Has anyone heard of a Vet's office doing this after a dog has been put to sleep?

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

This happened to a very good friend of mine in October when she had to have her 8 year old Golden Retriever put to sleep after complications from bloat. I had gone to the same vet but had quit going to her before this happened because I didn't care for her a whole lot and her office staff even less.  Another discussion made me think about this situation and I wonder how common it is?

My friend took her Holly, Golden Retriever, to this particular vet in an emergency.  She had to take her there 2 weeks before this when Holly came down with bloat, she somewhat recovered but never fully.  She found her unresponsive and rushed her to the vet.  Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done and my friend decided to have Holly put to sleep because she didn't want her to suffer.  After Holly had been put to sleep the vet refused to give Holly back to my friend.  She told her it was "illegal".  My friend is not a very assertive person at all and didn't really argue or demand that Holly be given back to her, she was such an emotional mess to begin with she just believed the vet.  This vet told her that she could have Holly cremated for $200 but other than that she could not have her back to bury her at home.  Financially my friend and her family were really hurting at this point and just two weeks before had spent $1500 for the emergency care for Holly when she came down with bloat.  She just did not have the $200 to pay for the cremation so she left Holly with the vet.  

I asked my current vet what she did when someone had to have their pet put to sleep and she said that she either gives them back or offers to have them cremated.  I asked her about the other vet saying it was illegal and she would not make a comment.  Thinking back I know why she wouldn't comment, she originally worked for the other vet and was supposed to take over the practice when the other vet retired but according to local gossip they had an ethical falling out.  The nice vet I go to opened her own practice and the other vet is still practicing as well.

Has anyone ever heard of this happened?  What would you have done if the vet would have told you this?  I am going to see if I can find any Ohio law that says its illegal.  

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Sounds like a dodgy vet to me.  Such tosh. 

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I would be devastated to leave him there. Your poor friend. Sof he wasn't cremated what happened to him? I have not researched this before but it's making me think I should for my state.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I wondered the same thing about what happened to her after she had to leave her.  I didn't ask my friend, I didn't want to upset her any further...... I hate to think about where she did end up.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

What a horrible experience for your friend.

I have had to have a pet euthanized several times, and I have always opted for cremation. There have always been many questions about whether you want the ashes returned to you, etc., all of which affects the price. But I have never asked to take the dog or cat home with me, so I can't say what I would have done if I had wanted to do that and been forbidden to do so.

It is against the law in my area to bury an animal on your property. However, there are pet cemeteries and people do have the option to have their dogs buried there. I believe it is quite expensive. I don't know if they would permit you to take the animal yourself, or if they would make arrangements with the cemetery staff. My parents did this with one of our childhood dogs, but I was too young to know about the details. There was a casket and a grave, just like a human funeral.

However, I do think that the vets would probably not allow anyone to take the animal with them if they knew the intention was to bury the dog in the person's yard.

I am going to ask about this next time I'm there.

With Jack being 7 years old and not in the best health, this is something I have thought about  a lot lately. I am thinking now after reading about your friend's experience that it might be a good idea to make some decisions about this now, as sad and morbid as that might be. Just like preplanning a funeral. Making these kinds of decisions on the spot in a time of grief is not the ideal situation, regradless of your financial status.

I am very sorry for your friend.  

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I had asked my husband about the vet not letting her take her home knowing that she would bury her and that could be illegal.  He is a police officer and said that regardless it would not be up to the vet to make sure the owner does not break the law, if she takes her and chooses to bury her she would be breaking the law not the vet.... which does make sense.  Every dog we had growing up ended up buried in our backyard, I had never heard of a pet being cremated until I found DK, anyone I had known buried them.  I have always lived in the same community so I have a hard time believing that I wouldn't have heard of someone else having this happen to them.  Personally, I would have Hunter cremated, that is a personal preference of mine because being buried does not sound warm and fuzzy to me at all.  You do bring up a good point of the ashes, I wouldn't have thought of that.  I am going to look into that, I don't want to have to make a decision like that when I am devastated.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And regarding the ashes, there are a lot of choices they throw at you at a time when you are not thinking clearly. If you want them returned to you (which involves a separate rather than a mass cremation, so it's much more expensive) is just the beginning. Then you have the choices of containers, etc. and there again there are cost decisions to make. The first time around I was unprepared and it made a very sad situation that much worse.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

We were at the pet expo on Saturday and they had a booth like this. Pet burial services and such. It made me cringe but Karen, you are right-it's good to have a plan. What a sad story.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We had a few dogs while the kids were growing up.  When they died, we had them cremated and buried the ashes out in the yard.  We had our own little pet cemetery.  The kids put little "monuments" up and we planted flowers around it.  We had dogs, a cat, several fish, two guinea pigs, two rabbits (bugs and jellybean), and a turtle or two buried out there.  There was always a funeral ceremony for each burial.  We even buried a neighbor's cat there (yes they knew about it..LOL).  The grown "kids" had a fit when they learned we were moving from that house....one of their main reasons was the "pet cemetery".

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also buried the container with one dog's ashes in the backyard, and it was very hard when I moved. Since that one, I have opted not to have ashes returned to me. After all, ashes are nothing, really. The dogs are all forever  in my heart anyway, they are with me whever I go. :)

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Yea, I agree.  The cemetery was for the kids...for some reason it seemed to always help them at the time of the loss to go through the little "funeral".  I often wonder if the people who bought the house ever discovered the cemetery.  I'll bet they were surprised when they opened up those containers.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Denise,

Burial:  Since I live in the same area as you do, I say this is Hokum.  Going through this recently myself, I had the option of taking Starlit home to bury.  But you and I also live far outside the city limits.  That might be the key information there.   Does your friend live inside the city?   Thinking back though, we were never asked if we lived inside or outside.

F.J. brought up a good point~ could the dog possibly have some other " disease" besides bloat that would make returning it to the owner void?

Cremation: I have always opted for cremation, with the remains returned to us.  In the past ten years, we've had to do this 3 times.  I do know that it goes by weight with the cost of cremation.   My Mastiff died on Easter Sunday, weighed over 100lbs, and was an emergency so he is not a good cost comparison.  His bill was $400.00 but it was a holiday and he was a huge boy.

How much did the Golden Weigh?  Can't me much more than Starlit's weight of 68-70lbs.   I did just look at the itemized bill for Starlit.    The cost for cremation with/return was $101.00

[F, Calla & Luca]

Jeepers, when Rex the standard poodle was euthanized and cremated the whole shebang cost me $700 or 800 dollars I think. He is in the backyard but I agree with Karen , the ashes are meaningless, it's the memories that count.