The Difference in a Pet Death at Home

I wasn't completely prepared for what to do in the event a pet dies at home. Our previous pets were euthansized and it was a different experience to have one die in his sleep at home.

Now, while I am deeply saddened by Baggy's passing (I am working on a post about grief for the coming days/weeks), I found some of the following to be humours. [My humour may be upsetting to others so read at your own risk].

I found out about Baggy's death in my car drive home (I have a bluetooth, so it was safe). Baggy had died on his mat in the front hall. The Man got a towel and wrapped him in it and put him in the garage until I got home. In my head I have been trying to imagine a box to put my boy in.  What I didn't know was he was in full rigamortis. When I said goodbye to him in the wheelbarrow (which is a bit funny), I realized we didn't have a box big enough for him. He was very stretched out, I forgot how big a cat he was. 

The second problem I encountered is I had a Skype consult that evening. Our vet clinic is about 1 hour away. To take him in for cremation, would be 2.5-3 hours which couldn't happen, I am electing to have all my pets cremated even though we have the land to bury them on because when I die, I want to be cremated and have all our ashes spread together. So I called the clinic to ask what to do and they said to freeze him.

This lead to my next problem, while there was room for him in it, I wasn't sure what to put him in. The idea of having my dead cat in the freezer was a bit disturbing. He wasn't going to fit into a box, so I decided the best bet was to wrap him in another sheet, place him in a garbage bag and put him in the freezer. This struck me as sooooooo funny I couldn't stop laughing to actually do it. The Man had to help because I was crying from laughing so hard. 

The next problem was the next morning, it seemed a little disrespectful to carry my cat into a clinic in a garbage bag. I dumbed out the Halloween costumes and put him in a rubbermaid container. 

My next funny moment occurred at the clinic. I had left for work early, and hadn't seen the Man that morning (he was still in bed). It struck me as very funny that the second sentence I said to another person was "you should know he is frozen and was in full rigamortis when I froze him". These are words I had never thought I would say to someone else. Then to get an estimate on the cremation, we had to weigh him. There I was carrying my dead cat around the clinic in a garbage bag and having him weighed. Which was so strange it was funny. (Baggy was about 18 lbs). 

Overall, I realize I wasn't prepared for a pet to die naturally at home. I have spent my life planning saying goodbye in the clinic with the vet. Even as Baggy was clearly getting more fragile, I was still looking for the moment it was time to go tot he clinic. I didn't know what to do if a pet died at home. Now I know. And I will forever get a little smile when I picture putting my king of the beasts in a freezer . . . . (it was all a little ridiculous).