This is a bit morbid but practical nonetheless. Some people bury their cats at a pet cemetery. There is a pet cemetery not that far from where I live. There is at least one in New York, USA. There are probably many more. Well, you may have heard that New York’s Division of Cemeteries has instituted new regulations allowing people to have their cremated remains buried with their pet. It was banned until recently but I fail to understand why.
I don’t know how popular this will be. The first question is how many people have their cat or dog buried at a pet cemetery? I would have thought most people have their cat cremated. Some people, like me, then take the ashes home.
In my case I want my body to be cremated and the ashes mixed with the ashes of my cats, which are in an urn in the living room. But then what happens to the combined ashes? That, I am not sure about at present.
I’ll probably have them scattered over a place or buried in a place that I love. I just want my ashes to be with the ashes of my cats for all eternity.
I am actually surprised that there was a ban on the ashes of a person being buried at the grave of their pet. I can’t see anything wrong with it but I can see a lot that is right about it.
I don’t know what the rules are across the USA or UK on this matter. I just know I want to be with the remains of my cats when I die. That is that for me.
This is an entirely emotional decision. There is no DNA in ashes so there is no direct connection between the person or the cat and the ashes in an urn. Ash is ash wherever it came from. Actually that appears to be inaccurate. There may be slight differences in ash composition depending where it came from. For a person it is made up of calcium phosphates with some minerals.
I would never have a healthy animal euthanized to be inurned or buried with me. I made a pact with a friend years ago to care for her animals when she died and vice versa. Sadly, she went first so we now have six cats (two were hers). Her cats will be cremated and go with us the same as ours will be.
I have this happen a lot. At the shelter I work we actually run a small crematory service. We are very careful and only cremate one at a time and put them in a special urn with paper work that comes with it. It takes $30 to $40 to run a crematory only once, so we only ask slightly above that fee to make the cost up. We believe in quality and giving people a service they can rely on when it comes to remembering their pet. It is not rare for us to get questions about wanting to be buried with their pet.
The only controversial part of this that I find is that some people want their animals to be put to sleep when they die and buried with them. That is often not a problem if the animal is very old or has a medical condition along with no one wanting them. However, I’ve heard of people wanting that done even if the pet hasn’t reached 10 years yet. I prefer not to get involved with morals regarding that part of it, just thought I’d add my two cents to this article.
Hi Zach. Nice to here you commenting again. Interesting comment too. Two good points as far as I am concerned. Firstly, it is nice to see that you genuinely cremate companion animals individually because some people are a bit sceptical about this. Secondly you make the interesting point about people requesting that their companion animal is buried with them when they die notwithstanding that their pet might be perfectly healthy and adoptable. That can’t be right. I don’t mind getting involved with morals! 😉
That would never have occurred to me. It seems to be a very selfish thing to do. It is very self-indulgent and confirms that the person sees their cat or dog is a possession to do with “it” as they see fit. Can you tell us how commonplace this request is?