The way the bodies of beloved pets are often dismissed in today’s modern world may seem surprising, even callous, to those whose root take them back to more sentimental days in which a family’s assortment of animals were the focus of grand, glorious attention upon their death. In decades past, farm homes in rural areas across the United States could routinely be found hosting make-shift grave markers to note the final resting places of a family’s beloved dog or cat. And in even more recent days, loosely enforced, or non-existent, municipal codes allowed city dwellers to bury their special friends in their very back yard with no fear of upsetting neighbors or invoking fines or other penalties.
But such is not the case today. What to do with a pet’s body after it dies is mostly a bureaucratic matter these days instead of a matter of family tradition and choice. In many states, counties or cities, the issue is strictly left to government officials, and, even if it remains an officially private matter in other areas, the most popular choices are typically reduced to a few convenient methods that cost very little and can be done very easily and quickly.
So that means much of the nostalgia of yesteryear has simply faded away. The death of a pet is indeed still (and will always be) an emotional moment for the animal’s owners, but all-but-gone are the days when that emotion is put on display in grand fashion in the choice of disposal method of the deceased animal’s body.
Quick Cremation is the Most Common Practice Today
Today, when a beloved pet who has served a family faithfully passes away, it us usually at a veterinarian’s office. Pet rarely are allowed to suffer the pain and agony of a long term illness. Rather, we speak today quite commonly of “having the ole’ boy put down.” When a veterinarian’s diagnosis indicates there will be a long, expensive struggle ahead for an animal – say in the case of feline aids or canine cancer– the decision usually is made too simply end the beloved friend’s life humanely. More than one veterinarian has quipped in online blogs, in fact, that, because of the increasing number of euthanasia requests that come in each year, he thinks of his practice as more of a venture into the dark arts than as a healing-centered service.
Whatever the case, as things stand in the modern world of loving and caring for a pet, just about every pet owner can expect to see his or her loving relationship with his furry friend come to a close at the hands of a veterinarian with a euthanasia procedure.
And the remains are typically handed over to a family in a cremation urn filled with the remnants of the pet crematory’s duty. Catalogues of pet cremation urns are today available upon request (and sometimes recommendation) in just about any modern veterinarian office, and most pet clinics now offer cremation services for less than $100 and can typically promise their customers their beloved pet’s remains will be returned within a week. In fact, many veterinarian offices across the United States have recognized the lucrative market for pet cremations in our modern world and have established entire new crematory businesses that correlate nicely with their main livelihood.
It is an ironic twist that veterinary medicine and pet cremation would become so intertwined, but nevertheless, the transition becomes more and more apparent with every passing year. All but the most resiliently committed advocate for traditional veterinary care has already made the switch to offering pet cremations as significant part of his or her livelihood, and industry experts predict the others will be changing their practices soon. It just makes sense, after all. To be competitive in the veterinary medical trade, you have to give the people what they want. And, as of this writing, people seem to want the speed and convenience of disposing their beloved pets remain via cremation.
To be certain, cremation does not come at the price of nostalgia. In fact, with the advent of the growing pet cremation urn line of industry, consumers have many more options than they once did for remembering and celebrating their pet’s life in style. Pet cremation urns available today – either online or at a veterinarian’s office, though the online world will offer a much greater selection – help family’s capture their pet’s spirit in amazingly, and ever growing numbers of ways. Pet cremation urns available today are so stylish and offer so many emotionally laden features, that families are much more apt than they once were to put the pets ashes on display in their homes. In fact, in many homes where the thought of human cremation is still hard to accept, pet cremation urns can be found readily on display. It is hard to say if pet cremation is changing the tide of public opinion toward cremation in general, but that may not matter to a pet owner. All that an animal’s loving owners tend to require these days is a stylish, tasteful way by which to remember their precious time with their faithful friend, and pet cremation certainly fits that bill for pets.
Other Methods Are Also Common
Alas, cremation is not the only choice for pet owners who have lost their faithful friend. Many veterinarians still simply do not even broach the topic with their clients who have lost a pet, and the pet’s body is disposed of in a wide variety of ways in these cases. All without the pet owner’s knowledge – or even concern. Among other things, pets have been known to be simply tossed into garbage dumpsters or perhaps even sold to “rendering plants,” where their bodies are broken down in various mechanical processes and used for any number of industrial products including, ironically, animal feed in some cases.
To be sure, these unceremonious, perhaps even disturbing, methods of disposing a pet’s body are considered ethically dubious by many reputable veterinarian groups, and even their legality is uncertain in many places in the United States. But nevertheless, they typically remain an option for pet owners who have lost a loved one – and, as we say, to exercise this option, all one often has to do is simply not tell his or her veterinarian what to do with the pet’s body after a euthanasia procedure. When no thought is given to what will happen to their friend, many pet owners find other, comforting ways to cope with the grief of their loss. For many, the thought of having to see a cremation urn (or even a grave marker) in their home every day is simply too much. For these people, one of these alternative methods of disposing of their pet’s body may be the healthiest choice for their emotional well-being.
Hope Is Alive for The Nostalgic
Good news is that those who wish to remember their beloved pet in the most fitting and comforting way possible have plenty of low-cost, efficient options in pet cremation. When you are suffering the sometimes overwhelming grief over the loss of a pet, it will often be a great help to explore the amazing number of options available in today’s pet cremation market for products that will keep your furry friend’s happy, playful spirit a part of your home for decades on end.