Pet Burial
Burying your pet can be a touching and personal way to say goodbye to your companion, bringing a form of closure and a way to pay tribute to their life. The same way we have funerals for humans, it’s an important part of the grieving process. Having chosen to bury your pet, there are many things to consider beforehand that can help create a smooth process.
As mentioned in our previous blog post Preparing for your Pet’s Passing, to give yourself more time to prepare and think about the send-off you’d like, many veterinary practices allow clients to use their freezers to store their pet’s remains for a few days. This is often free of charge.
Location
Where your pet will be buried is an important decision and will be different for everyone. You can either bury your pet at home in your garden or in a pet cemetery.
Home Burial
Home burial can be appealing as it is more intimate, private and can feel fitting as your pet lived there. However, it will require more involvement from yourself with regards to digging a deep grave, placing remains in the grave and burying. If this is something you are comfortable with it can be incredibly cathartic.
There are a few rules and regulations to consider with home pet burials. Legalities mean your pet can only be buried in the garden it lived in if the owner owns the land. If you’re renting or don’t have a garden this will be a problem. It’s also important to think about what would happen to your pet’s remains if you decided to move house. You may not wish to be apart from your pet.
When selecting a spot in your garden for the burial, it needs to be somewhere that is unlikely to be excavated in the future (away from areas such as flower beds) and a safe distance from water sources and underground pipes. The grave will need to be at least three feet deep and it may help to measure your pet or pet coffin to know the length and width required for the grave.
Once your pet is positioned and the grave filled in, you may wish to place stones or slabs on the top to protect the resting place from scavenging animals.
You may also wish to carry out a memorial. With it being at home, you can have a pet funeral exactly how you’d like and involve all the family. From sharing memories to reading poems, it can be personal and individual to your companion.
Cemetery Burial
Pet cemeteries can be an excellent alternative to home burial, providing a permanent resting place that can be visited. It removes the issue of rental properties, worries of moving house, and simply allows someone else to handle the pet burial.
It is important to research which cemetery is best for you as it will be a long-term commitment. Make sure to look into the yearly maintenance fees that may be required, as well as your visitation rights.
Many pet cemeteries will offer different services. Some will give you the option of attending the burial or not, and can supply photographs if you opt for non-attendance. Pet cemeteries can also include a memorial service at an additional cost. Often different types of burial will be available, such as formal burial or green burial. Formal burial is more traditional and allows for headstones and other tributes to be used to mark the grave. Green burial, which is an eco-friendly option, takes the natural approach and is an area that is mostly untouched by memorials, keeping the area as natural as possible with plants and trees.
With multiple options available, there is a lot for pet owners to think about and consider. However, if pet burial doesn’t sound right for you, cremation may be an appropriate alternative, which will be covered in an upcoming blog post.