How To Mark The Passing Of A Pet
Many pets can live for over a decade. Some can even live for two or three decades. A few can live for even longer. They all become part of the family. This means that, when they die, as they must, the whole family can grieve for them. Moving through the stages of grief can become easier if you mark the passing of your pet appropriately. Here are some tips to help.
Arrange a proper funeral for them
In general, as long as you own the land you want to use, you are fine to bury your pet at home. If you rent, obviously, get permission from your landlord. You cannot use public land to bury a pet. There are some safety precautions you need to follow. For example, you cannot bury your pet near a water source.
If you don’t want to arrange a burial, or your pet is too big for this to be practical (e.g. a horse), then you can arrange a cremation. Vets can often do this for you but pet cremation services can offer a more personal touch.
Caskets for pets are now easily available or you could have one made to order. As with humans, options range from biodegradable caskets to metal caskets via traditional wood caskets. Alternatively, you might want to bury or cremate your pet in something meaningful to them, for example, their crate.
Collect and curate your memories of them
You may want to keep some special items from your pet. That is, of course, up to you. You may, however, find that it’s more practical to take photos of these items and then move them on. You’ll probably also have a lot of photos of your pet at various stages of their life as well as the memories you store in your head.
It can be therapeutic to collect and curate all of these into one place, like a memory book. You can then dip into this whenever you want to remember your pet. These days, you can do everything on digital if you wish. It can, however, also be nice to have a physical item such as a photobook. These are generally very affordable to produce.
Remember, this is as much about expressing yourself as it is about remembering your pet. Feel free to unleash your creativity. As long as you keep copies of anything original (e.g. photos, writing) you can always undo anything you don’t like and have another go.
Have a memento created
You may already have had a memento created. If not, or if you’d like something else, then there are plenty of options at very reasonable prices. In particular, artists who create pet portraits are increasingly likely to work from photos rather than needing to see the pet in real life.
If you are thinking of getting a pet portrait, or another memento, be sure to check out the artist thoroughly. Ratings aren’t everything. They are heavily skewed to people who’ve been working for a while. You should, however, be able to see a portfolio. Keep in mind that some artists have a very definite style, which may or may not be to your taste. Others, however, can be more flexible.