A Pet is A Pet......is A Pet

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.