Adore my cat, but she's old - what to do when she dies?

[goingmadinthecountry]

My lovely cat is 19 and is definitely quietening down though she's happy, cuddly and eating. I think her days are numbered.

What do I do with her body when she dies? Am loathe to bury her in the garden in case the dog digs her up.

All advice very welcome - dd3 adores her, as do I. she's not unhealthy or unhappy, just very old and I need a plan. Do vets cremate animals? What would you do/recommend?

Thank youx

I had my lovely dog cremated last year

His box now sits in front of the living room radiator, his 2nd fav place, 1st being my bed so not really practical

Hopefully when I die my family will be allowed to place his box in my coffin beside me.

I now have a cat and when the time comes I will have her cremated as well.

I had my lovely cat Jas cremated in 2010. I haven't decided what to do with his ashes yet, so they're in a box upstairs. A local pet cemetery came and collected him from our house.

When our lovely Oscar (18 in April) goes, we'll have him cremated too.

Vets dont' cremate themselves, but they will know a pet crematorium that you can use. We paid £99 for the cremation. If you want a fancy box for the ashes it's a bit more. They are very sensitive.

We buried most of our animals but as we are moving home soon, I didn't want the last one buried. If you do need to bury then dig down at least 3 feet, wrap in polythene and cover with bricks and rocks to discourage foxes. We have never had a pet dug back up by foxes.

When the time comes, if you do need to have her put to sleep, we have always found it less stressful all round to have the vet visit us at home. You do need to pay a call out fee for this, ours was around £50. Again most vets are very sensitive to this and will do what they can to help.

When I had one of my cats put to sleep I let the vet sort out the cremation and disposal. I didn't want her buried in the garden (what about when you move and have to leave them behind?) and as much as I loved her to pieces and she was my 'baby' I couldn't see me with her ashes on the mantelpiece.
Having been present when my GSD was put to sleep I can honestly say once the drug is administed and they 'go' you can literally see the spirit/soul/personality of the animal you loved leave the body.

Thank you - it's not that I want to keep her ashes, just think that after all this time she deserves a bit of dignity. Will pop in to the vet and ask.

Mind you, she's looking pretty happy today and is purring away.

My wee cat was put to sleep in June aged approx 21. The vets are really good - they came to the house and we had her cremated. I had asked beforehand so they had a leaflet with options. Total cost of vet plus cremation was just under £ 200. She is in a cardboard box on top of the units in our utility room at the moment. Old dog is in a bigger box in teh cupboard. At some point we will feel ready to bury their ashes.
By teh way - I think cats do hang on for as long as they can. In retrospect I should have had Sophie pts earlier - but whereas with our old dog it was really obvious his time had come, it was not so clear cut with her.

Samson is in the garden near the apple tree, the hens - Flo, Betty and Polly are in various places, never had foxy digging.

We have a pet cemetary in our garden of about 11 cat, dogs etc but the last two I had cremated and keep their ashes in my room.

I never really thought about moving house when I buried them but in recent years I realise I will not grow old in that house and do not want to leave them all behind.

The vets arranged the cremation and everything and called when I could collect the box of ashes.

I have had this dilemma today. I had to take our poor old 17 year old boy to the vet this morning to get pts. It was a bit of a shock as although he hadn't been well he went down hill rapidly overnight. So when the vet asked if I was taking him home I said yes as we have a big garden. I hadn't reckoned on the permafrost a foot down in the ground.
So my dh will have to try and dig the hole tomorrow and I suppose I'll pour warm water on the ground. IME you have to bury them fairly deep and it's unlikely a dog could dig them up.