Opinions on honoring past pets...

I used to mark their graves in the backyard but the markers got moved around. We still bury the guinea pigs in the yard, though. I have quite a few concrete animals statues I put out in the summer which are kind of like memorials. I don't have one for each of them, but it does remind me of them.

I like the jewelry idea. When I moved to FL, I had to leave one of my horses behind because he was well over 20 and couldn't make the trip (he was still mine; I left him at a friend's house where he'd been boarded most of his life). It's illegal to bury horses there so I knew his body would go to the rendering plant when the time came. I decided to keep a piece of him with me forever by having a necklace woven from some of his tail hair, with a silver pendant of a girl and her horse. He's been over the Rainbow Bridge for a few years now, and I cherish that necklace.

If you go with a prayer box, why not get one for the animals you owned for a long time and another one honoring the others who were in your life more fleetingly? Or instead of a prayer box for the others, maybe make one donation in honor of all of them to an animal charity as a way of doing some good in their memory?

I like to have some kind of "active" memorial as well as a remembrance when I can. For my cats, I've made donations and I also keep their ashes with bits of their fur. Mufasa is buried in our backyard under the evergreen, and I now advocate adoption whenever I can as a living memorial to him, and Borat and Amy remind me of that commitment.

Mourning/grief is different for everyone. Explore the options and you'll find something that feels right for you.

I wanted to do jewelry with the prayer boxes so that I could keep it with me all the time. I thought about pictures, statues and the like but I don't have pics of all my animals and I don't want to have to dust it!


I live in an apt so I cannot do anything outside. The animals are buried in unmarked graves because the parents are worried what a pet cemetary in the back yard will do to resale value so they will not allow anything. Also they moved last year so my childhood home where most of my pets were buried is no longer accessable.


I would love to cremate my critters instead of burying them but as of late my animals medical care has burned throught all my funds and left me with too little to have them cremated. I searched all the local cremation places and the cheapest for my last piggy was $160 and that was a 120 mile round trip drive to drop off and then pick up a week later...

I think you can do something that falls in line with a spirituality if you have one.

I've never lost a pet, but I burn letters I write to the deceased. I feel like burning it sends it off to wherever they are.

I also have clay figures of all my pigs, so if anything does happen to them...well, I have those.

Of course you're going to honor pets more. You've had a close bond with them. If it were me in the mouse situation, I think I'd leave out food in honor of them. For another creature to eat and sustain from the offering.

Then again, I'm a hippie. :crazy:

Then again, I'm a hippie. :crazy:

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LOL. I thought leaving food out was very touching. Just do it far away from the house so they don't come in.

I have had all my animals cremated for many years now. Except the hamsters, which bit me all the time, and for a 2 oz pet, the fee was well over $100. I have all their ashes, and when I die, I want to be cremated, and all of the little boxes put in one big wooden box, and we'll be buried together. Each pet cremain box comes with an envelope with a death certificate, and I put a lock of hair in the envelope and keep it with the ashes. I had thought of getting a gold disc engraved with the pets name, and adding it to a necklace, but it got too costly. Now I have pet tags with their names on. I ordered them online, and for $20 I have pink paw tags, blue bone tags, and red hearts with pet names on them. I hung each tag from a link on a chain about the length of a bracelet, and it hangs in my kitchen. I see it over the sink every time I'm in there. I'm afraid to hang it in the car in case it would get stolen. For pets that have passed too long ago, I would buy the biggest tag available, have a heart engraved on it, and say something like "For all past pets". It's the best you can do now. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I think it's awesome that you want to honor their memory, and their contribution to your life.

I like the jewelry idea and maybe make a donation to your favorite rescue in their honor?

@Petlovr

I love the idea of using the tags like that. I keep the old tags (even my pigs have a travel tag) but have never thought of anything to do with them.

We have a statue on our mantel, an owl named Silence, who looks over the ashes of human and animal loved ones we have lost. We also make donations to a wildlife rescue and guinea pig rescues in honor of our departed loved ones (human and animal).

A friend of mine made a nose print of one of her dogs, which she had made into a silver pendant. The dog has since passed on to the Rainbow Bridge, but the pendant is a unique reminder of her dear friend. Don't know if it would be possible to do a cavy footprint or something.

Don't know if it would be possible to do a cavy footprint or something.

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It would be tiny, but Plaster of Paris works. The University animal hospital in Philly, PA does this for you if your pet dies.

More Guinea Pig Love Original Watercolor painted by poordogfarm
This person will do custom watercolor prints of your pigs

Unique Plushies for Small Animal Lovers 3 by Morumoto on Etsy
And this person does custom plushies of piggies

I definitely want to get some of these done soon, so I'll always have some nifty things of my pigs to look upon.