Reply With QuoteAshes in a casket, lock of hair preserved in a resin cast are two keepsakes I'm aware of.
R
I know it's a bit of a random one, but I know there are loads of pet owners on here, and judging by the reaction to the recent thread regarding pets I thought I'd ask.
Our 12 year old standard poodle has just come back from the vets after having 1.5ltrs of fluid drained from around his heart and also some that was in his chest cavity, it's not the first time he's had fluid drained from his heart, but it's never been in his chest cavity before.
They suspect a tumour is causing it, ( markers were present in the fluid from a previous drain ), but they cannot find or see a "mass" so I suspect it's in the lining somewhere.
Anyway, as much as we would like to think we can just go on and on having the fluid drained, ( they have said they will to a point ), we know that at some point it's not going to be an option, so we are going to have to prepare ourselves for the inneviatable.
We would love something to remember him by and just wondered what people had done.
Ashes in a casket, lock of hair preserved in a resin cast are two keepsakes I'm aware of.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
So sorry to hear of your doggies woes, always a hard time and a hard decision. A lock of fur kept safe, photos and videos, and of course the memories are all to be treasured.
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I have Bags' collar and bowls still.
And she has a metal leaf engraved with her name on a memorial tree at Edinburgh cat and dog home.
https://edch.org.uk/support-us/celeb.../memory-trees/
I have Barley's ashes, collar and a lock of his hair. And miss him every day.
Last edited by oldoakknives; 10th November 2021 at 14:35.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I’m very sorry to hear of this. It’s very sad when pets get old. We must always try and remember the joy that they brought to us for all those years.
A lock of fur would be a nice touch.
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We have the ashes of all our old dogs in caskets.
We recently lost Bella and a nice touch (I thought) from the veterinary nurse was a few paw prints she took and gave us on card.
Cheers,
Adam.
I've actually just shed a tear reading that bit about the card, so touching.Originally Posted by stoneyloon
Sorry to hear this. When we lost our dog a few years ago I paid for him to be cremated on his own. I then got one of these paperweights from this place.
https://www.ashesintobathaquaglass.c...perweight.html
The rest of the ashes we put in a pot with a rose bush in that is on our patio.
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It's a heartache. The more you love them, the harder it hits you. When my beloved Oriental cat brothers died 4 weeks apart I commissioned a sculpture of them. The sculptor used a block of Richemont stone, I'd asked for Bath stone but he said it was was too coarse, & I remember him saying that the sculpture was already in there, he just had to get it out. I also asked him to salvage the clay maquette & had it fired so that it was saved for interest & posterity.
It's a good rendition. One cat was much smaller than the other, but the smaller one was much more confident. Hence the larger one, Spider, has his paw held up & is sat slightly back from his brother.
The sculptor I subsequently found out had made identical replicas of many of the medieval sculptures on the west front of Wells Cathedral...including Jesus as shown. The weather-worn originals are kept in the crypt. A lot of the statuary that you see on the West front is his work.
It was an interesting undertaking & it made me a bit feel better knowing that I'd gone to some trouble to make a lasting memorial & that they had been worth it to me.
Thoughts are with the OP at this difficult time.
We had a plaque made of our first cat, there are companies out there who can laser etch a proper picture of your pet in to a piece of slate etc. You send them the pic via email and they do the rest, we screwed it to the wall above where she used to sun herself in the summer time.
I had out first cat stuffed but my wife eventually came to find it too creepy (I still have him in my man cave). Since then, with both our dogs and cats, we just go with a lock of hair, a collar and a classy framed drawing.
An ex of mine kept custody of two rescue Maltese hunting hounds. When their times came their ashes were put into purpose made picture frames.
Strangely (because I don’t usually do this sort of thing- my parents’ ashes were scattered and I wasn’t there nor did I want to be) I have three sad little bags in the house containing the remains of Buster, Blackie and Pie. When we retire, probably in London, I’m going to take up pottery making, a lifelong ambition, and will be making containers for each of them.
Our last two have their ashes and favourite toy buried in the garden, just where they liked to sunbathe, we also have Archie’s collar around a plant pot in the living room, a living memorial it was described as someplace, and of course a place in our hearts forever.
Pet rescue lamb, early 60s.
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I commissioned this oil painting of Baxter.
I did love that dog.
When our first black lab left us we had him cremated and his ashes placed inside a black lab statue that we placed at the front door of the house.
The spooky thing was when the new lab pup came into the house, he sniffed the statue and subsequently bowed to the figure. He continues to do so to this day!! I’m sure there was a draughty open window as my eyes moistened.
I wish you well!
Jim
I got a tattoo 😱
Cherish the time you’ve got and spoil that dog rotten
We lost our Westie in July and it was the most upsetting thing we've ever been through. He was 13 days short of 18. We had him cremated and put in a nice little urn which sits on a sideboard with his collar around it. Behind the urn is a folding picture frame with a picture of him on one side and an ink paw print on the other. Always say morning and good night to him and it definitely made it easier when we got him back home, though we still miss him so much.
Thoughts with the OP, its such a difficult time to go through.
Years ago we had a Golden Retriever called Bart, such a amazing dog, when we groomed him there was always a incredible amount of hair in the brush, at some point we saved a load of it and my MIL made a cushion and used the hair to stuff it with, as kind of a joke thing, we still have it and its now a nice reminder, just have make sure it doesn't get wet
Cheers..
Jase
Wow, that is such a touching memorial to both your cats. They clearly meant a lot to you and I imagine the process of commissioning this was cathartic in itself.It's a heartache. The more you love them, the harder it hits you. When my beloved Oriental cat brothers died 4 weeks apart I commissioned a sculpture of them. The sculptor used a block of Richemont stone, I'd asked for Bath stone but he said it was was too coarse, & I remember him saying that the sculpture was already in there, he just had to get it out. I also asked him to salvage the clay maquette & had it fired so that it was saved for interest & posterity.
It's a good rendition. One cat was much smaller than the other, but the smaller one was much more confident. Hence the larger one, Spider, has his paw held up & is sat slightly back from his brother.
The sculptor I subsequently found out had made identical replicas of many of the medieval sculptures on the west front of Wells Cathedral...including Jesus as shown. The weather-worn originals are kept in the crypt. A lot of the statuary that you see on the West front is his work.
It was an interesting undertaking & it made me a bit feel better knowing that I'd gone to some trouble to make a lasting memorial & that they had been worth it to me.
Thoughts are with the OP at this difficult time.
My previous ragdoll cat passed away in 2011 aged 11. We had him cremated and his ashes sit in his favourite spot under one of our sideboards. We've moved several times in the past decade and he always gets packaged up with our 'precious' items, destined to sit again under the sideboard wherever it is placed in our new house.
Days after he died, I trawled the internet to find a breeder who was using stock descended from his parents. Luckily, one of his brothers became a well known male, err, inseminator I guess, so we found a breeder who had just had a litter. The boy and girl came 2 months later and turned 10 last month. Sadly, we now have that awful feeling once they cross the 10 threshold that one day we'll be back in that position again, so OP I hope you manage to find a way through this difficult time.
My beloved Bull Terrier Deana is buried in our garden under an apple tree.
She had a heart attack at home (the vet had warned us) and died on the kitchen floor instantly.
Luckily we were all at home, even my son from America was visiting, so we dug a grave. I had to borrow a pick axe from next door to cut into the chalk which is prevalent around here.
We didn't have a coffin so we placed our little darling in a zip up suit bag.
After she was interred we all stood and sat around talking about her antics for a long while.
Almost like a church service really and I see her final resting place every day.
Deana RIP.
Cheers,
Neil.
It is a sad time approaching. When my first airedale Muffin was poorly I took her to the vet, who diagnosed a large intestinal tumour. She was too old to operate, but not in acute pain, so I took her home for a couple of days after medications given. Took a couple of days off work and we visited all her favourite places and walks, and I fed her her favourite treats, all in little pieces as her difficulty in eating was what first alerted me to her malaise.
The next morning arrived and I just knew she was ready to leave me, no idea how I knew, I just knew. We walked to the vet's and I held her gently, whispering softly to her as she slipped away. I was a mess afterwards, even typing this brings me to tears.
I had her individually cremated, and held in to the ashes as I was in the process of moving house and of course wanted to take her with me. I had planned to plant a tree or shrub and scatter her ashes around that, sort of her giving some life to something that I could see every day. The plan went a bit awry when the garage roof in the new property leaked and her ashes became a black liquid. Still went to fertilise a new Acer in the garden, which is still growing strong. A nice memory of my old girl.
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Ralph became ill at the start of last summer. After a month of tests the diagnosis came in = lymphoma. The vets explained it was incurable, and although treatments were available to us that would have prolonged his life slightly, it was obvious that the pain he was in would not improve and would only get worse. Not wanting to say goodbye, it was very tempting to be selfish and keep him going for as long as possible, but we realised we owed him so much more so we let him go.
It was a very tough time, and we both decided we wanted something to remember him by. The choice of type memorial is obviously a very personal thing - we decided we wanted something that would capture his character and personality and we eventually decided on a portrait made up (from a photo of him we supplied) by a company called Turner & Walker. We chose a scene from their options that we thought would reflect his character (he was a super dog, but he did have a very superior air about him), and this is the result -
We had it framed and it sits on the wall in the kitchen above the chair he used to lounge in. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it has certainly helped us deal with the loss of such a good friend.
BTW - I have no connection with Turner & Walker apart from to say that we were delighted with the result, so much so we have commissioned two more (one of Fred, who we lost a couple of years ago, and one of Dave, who is now 16 months old). If anyone wants a link = https://www.turnerandwalker.co.uk/
Absolutely love this !!Ralph became ill at the start of last summer. After a month of tests the diagnosis came in = lymphoma. The vets explained it was incurable, and although treatments were available to us that would have prolonged his life slightly, it was obvious that the pain he was in would not improve and would only get worse. Not wanting to say goodbye, it was very tempting to be selfish and keep him going for as long as possible, but we realised we owed him so much more so we let him go.
It was a very tough time, and we both decided we wanted something to remember him by. The choice of type memorial is obviously a very personal thing - we decided we wanted something that would capture his character and personality and we eventually decided on a portrait made up (from a photo of him we supplied) by a company called Turner & Walker. We chose a scene from their options that we thought would reflect his character (he was a super dog, but he did have a very superior air about him), and this is the result -
We had it framed and it sits on the wall in the kitchen above the chair he used to lounge in. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it has certainly helped us deal with the loss of such a good friend.
BTW - I have no connection with Turner & Walker apart from to say that we were delighted with the result, so much so we have commissioned two more (one of Fred, who we lost a couple of years ago, and one of Dave, who is now 16 months old). If anyone wants a link = https://www.turnerandwalker.co.uk/
Brings back so many sad memories this thread but also quite comforting as i can relate to lots of what’s been said
I have a stone 'pet plaque'. Past pets were buried in my parents garden, and the pet plaque (depicting cats as that's what we had the most of) was bought and placed in a lawn border near their graves to commemorate them.
After my mother passed, this was one of my 'must keep items' and is currently in my garage waiting to be placed in the new houses gardens somewhere.
We had Jeremy immortalised by a very talented local Taxidermist, I think he did an amazing job and he now takes pride of place on the sitting room mantle piece which used to be one of his favourite places to sit
Sadly the time came yesterday to say goodbye, we couldn't see him suffer any more, things happened very quickly after his last fluid drain on Thursday, he just didn't recover and looked like he was in distress.
We were lucky to have him for nearly 13 years, the house just isn't the same without him here, and I'm not ashamed to say that I shed quite a few tears.
We've got a lock of fur/hair in a small tube and a couple of paw prints that the vet very kindly done for us, these I will mount in a frame for display.
We are having a private cremation and would like to get a piece of jewellery made with his ashes so as he's never far from one of us.
It's bloody hard at the moment.
Heartfelt sympathies,
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Huge sympathies from us, we’ve lost two in the last 6 months, their ashes are both still sat in their favourite places in the house while we work out what to do. Don’t rush it.
Some of the ashes will be going in to large pots with roses in, it was easy a find a nice rose to suit the white and orange dog, it’s more of a challenge to find one to suit the brown one!
For us, over the last 6 months the most important thing has turned out to be our memories of the dogs, often spurred by the random pics from the past our iPads throw at us. We’re finding that the importance of the ashes is diminishing over time, and whilst we’ll still go through with the rose plan, our other idea of scattering them on their favourite beach may now not happen.
Oh, and get a puppy! For us going from three dogs to one was awful, the poor girl left was so sad and lonely, as of course were we, so we found the perfect next generation of our dog family through a friend on this very forum. He’s never failed to cheer us up in the dark times we’ve had recently.
So sorry, you did the very best for him.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
My sincere sympathy to you all Steve.
It’s the hardest thing…
We have a potted plant next to the telly and Archies collar is wrapped around the top of the pot, it was suggested as a living memorial, I wish I heard of this before and been able to do this for all our dogs but collars were gone before it was suggested.
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