What to do with my departed dog's blanket - can I preserve her scent?

[ILoveaSunflower]

I lost my 16 year old jrt last August. I'm still grieving hard for her but trying to remember the good times.

I put all her bowls away quite quickly but have left all her beds out as I couldn't bring myself to put them away.

I feel the time is right to put them away now but there's one special blanket I want to store with her scent on. She came to me wrapped in it when we adopted her and spent her last few days and ultimately passed in it.

Is there a way of preserving it? I don't want to lose her smell and her hairs.

Do I sound utterly bonkers?!

No, it’s not bonkers in the slightest.

I don’t know how you can preserve it though. It mostly the skin fats that carry the smell and fat gets rancid.

I hope you find a solution!

I wonder if one of those vacuum bags might work - I'm not sure and guess it could also do the opposite and take away the smell. Hopefully someone else will know or come up with a better idea.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I totally understand why you would want to do this. It's heartbreaking when you lose a beloved pet.

Zip and seal bag might work. A friend has some of her mum's hair (she died from cancer and cut her hair before she lost it) it's in a zip and seal bag and she also has a scarf with her mum's perfume on in one and says they still have the smell many years later - she doesn't open them often.

Double zip lock bag checked every few months with a view to replacing if need be - because they do fail eventually.

Kept somewhere cool, but not so cold it will damage the plastci of the bag (eg freezer).

Only opened occasionally.

It will still fade, but only slowly. And, by the time it does, it may well hurt a little less.

I’ve got our dog blanket spread over a beam in my airy loft. It’s lost its aroma but still serves as a wonderful reminder of her muddy paws and sweet nature. I turn it over in my hands whenever I’m up there. We miss her so much. She was one in a million.

You probably won’t be able to preserve the whiffy blanket without it becoming really rancid if you put it in a bag of some sort.
Try it and see.

If that doesn’t work for you, why not wash it and make a cushion cover out of it? You can snuggle up with that and it might still be the reminder you need? Saves chucking it out if it gets too smelly.
Im sorry for your loss. Many of us know exactly how you feel.

Bless you, that is not crazy at all. It is lovely to still smell them. I kept one of my dog's jumpers just in the draw of my desk and even years later I could still smell him on it.

Thank you for your kind words to know I'm not the only one. I didn't think about vac bags and I've got loads of them somewhere so I'll dig them out today.
Going to put her "raggy" in as well which was her favourite toy.

Just another thought - there are places that make jewellery with a few hairs embedded.

e.g. https://www.handonheartjewellery.co.uk/collections/hair-keepsake-jewellery

It's not for everyone, but thought I'd offer as another option for you?

They break your heart when they go

I'm sorry for replying so late. My doggy just died a few days ago and I stumbled on this post. Same as you, I am looking to preserve his blanket because it smells like him and I definitely don't want to loose that. Smell is one of those unique things that you recognise immediately, regardless of long it's been since you sensed it.
Smell is one of the senses that goes straight to the amygdala which in turn activates very specific memories in the hypothalamus.

Smell will remain intact in a sealed glass jar.
It will not get putrid. It will remain exactly the same for years. If you seal the jar tightly, the smell will actually intensify over time.

I had a Cane Corso, Thoricu, who was quite a big boy (50kg). His blanket is a full sized person blanket. I'm just looking for a jar large enough to fit the blanket in.

Plastic allows for the transfer of gases between the interior and exterior of the bag. Over time, the smell will wear off. If you have it in a plastic bag, I would recommend you replace the bag with a glass jar and close the lid tightly.