There is a pet cremation center a few cities over, to which I wrote, but while I’m waiting for their reply I’ll see if you guys can help any. My boyfriend’s cat died about a year ago and she is buried in his parents’ back yard, but they will be selling the house soon and he doesn’t want to leave her behind. I want to disinter her and have her cremated so we can bring her home to our apartment, but will this be feasible? I would imagine so, because people in worse conditions are often cremated. I would expect her to be largely intact, or at least skeletally, so there will be enough kitty left to cremate. The only reason I can think of why the crematory would not cremate her would be transport or handling issues.
What do you guys think? Should this be feasible? Why might it not be? Are there any other options (like DIY cremation or skeletal rendering) that I could try to clean her up and bring her home?
Thank you very much.
JZ
No question. My vet was a member of a group service for this, so it was easier for me to have my two best buds cremated.
Little Guy (age 20, my Pride and Joy) died in June 2006. I had him cremated and chose a wooden memorial box thingy from the many choices they had for a container.
Bertie (age 16, his mate) died in February 2007 due to the whole poisoned food thing. I had her cremated and the ashes returned without a special container, because I had found that there was enough room in the wooden memorial for the both of them. Mates in life, mates in death.
Their ashes are less than 10’ from me right now, and a picture of them sleeping together in better days is my screen saver.
Even as my new cat is on my chest right now.
well, hell. I was going to make a joke. But now I think I’ll go pet that furball of mine.
Carry on.
The majority of the remains of a cremation are bone fragments. It should be no problem.
Thank you for your replies, but I’m asking specifically whether they’ll accept a year-dead kitty for cremation.
If you’ll be willing to dig it up and transport it, I’m sure they don’t have a problem dehydrating and reducing the remainder to smaller pieces.
Call the facility you want to use, and ask. I had another reason to call the crematorium that did MonsterKitty today, so I asked. The woman said they would do it, but the other facility here (that she used to work for) would not.
I hesitate to bring this up, but are you sure you can handle disintering Kitty? Is she in a container of some sort? What’s the climate like? It might be rather more messy (and smelly) than you’re expecting.
Also, how close is the facility to her and to you? They don’t usually cremate while you wait.
We had our almost 15-year-old cat Midnight put to sleep earlier this month. Cremation is the usual method our veet uses.
If you can’t find a place to do it for you does anyone know if you could have a hot enough fire in your yard to do it yourself? It could be a very touching, personal thing. Even if Kitty isn’t reduced to ashes he could at least be in a form more easily moved.
If the crematory doesn’t reply, consider calling your vet’s office and asking them. They might be able to get an answer faster than you can.
My vet charges 50 bucks a cat ,100 for dogs. You get a box of ash and bones back.
Okay maybe it is just me but I am a little creeped out about this.
I understand loving a pet, I have many but I also have buried a dog and a cat at the house I used to own with my ex husband. When I left I did not even think of digging up their bones to take with me. They are at peace.
I only had one dog cremated and the only reason I did that was because it was the in the dead of winter and there was no way we could bury her. She was the love of my life but if I had buried her I would not have want to dig her up and take her with me.
We bury people in cemetaries everyday and their love ones move away should they exsume the bodies and have them buried in a new cemetary that is closer to them.
I am not trying to be heartless and forgive me if I am coming across that way but I think your boyfriend needs to get over the cats death and move on.
Perhaps leaving the cat to rest in peace where it is might be the best way.
People grieve differently about different things. If he wants to take the cat with, he should be able to. My cats are cremated and are coming with me when I move - I wouldn’t dream of leaving them behind.
I hope you find someone to do it Juliette.
I am assuming the OP’s location refers to RI, in which case the remains should be as the OP expects- mostly intact- and shouldn’t be overwhelmingly smelly this time of year (especially after the 12+ inches of snow recently).
To answer SP223’s question… it’s going to take either a really, really hot fire or very hot/long-burning one for a DYI job, and unless they live in a fairly remote area I wouldn’t recommend either, especially taking into account the smell. Also, most places have ordinances regarding home cremation for pets.
This is a really bad idea. Aside from the smell and nastiness, a rotting corpse is rife with disease. It’s best to leave kitty where it is.