Saying goodbye
Area residents find unique ways to honor beloved family pets.
When one of her pets dies, Jennifer McKay immediately goes online and picks out an urn that will hold its ashes till the end of time.
That’s a part of the grieving process for her. Looking through hundreds of urns to find just the right one to match that pet’s personality is a way of dealing with the grief.
“It’s cathartic,” McKay said. “It helps me to know that I’m picking out an urn that shows a little of their personality. It helps me to remember and when people see it, they may ask about that particular animal and I love talking about them.”
Mckay has handsome wooden boxes as well as shiny urns in which she places the ashes of her beloved pets after she has them cremated.
“A long time ago my parents buried our pets,” she said. “But when my mom’s beloved toy poodle died and it was buried, the family had to move and my mom hated the idea of leaving it behind. That’s when they started cremating and placing the ashes in urns. I’ve done that with all my pets as well.”
McKay is by no means the only person who goes to great lengths to ensure a memorable burial or cremation for their pets. Rome and area residents are simply following along with what many Americans have been doing for decades — commemorating their pets lives in increasingly special ways.
While many local families choose to bury their deceased pets, there are those, like McKay who choose cremation. Local veterinary clinics offer several services after a pet has died. Some create permanent paw prints which can be kept and displayed. Others even arrange for pets ashes to be used in jewelry, ornaments and even art.
Bryan Schroeder said when he stopped for gas on 411, a stranger noticed his golden retriever in the car and struck up a conversation which led to the man showing Schroeder an urn he kept in his car of his own beloved golden which had died recently.
Online suppliers now offer thousands of choices in urns for pet ashes. They range in price from a few dollars to several hundred, depending on size, shape and material used.
Donna Cordle’s pets, Cisco and Chiquita, were cremated and put in urns which sit on a shelf in her bedroom.
“I had the urns specially made,” she said. “They are ceramic with their pictures fired on them. My daughter has been instructed to have me cremated and mix our ashes together. Some of Cisco’s ashes are in a locket.”
All Kristy Hughes’ pets’ ashes are placed in small tins and are lined up on the television cabinet.
“We had our Lucy cremated when she passed away last year,” said Bridget Gray. “She always loved being in the kitchen when food was being prepped so her little container sat in the china cabinet for the first six months after she passed. We’ve yet to determine a new special place for her in our new home so for now she’s on top of our master bedroom closet, close to us.”
But while many locals say urns are their preferred way of keeping a pet’s ashes close (and portable), there are still those for whom a traditional burial is the only way to go. At her home in Rollingwood Circle, Tona Deaton steps out her back door each day and is reminded of her beloved Boston terrier, Poo. His marble headstone brings back memories of how special he was to her. “He was very very special and I couldn’t bear the thought of just putting him in the ground,” she said. “So my son got a casket — the type that would be used for a child — and he put Poo in there with some of his favorite toys.”
After the casket, lined with white satin, had been placed in the ground, Deaton’s son also had a marble headstone made.
“These animals are a part of our family,” Deaton said. “We love them unconditionally. They are like our children. That’s hard for many people to understand but for many of us, there is an unconditional love between you and your pets. To have one pass away is no less heartbreaking than if a human family member passes.”
Rockmart resident Julie Lott said she has begged her husband to have their pets cremated.
“But digging a hole seems to be part of his grieving process,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of the worst drought in August or the dead of winter. We will be on our acreage digging a grave if we lose a fur baby. The hole has to be deep and perfectly symmetrical. Thankfully (my husband) is a beast with post hole diggers and I have gotten much better with a shovel. We thought about selling that land once and my first thought was ‘oh no! Abby, Big Girl, Sally, Manuel Snoriega, Jasmine, Rawhide, Bitzy, Jack, Tameka, Dagwood, Laura Lynn, Buddy Cat, Dottie, Patrick and Ebby will be here with strangers’.”
When their dog Mocha died in 2013, Sabrina Cooper and her family held a solemn funeral for their furry family member. The grave was covered with rocks and his favorite bone and rose petals.
“It’s at a shady spot at the edge of the woods at my parents’ house,” Cooper said. “They live next door to us in Cave Spring. Every pet I’ve ever had that has passed away is buried in the same area on their property. That’s why we buried Mocha on their property instead of ours, so he could be with the others.”
Some locals have even chosen to commemorate their four-legged friends with art — body art.
Shannon Brown’s only tattoo is an image of her poodle, Dollie, who she calls “the dog love of my life.”
Christy Davis has honored the life of her dog, Zephyr, with a tattoo as well.
“Zephyr was the smartest doggie in the world,” Davis said. “I brought him home when he was 11 weeks old, and he passed gently in my arms when he was 15 1/2 years old. I never thought I could ever love a doggie as much as I loved that little man. I told (Mark Green at Eternal Expressions) I wanted something unique to remind me of Zephyr, but I didn’t really have anything definite in mind. He told me he knew just what to do, and produced this beautiful piece. It captures his spirit completely.”