie said, you might also get a hodge-podge from other places. But I'm fairly sure that shoedingers is the only place that one pet per trip through the oven.
Other logistics: They can pick your animal up from your home. this is a little bit more expensive. They can pick it up from a vet's office, this is a little less expensive. Or, you can take the pet to them. I think for a cat, it cost about 80 bucks for the entire service- pick up, cremation, fur clipping, plaque, and wooden box, plus a certificate from the funeral director certifying its yours. Cost varies with body weight, as bigger animal means more gas + time.
Besides that, they were completely professional about it. They treated it (and me) exactly as if it were a human loss. They have a pet services coordinator who did exactly what she should. They coordinate a grief group if you want. They made this process as normal and trouble free as can be imagined. Never once did I feel less important for doing a pet deal there, and they were very sympathetic. http://www.schoedinger.com/pet_services.shtml
My sympathies to you. I hope you don't need this any time soon, but I applaud your foresight.
desecration
Harrison West
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:( When we had to make the decision to let our furry child go last year, the cremation services were done through Schoedinger. They were very kind, respectful, and professional.
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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Wow. Pandora (the Cat to my Fiddle) is eleven this year and has been diabetic for the past two. I'm kinda bracing for these inevitabilities so knowing the options out there helps.
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