There is a deceased hamster in my freezer. . .

[YanknChristmasCrackers]

DH and I got a Russian Dwarf hamster two years ago when we first moved in together, and sadly he expired on Christmas Eve just before we were about to leave to go down south to the in-laws. We had planned to take him with us and DH went to tidy his cage and found him.

We didn't know what to do. There was snow everywhere and ground was frozen, plus our garden is all paved over with just a few shallow flower beds. So DH put him in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer.

DH suggested putting him out with the rubbish, but we both felt quite sad about it. If we bury him outside, there is a high risk that the neighbourhood cat will dig him up (she often leaves dead stuff outside for us).

DH suggested cremation, but I said this is just NOT something you undertake at home!

So any ideas? I really want to get this over with so I can go into the freezer without getting a bit of a shock every time!

RIP George

You can bury him in a plastic bag so they cat can't get him.

Vets often offer a cremation service whereby they send them away to the nearest pet crem and you get the ashes back.

Our neighbour did this when her cat died.

I'm not sure how expensive it is though

£90 at our vets iirc but I think that was for a cat. Can't imagine it is that much for a hamster. It is more if you want your pet cremated on its own too.

All our pets are buried in the garden. You just have to dig down deep - 3ft or so. Wrap it up so animals are not attracted by the smell. In something bio-degradeable.

Very sorry to hear about your hamster!

My recommendation: go and buy a very expensive bottle of wine - the kind that comes in a wooden box. These make excellent caskets for small rodents (we buried our guinea pig in one ). Then bury the hamster in your garden and have the hopefully very nice wine in his/her memory!
This is cheaper than cremation (well, it depends on what sort of wine you get, but you do at least get to drink the wine...) and our late guinea-pig has not been dug up by any of the various cats and foxes that seem to treat our garden as the local park.

Will you be getting another hamster?

The wine box is a good idea, but for the fact that he's a dwarf hamster and is absolutely tiny!

Burial does present a problem though, due to our garden being paved and having only a few shallow flower beds. There is a possibility of using the small patch of woods across the road, but the ground is probably still frozen.

DH's latest brilliant idea is a viking style funeral. In all seriousness, he said he wanted to make a paper boat, put George in it, sail it out on to 'a lake' and set it alight. Never mind the biggest body of water near us is the duck pond on his business park.

I think I will look into the idea of taking him to a vet to be cremated. If I don't want it alone or want ashes back maybe it won't be too expensive. He's only little.

We won't be getting another hamster at the moment. The cage has been chewed relentlessly so not suitable for a new one, and we'd rather wait till DS is old enough to enjoy having a pet with us (he's only 4 months now).

Don't bury him in a plastic bag. When we bought this house we kept unearthing plastic bags containing the not-very-well-decomposed remains of cats - not nice.

What we do with dead (small) pets is put the body across the road in the hedge for foxes etc to find; it seems the most natural way. Why not take the hamster into those woods and put the body under some leaves or in a hollow tree and leave it there?

(Don't let any childrenn see you doing this - DD (3) was terribly upset when she saw me disposing of a chicken and kept trying to sneak out to take it some food.)

Racing snake, I take your point, but I am too afraid of the possibility of neighbourhood cat dragging him back to us. She likes to leave us dead stuff. Plus I mentioned this to DH and he looked quite sad and said he wasn't keen on doing it that way.

Have looked up pet crematorium services online and they seem to mostly deal with cats, dogs & horses (and are quite pricey).

Ooh, wait a minute....found one that is a 30 minute drive from us, and they do a small pet cremation service for £30.

Will still have to wait till next week if we do this. Perhaps will go have a dig in the woods tomorrow and see if the ground is soft enough, and do the cremation next week if not.

We have burried fish etc in our garden and the cat doesn't dig them up. If poss put a stone or plant pot or something over it or just bury it deep. They much prefer to catch something and kill it themselves.

ummmm - are you sure the hamster is really dead??? I only ask because a friend of mine buried her lifeless, stiff, cold hamster and when told (3 days later) about hibernation promptly dug it up, warmed it in the oven and hey presto - one hamster very much alive....

I'm sure a vet would offer a 'disposal' service that doesn't involve expensive cremation. Would this be acceptable?

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Yes, I'm sure he was properly dead. Eyes open and had gone stiff. He was a little over 2 years old, and we had been expecting this for some time, as he'd gotten thinner and more doddery in the last 6 months.

We ended up taking him to the Leyland Pet Cemetary & Crematorium near Preston on New Year's Eve. Went back after an hour and scattered his ashes in the little patch of woods by the pet cemetary. I think DH and I are very sentimental about this particular hamster due to getting him when we first moved in together. So much has changed since then!

sorry to hear about hammy (blondes loves hammys)

glad you have scattered his ashes

my hammy died a few years ago when dh and i were on holiday and asked my friend to freeze him tillwe were back (in our freezer) she still thinks i am mad

we bury our dead hammys in the garden

dh digs deep hole and we place in a tin/tube/coffe jar etc and bury

rip xx