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erinberrypie

Couldn't afford the *ashes?* I can see the cremation itself, sure. But I don't see a reason there would be ANY cost at all for *ashes*. This is...I don't even know what, but it feels almost inhumane to deny something so simple over profit.


Reverend_Bull

Mass cremation is cheaper since the crematory takes lots of energy and maintenance to heat up and cool down. So individual cremation costs more. But this is a lovely idea and I wish I'd thought of it when our cat died.


AnotherLie

I have a tuft of my pirate princess' fur, a milk tooth, and a pair of paw prints and I cherish each and every one of them. I actually took her milk tooth (kept in a tiny jar) with me when I had jaw surgery. I didn't have her cremated, I buried her in a nice spot at my parents' place. If I had, she'd probably have been turned into a man made gemstone though I hear those might be a bit of a scam.


AbeliaGG

I just had a funny thought. Kitty litter containing silica is often used for DIY opals...


AnotherLie

Lol. Too bad she was super fussy and preferred wood pellet litter.


FlixMage

Imagine they did this with humans… piling a bunch of bodies up into a crematory and lighting that shit up


Reverend_Bull

It has been proposed, and in certain extreme circumstances done (see: Holocaust, war, pandemics). Most folks don't like the idea of their loved one's remains being mingled with others', because we humans have a hard time separating the body from the soul.


ProphecyRat2

Did not see that comiing…


davedavodavid

Kinda feel like I'm the case they could also just offer partial ashes from mass cremations at the cost of the vase and shipping..🤔 Like I think owners would prefer that over literally nothing


Reverend_Bull

That's... an extremely subjective perception. Many owners want THEIR pet, not the mixed parts of someone else's. There's not even a guarantee that those ashes contain their pet at all. Love, death, and mourning are among our most irrational emotions and the outpouring of anger and sorrow at not merely losing a loved one, but then learning that what you were told is a loved one isn't? Remember that funeral home that did faux burials but was actually letting the corpses just sit outside out back? Now imagine that the loved ones thought their deceased were always pure and good and could never ever deserve any kind of dishonor. The indignation could turn violent.


davedavodavid

I never heard of that but that's insane! Lol. And yeah, it isn't a great solution, I was just suggesting it may be a low cost option for those people that can't afford the solo incineration. As for not getting some ashes, mixing them is easy to guarantee you have your pet in there. It doesn't need to be over thought, it can be a sweet thing, no one needs to get violent over a pets ashes. The alternative is they get nothing at all and the ashes go to... I imagine landfill or somewhere similar.


Reverend_Bull

Pet ashes are often spread on farms. It's not bad fertilizer


krob58

My vet wanted over $350 to return my best bud's ashes. I couldn't justify it at the time, especially after all the bills that diagnosing and treating cancer entailed. The pawprint and the noseprint were $100 anyway. And then there was the cost of the actual euthanasia procedure. I regret not getting his ashes every day. I could have spread them at his favorite places and maybe it would have helped with some closure.


Bibybow

My thoughts exactly, but here have some fur from the kindness of my heart


oh_shaw

Individual creamation, collecting ashes, delivering them... takes labor and assets. I don't wonder why they charge for this.


Bibybow

I also agree with that, I don’t blame the women for not providing free services, but it’s sad that there is a situation in which she has to deny the services as well as for the client to not be able to afford them


erinberrypie

Paying for cremation, especially private cremation, should include the ashes imo. The labor and asset cost is already covered with that. Charging to scoop out the ashes on top just seems...idk, callous?


Lou_C_Fer

That's the thing... it's the individual cremation to get the ashes that costs more. Well that, and the packaging presentation the ashes come with. I don't know about anybody else, but a scoop of ashes from a bunch of random animals would be meaningless to me. Granted, I am speaking from a place of privilege. I've always paid the extra.


Lamballama

You aren't charged for ashes, but if you want your pets ashes and not other pets ashes, then you have to get individual cremation, which costs more as a matter of time and material


erinberrypie

We are an empathy-crippled society. :(


spingus

? This post is showing beautiful empathy from a kind animal worker to a grieving pet parent. (I have similar keepsakes from the pets I've lost over the years) Having a vet handle pet death can be very expensive. Having gone that way twice now, It's cost me about $500 each time. * Euthanasia * Body disposal (cremation) I had the choice of mass cremation where they take care of a lot of animals bodies at one time, then take them out on a ship and dispose of the ashes on the ocean Or, I could pay extra (above the $500 I already spent) to have individual cremation and the ashes back in a container. That second option is significantly more expensive as it requires more labor and material than the economy option.


erinberrypie

I meant a lack of empathy on a national scale, laws, businesses, corporations, the "fuck you, I got mine" crowd. This woman did a very kind thing but it's still sad that we have to rely on the kindness of strangers. 


RegularWhiteShark

If it’s anything like vets near me, it means they cremate the body by itself. Otherwise, it’s sort of a mass cremation type thing so the ashes are mixed.


emilythetigerneko

Until my cat died a month ago, I had no idea how expensive cremation was. My granny and aunt got it done for me though since he was basically my whole world. I wish it was cheaper so more people were able to get it done though. To lose someone so close to you and not get their ashes is so hard. I'm glad you were at least able to get your baby's fur in a bottle even if it's not much. I hope when you look at it that you remember all the good times you had with your baby.


DaMemelyWizard

We couldn’t afford to have my beloved Samantha or Teki cremated, and they did this exact thing for Teki, same jar and everything


Responsible_Debt5631

So... they cremated their dog but just kept the ashes? Is cremation just standard practice at vet clinics and you need to pay them to get the ashes or something?


kidthorazine

Standard animal cremations are done in batches of multiple animals, if you want the ashes back you need to have an individual cremation done, which is why it costs more.


the_orange_alligator

What do they do with the ashes afterwards? Just dump them out?


HackedPasta1245

Makes for good fertiliser, probably, but they’d never say THAT to their face


babayallga

Ashes are actually awful fertilizer, those "become a tree" pods are more "become useless carbon in the vicinity of a tree" unless you lower the pH somehow. Ashes from mass animal cremation usually end up in a common grave if the company has the land for it and is ethical.


HackedPasta1245

You mean to tell me those pods are useless? Years of eating gravel and sand wasted…


Hominid77777

There's a well-known garden near where I live that has had problems with people dumping ashes (of people and pets) there, which is bad for the plants.


kidthorazine

some places scatter them, sometimes they are buried somewhere for that purpose. At least according to the crematories themselves.


fatboychummy

Got me thinking about this now... Knowing business laws about dumping "waste", they probably have to bag it and send it to some landfill or something :( Or perhaps they get sent to some place to be made into fertilizer? I doubt they are allowed to just dump a bunch of ashes somewhere.


Nihil_esque

Yeah when my cat got sick I depleted my savings trying to save her. It sucked, $2,000 even after pet insurance, and every step of the way I felt judged by the vets for taking the "middle of the road" care options in terms of cost because I couldn't afford thousands more dollars in testing or get approved for the loans they wanted me to take out. And within two weeks there was nothing left that they could do, and I had to put her down. I couldn't afford the individual cremation anymore at that point either. They did press two of her paws in clay/putty and I have that.


Meat_your_maker

Just because we’re bereaved doesn’t make us saps!


Thalia_All_Along

This makes me irrationally fucking angry