A Pet is a Pet....is a Pet
One of the
questions people ask me all the time is "What is the most unusual pet you
have cremated or that you have buried in the cemetery?" The answer is, I don't consider any pet
unusual, however, we do help pet parents memorialize a variety of different
pets. We take care of pets of all kinds
big and small. The largest was a horse
which is buried in the cemetery. While
this was before my time at Forrest Run I am familiar with the story. In fact, I am quite surprised at the amount
of people that ask me about the horse.
The conversation usually starts out, "I heard you have a horse
buried here", to which I answer, "well yes we do" and then I
show them where. The smallest pet we
have ever taken care of was a spider.
Yes, a spider. I often receive
phone calls from well meaning "jokesters", usually friends saying
things like, "I have an elephant that died and I don't know what to do
with him". While I usually am
tipped off by the voice, I always play along with them until I am completely
certain. One night I received a call
from a gentleman asking me if we cremated spiders and he was also interested in
burial. Not recognizing the voice, I listened
closely, and soon figured out that this in fact was not a joke. He had a pet tarantula that had died and
wanted to know what his options were.
After talking to him for some time I learned that he had his tarantula
for about 25 years. He ultimately
decided on cremation and brought him out the next day.
We always
want people to know that we do not discriminate, nor joke about anybody's
pet. A pet, is a pet, is a pet, no
matter what type and we treat everybody and every pet with the same dignity and
care. There are many pets that are
misunderstood, or should I say, the relationship with them is
misunderstood. It is not for anybody to
judge what type of animal is appropriate for pet status.
The grieving process after the death of a pet
is the same whether it be a spider, bird, ferret, rat, guinea pig, hamster,
cat, or dog. Part of the reason the
grieving process is so intense after the death of a pet is because of that
unconditional love and companionship they give to us.
I write this
for the people who have all types of pets, letting them know that we at Forrest
Run understand. I also write this for
people who don't have all types of pets in the hopes that, they may too
understand.
