Nobody discusses this topic! No even Psychology Today. There is quite a lot on the internet about freeze-drying your pet but nothing on the more important topic of whether it is ethical. So, what is frieze-drying your pet? Freeze-drying stops the decaying process by using a combination of very low temperature and vacuum application inside a freeze-dry chamber to remove all moisture which leaves the tissue otherwise unchanged. It can be a lengthy process of months for larger animals.
Having removed all the moisture inside the cat’s body, it is preserved. The people who provide the service say that the body will last indefinitely. I’m not so sure. High temperatures and high humidity will probably decay a freeze-dried pet. Wrong? Tell me.
The advantages of freeze-drying a pet is that you can position them in a way which pleases you and they retain their appearance which is vital to a pet owner. Taxidermy does not maintain an accurate living appearance and therefore is less suitable to pet owners retaining their pet after their death.
And that is the topic which I’m going to discuss here. The reason why people freeze-dry their pet is because they can’t let go.
Letting go. The ethics behind free-drying pets
They can’t say goodbye to their beloved pet. This is entirely understandable. It is painful to let go. Letting go is the process of mourning the loss of a beloved companion. It is part of the grieving process.
Freeze-drying your pet somewhat or greatly avoids those distressing times, which provides us with the answer to the question as to whether freeze-drying your pet is ethical.
It can’t be because it is designed to bypass mourning and grieving. It is therefore self-indulgent and human-centric. It’s about a pet owner being unwilling to deal with the emotional distress of losing their animal companion. They need to grow up and deal with it.
It’s like taking a drug. It’s a failure to face up to the loss of a companion; the hard times. Far better and more natural to face up to it and grieve which is a healing process.
Speciesism
It’s worth mentioning that freeze-drying your cat is based upon speciesism. We are happy to freeze-dry a pet but we don’t consider it in anyway ethical to freeze-dry a baby that died prematurely. Or a toddler who died in an accident. People don’t freeze-dry them. They mourn their loss.
This is speciesism in action. And it comes about because we value pets less than we value humans. This is the case no matter how passionately we say that they are members of the family. And how we love them. We do love them but we don’t value them as much as we value human life.
Conclusion
So, the conclusion is that freeze-drying is unethical because it is self-indulgent and a way for humans to avoid the natural process of grieving and mourning the loss of their companion animal which is the natural and proper process. Freeze-drying disrespects the cat.
By far the best way to preserve your cat after their passing it in your mind; your memory. Memory is personal and perpetual. You take it with you on your passing to join your cat over the Rainbow Bridge.
Your comments are welcome. I accept and indeed welcome alternative viewpoints.
