Loving my Oldies

We will be watching

What a little beauty

My heart has just melted.

It sounds as though Keisha has a wonderful life with you, your family and friends. She isn’t a youngster anymore and would probably be happy just doing a few activities in your back yard. So much stress in her life before you - I wouldn’t put her through any more.

This, of course, but also @Rikis very lucky to know that if he did leave Mollie, she is very loved. I don’t have any advice, really. I just feel deeply for you in this dilemma.

LOL. Best solution.

Just supply your own. Give it to the vet to give to the company who provides the service and comes to the vet for collection. I never even asked when I realised there were people who made urns which were much nicer . Have you looked on Etsy? If there is only one company to chose and they insist you use their urns (I highly doubt they would take this stance) then take their urn and transfer the ashes to your own.

Makes me sick to think of those babies taken from their mother. All the publicity would make it very hard if not impossible for the pups to have a normal life.

@Teebs I said that about PetRest and Pets at Peace because (as @Powerlegsalso said) they are franchises and as everyone knows franchises can differ wildly in their provision of whatever the service is. I have had first hand experience. The range of cremation urns is very limited and, when you browse the internet and see some of the beautiful options available, you can see this. @giraffezI am so sorry you are feeling so stressed about trying to be organised. It is VERY hard to get your head around the fact that you have to make a decision to, in harsh words, end the life of a much loved and treasured being. I have done it 18 times (not 17 as I’d said above) and I still get the shakes, feel sick at having to do it, feel as through I am betraying the years of love given to me. Some of these times, have involved taking my dogs off life support after early morning dashes to the emergency vets, so there have been times when the decision has been made for me. When the time came for Tamar to be given her wings, one of the vet nurses took some photographs for me because my phone had run out of space. I have the most beautiful photographs of Tamar and she looks like a happy well very young dog. I have to remind myself that she was very sick, very old and with little quality of life. Basically, the steps are as follows: 1. Talk to your vet. 2. Find an urn or other that you want for your boy so you are prepared and are not limited to what the cremation company offers. 3. When you know the time is right, you ring your vet to either have the procedure at your home or the vet premises. Wherever you decide to have the procedure, you have as much time as you need to spend with your dog. 4. Your vet will arrange for the cremation company to collect your boy. 5. Your vet will advise when the ashes have been returned.

If I remember correctly, @westiemum did this. She organised the day so people who loved her dogs could visit, organised the vet and the time to spend with her dogs afterwards before the cremation company arrived. I’ve tagged her so hopefully she can come in here and give her thoughts.

These are the urns that Petrest used to supply before I found out about other urns available on line. The boxes are the scatter boxes which I chose because they were a bit different and I wasn’t given any other options than the urns I already had.

That looks beautiful, @Snook.

These places have their own lines of urns, boxes, etc and, depending on who you chose you will be shown pictures of them for your selection as well as what you want engraved. I imagine jemappelle had difficulty getting a scatter box, because they are much cheaper (and in a lot of cases, prettier) than the urns. Make sure you see written down what you want on the engraving. Happened to me once, but luckily what I had asked for was there in the vet’s order book and the engraving was replaced. I’m about to fall into bed, but tomorrow I will take some photos of the urns I used to get (very little choice) before I discovered that there was access to all sorts of beautiful pieces on line.

Pets at Peace and Pet Rest have to be watched very carefully. Edited to add that there isn’t much choice.

I don’t have my urns on display (would you believe I have 17 since 1997?), but I keep the most recent ones on a bookshelf in the study because I do like to look at them, reminisce and remember how much I loved all these little dogs and one cat. I could not countenance even the thought of burying any of them.

This is such a sad time for you and your boy @giraffez. The day will indeed be very sad, confronting and scary even if you know totally that it is time for him to go. I will try to help with some answers based on my experiences. 1. Talk to your vet to ensure you are comfortable that he/she will make the time as gentle and as smooth as possible. 2. Ask about the companies they use, either for burial or cremation, or interment at your home or whatever you want to happen. Research the companies your vet uses as you are right in that some are better than others and I know first hand, the RSPCA used to just cremate all the animals so you just ended up with ash that could have belonged to anyone. 3. You can definitely buy you own urn which I have done because the ones offered by the companies my vet used are very plain. I can recommend www.petcremationurns.com.au who have really beautiful ones and have supplied several of mine. I’ll post a couple of pix. 4. I understand what you mean about taking up your vet’s time by staying there, but they should offer you a separate room where you can be with him. Stay as long as you like - but it will never be long enough. Eventually you have to walk away and that is damned hard. 5. The vet can come to your home, of course, and you can make the arrangements for certain times: ie the vet at 2pm and the pet services company at 3pm. Or you have your boy put to sleep at your home and drive him to the vet clinic for him to be collected from there by the company of your choice. If you go down either of these routes, discuss the the vet what you want them to do and whether they or you are arranging the cremation company. 6. As for the actual procedure: I have always held my dogs on the consulting table with lots of soft bedding. My vet gives a sedative and then inserts a cannula through which the solution will flow. They use a cannula so there can be no mishaps or obstructions to the needle. They will ask me if I am ready and when given the go ahead will administer the solution. They leave us alone for a few minutes, then come back to test that the pet is truly gone, detach the cannula and any other apparatus such as breathing mask (if the pet has been being treated). They then leave and I spend as much time as I can with my pet. I had to have one pet put to sleep during the height of covid, so they had set up a spot outside where I nursed Jeune out in the fresh air. Pix of two of my urns in separate posts. And as @Snooksaid, I always take bedding or favourite toy or something that the means a lot to your dog and to you.

Maybe just didn’t like the responses

I am going to get in touch with a member of this forum who is an expert on small dogs and their ailments particularly Chinese Cresteds to come into this thread. @yellowgirl

Poor little pup. She must wonder what the heck happened to her lovely life. Makes me want to cry and wring that owner’s neck.

You must be devastated. Shocking and disgusting thing for them to have done.

So beautiful

It can be so hard and distressing. Best wishes to you and Bob and Bonnie.

And perhaps add: I’ve put this all over social media to warn others about this “dangerous and disgusting” drunk.