How would you lay your pet to rest?

FROM requests to make fur into jumpers, to wanting to mix ashes with tattoo ink, pet cremation consultant Alison has seen it all. Here are the strangest ways to remember your pets.

ALISON Moore has pretty much seen it all.

Working as a cremation consultant for Brisbane-based Pets Eternal, Ms Moore’s job is to lay dearly loved pets to rest — and comfort their often distraught owners.

“As a pet cremation consultant, you’ve got to be able to handle dead animals and grieving humans,’ Ms Moore tells news.com.au.

“We live very closely with our animals right by our side. As humans, we accept that they’re always going to be there. When we lose them, it often takes people by surprise and it is such an intense grief process that you go through with animals because they give us pure, unconditional love. These animals are still somebody’s baby, so we treat them like that.”

It’s often this grief that propels people to want to hold on to the memory of their beloved dog or cat in a more tangible way. From requests to save the animal’s fur to owners wanting to mix the ashes with ink so it be tattooed, here are some of the requests Ms Moore has received:

Alison Moore from Pets Eternal.

Keep a lock of fur or a whisker

We get asked for these all the time! Five years ago, we didn’t get these requests very often but now we include it as a complementary service, as well as a memorial candle. This is something we offer to everyone because we get asked for it so often so now it forms part of our package, along with a golden paw print. I would say that 95 per cent of people accept that offer from us.

Some people want something quite specific such as fur from a certain part of the body. The most common places people ask for the fur to be taken from include behind the ears, tail and chest. If the pet’s fur is three or four different colours, we always get all of the colours. Some people ask for eyebrows because they are a different colour.

Sometimes the cat or dog has different coloured whisker so the owner will ask for the different coloured whisker. We’ve had people who want all of the fur shaved off so they can keep it for different reasons.

Shave the animal and make the fur into a jumper

We’ve been asked this a couple of times. Other people just want large amounts so they can put their hands into it and feel it.

Shave the animal and put the fur into a pillow or a cushion.

We’ve done this maybe five times for different pet owners over the years.

Some people keep the ashes on display.

Keep a tooth

We’ve been asked this probably half a dozen times. Most people would ask for a canine tooth which are actually the hardest ones to remove. Sometimes, owners want to have this mounted onto jewellery.

Mix the ashes with ink and have it tattooed onto the skin, or have a paw print tattooed onto the skin

We do get asked that some of the ashes are ground quite fine so pet owners can do that. A small amount that can be mixed in with the ink. Most of the time, people just request a very clear paw print to get copied as a tattoo onto the skin. This request is very, very popular now. We would get asked this once or twice a week now.

Ensure the body faces a certain direction because of the sun

We receive different religious requests on a daily basis. From body placement to holding the body for a certain amount of time, to specific requests about how the ashes are presented. We will try to accommodate everyone’s request. Some Buddhists ask that the body must lay next to a Buddhist chant machine for 3 days. An Asian custom is to keep a bone to take back to the birthplace.

Some families request to keep fur.

Exhume the pet’s body from the ground of the owner’s backyard because the family is moving house and can’t bear to leave the body behind

More often than not, we get asked this because the family is moving. Other times, it’s because they’ve buried the pet and then changed their mind so we exhume the body and then cremate them. It can be a sad thought for some people that they’re moving house and the new homeowners will come in and build a deck over where their dog is buried. We get asked that probably a couple of times a month now.

Put the ashes into an alcohol bottle

If the dog’s name is Tia Maria, we’ve been asked to put the ashes into a Tia Maria bottle. We’ve had a couple of animals named Jack Daniels or JD. Sambuca is another popular pet name we come across — there have been a few different ones. We have been asked this approximately five or six times. The owners have named the animal for a reason — it’s a very personal thing.

Paw print or nose print

Paw prints are definitely the most common request as we get that all the time. Nose prints are not as common — we’ve only been asked that maybe a dozen times.

Ashes can also be made into jewellery.

Ashes made into jewellery

Putting ashes into jewellery has become EXTREMELY popular. It used to be something we would do approximately once every six months but now we get asked it 10-15 times each week.

The ashes can be made into almost anything from a necklace or earrings to a ring. The ashes can also be made into gemstones where you can choose the colour of the stone from clear, red or green. Stainless steel jewellery is very affordable however gemstones are much more expensive.

How would you lay your pet to rest? Tell us in the comments below.

Originally published as How would you lay your pet to rest?