Dead pet - what to do?

Orion

Hi all,

I arrived home last night to discover the kids guinea pig had died during the day. Lots of tear from the kids as you can imagine.

Now they want to "funeral him" (their word). I don't want to bury it in the back garden as early in the new year the whole garden is being rotivated and rebuilt from scratch - kind of hard to do if the kids have a special plot.

What should I do? I'm thinking of disposing of it and telling the girls that we sent him off to a special graveyard a hundred miles away - maybe print a certificate for them (they're 6 - they believe a lot). Any other ideas?

Paul91

do you have a front of side garden you could bury him in?

Orion

Afraid not - front garden is all gravel - nothing at the side but concrete.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Take a drive or walk somewhere? Bury him away from your home? They will forget about it in a few weeks anyway.

Orion

Thought of that but where? I can't just start digging a hole for a dead pet on public land can I?

Just searched and there was a thread before mentioning a pet cemetary in Donadea Forest. Anyone know anything about that?

Mr. Presentable

Put it in a shoebox and post to Santa?


Seriously, go somewhere nice, like the Pine Forest, and have a small burial there. You can make a marker etc. As the other poster says, it'll all be forgotten in a couple of months anyway.

biko

Dig a shallow hole and bury the pet with bells and whistles. Put a cross/stone up.
Then a few days later or so remove the box and throw away but keep the cross.
Next year fix garden and just put the cross back.
Would this work?

Or make up a story of how if you leave a dead pet in the forest at Christmas time the elves will take him away to stay with them forever.

star-pants

Magnus has a good suggestion (ie removing it from the garden when they're not there but leaving the marker).

I dunno about burying on random public land, I know you can bury them on your own private land.

Paul91

got any grandparents or other family's yard it could go to?

Orion

Couple of good suggestions there. I'll talk to herself tonight and we'll form a plan of action. Thanks.

votejohn

I like the Santa idea, but its probably best to go with the funeral option as it will help the kids understand the process of death / funerals etc.

Maybe light a candle in a church and then go to the woods and bury the guinea pig in a shoe box. If you find a quiet forest and go a little off the beaten track I cant see there being a problem with it.

Alun

votejohn wrote: »

If you find a quiet forest and go a little off the beaten track I cant see there being a problem with it.

Just make sure the kids don't want to go back and visit the 'grave', 'cos it may well get dug up by a fox or something.

Sigma Force

Sorry to hear about your little guinea pig.

Some vets do a cremation service, another idea is to explain to the kids about the garden and tell them to pick out the guinea pigs favourite toy and they could bury it in memory and tell them once the garden is finished that they can take a trip to the garden center with you to pick out a nice flowering plant to plant in memory of the piggy.

Orion

votejohn wrote: »

Maybe light a candle in a church

You obviously didn't look at my sig

We've gone with the fairies taking him away and disposed of the body ourselves. They do understand the death/funeral process already - they've been to a couple recently. They'll be ok with it. When I redo the garden I'll do that suggestion of letting them pick a flower in memory and plant it themselves - they'll love that.