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Hello, Pet Island. How are you all doing today? I don't mean to cause distress, but I think there's something we need to discuss. As pet owners, I'm sure we've all known the sadness when a beloved furry (or feathery) member of the family shuffles off its mortal coil and joins the choir invisible. Indeed, it is both the most emotionally taxing and legally awkward time for many pet owners - in many urban areas, we're not even allowed to bury our pets' remains on our own property! This is no doubt done due to the health concerns of decomposing animals, but I think everyone in here can agree that one pet every once in a while doesn't post a threat to the water table. We're not cat hoarders, dammit, so Fluffy ought to be able to rest in the garden she love best! One solution for this dilemma chosen by many pet owners is cremation. There's no law against disposing of denatured proteins and carbon any way you choose. For many families, the cremation process also allows them to retain their pet's mortal remains without resorting to the grotesque transformation of taxidermy. Tasteful funereal urns or other displays can be made to contain Spot's ashes and serve as a reminder of his lifelong devotion to the family.    Cremation seems to me the best way to say goodbye to that special animal beloved by the family. There's only one problem: it costs hundreds of dollars! This is, in my opinion, a travesty. Why should our love be held hostage by the funereal-industrial complex? That's when I realized what we really need is a way to accomplish this necessary task in the intimacy of our own homes. We cared for these animals through their whole lives; isn't it right that we take this final step with them as well? In this thread I hope to provide the basics of home pet cremation that will allow you, the gentle denizens of Pet Island, accomplish this deceptively simple and helpful task on your own, inexpensively, with end results you can be proud of and remember forever. Rodents and other small critters Obviously the size of the animal is a crucial issue that impacts materials used, methods that work best, and indeed the entire process. I've tried to separate this guide into categories that will work for a wide array of pets, since I know there many of you have exotic or at least unusual animal companions. Let's start at the small end of the spectrum. Guinea pigs are common childhood pets and I know at least a couple of people who keep them into adulthood. Thankfully, due to their small size these animals are quite easy to properly cremate. Unfortunately, the best video I could find online is from a mass-cremation operation in South America. Still, the techniques they use should be simple enough to follow even if you aren't an hispanohablante. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzq_5aGV7aw As you can see, the total time investment is about an hour and a half. The results, I think, speak for themselves:  Medium-Sized Mammals I got that term from my days as a zooarchaeologist (no really), and it corresponds to a wide array of animals from 2-3 feet in length (tail excluded). Or a mailbox, since most of us don't bake/store bread in our houses anymore. This method should be universally applicable to anything in this size category. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r2rcHfjvYc As you can see from this video, very few specialized tools are required to get a satisfactory cremation. In fact, literally the only thing that's required is the vessel that receives your animals remains. Everything else can be fabricated in as rustic a fashion as you like. Large Mammals Most livestock pets and a few exotic species will require a little more effort and time than their smaller brethren. There are a few ways you can approach this problem; here are a couple I recommend. The first comes from Texas A&M University, well known for having a good large-animal veterinary program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPfN1ir1Weg While there's some overnight preparation required, I like the indirect cremation method they used here best. It rewards your patience with a very well-cremated animal that everyone involved will remember fondly. And again, it should be clear materials don't need to cost a lot to get the job done. There's a quicker method, but it takes a bit of hardware to pull off. Skip to around 3:40 in the following video to get some technical details from the Funeral Director: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8S7_mX5JXE That more direct method is obviously faster, but it requires some serious hardware. Still, it's hard to argue with the results they produce. I'd argue they overbuild a bit and you should be able to get away with something simpler, especially if your animal is smaller than that cow. Birds Birds provide technical challenges all their own. Here's a video from perhaps the best Pet Mortician in the USA covering my preferred method for avian immolation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWLt6G85zC4  Isn't he dreamy? So caring, so gentle, with such an understanding of how to best cremate the entire animal with minimal unnecessary bother. That man can cremate my cockatiel any time.Of course, that technique may be too time-consuming for some. You can get faster results if you put in more personal effort. To balance the perspective of the professional mortician above I've included this video of a lay person performing the task in her own home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf7F8cYBMt0 Da Herps Our reptilian friends deserve a proper send-off as well. Unfortunately, there are very few videos showing the process in detail. Here's one from the Caribbean again illustrating there's no need for fancy tools or techniques to get decent cremation results at home. The camera work is pretty terrible, but I still learned a lot from watching this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN0HucciJaM That should cover most pets pretty well. If you have any questions about this process, I'd be happy to clarify. If you've done your own home cremation before, I'd likewise love to hear about your results and any tips/tricks you have for other forum members. bartolimu fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Oct 31, 2014 |
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Oct 31, 2014 18:27
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 16:15 |
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I know some folks are skeptical of Asian alternative veterinary medicine, but I found this video helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKWZinnCaZw
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Oct 31, 2014 19:58
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Hey bart you seem like you're experienced with this, what do you recommend for my friend, Bird Jesus: With avians (especially larger ones, but even little guys like Jesus could profit by it) I usually find spatchcocking works best for even cremation without using excess fuel. It heats the whole body at the same temperature and on the same plane, so everything finishes reducing to carbon at the same time. Rubbing some oil on the outside of the animal can further aid in even transfer of heat. Additionally, many grieving pet owners find the act of ritually washing and/or anointing their recently deceased animal therapeutic in the grieving process. As far as post-cremation processing, with small avians you can never go wrong with Herbs de Provence; the earthiness of typical Provençal seasoning harkens to the mother Earth that will embrace us all in time. If you're going for a more Asian style, curry spices would definitely be an option. The yellow of turmeric and red of dried chiles can lend a festive note to whatever celebration of life you have planned. You could also try out a more traditionally Chinese approach with cha siu, but cremation novices may find the stickiness of that mixture difficult to work with.
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Nov 1, 2014 03:17
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:Please post in each PI megathread with appropriate culinary advice for the thread's protein of choice, thanks in advance. This seems like it would be really helpful for a lot of people, so I went ahead and did it.
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Nov 1, 2014 23:28
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