What does your family do when a small pet passes away?

Question

Just curious to hear how other families across the country & across cultural & religious differences handle these losses.

Yesterday, we found that one of our hamsters had passed away (RIP Hamtaro). We are decidedly agnostic in our home. First we spent some time talking about how Hamtaro had come into our lives, talked about highlights of her life, how she changed our lives.

Then, we buried her, wrapped in the toilet paper that she loved so well, under the bush where other small pets have been buried over the years. We talked about how her body would now help the things around it to grow. And, we talked about various beliefs that people have regarding heaven & reincarnation, too.

Then, I cleaned her cage up & put it away, awaiting the next lesson that comes our way in caring for another thing & in understanding the circle of life.

Answer 1

cry

Answer 2

Thats really what we did.  We would remember the pet and all the fun times we had, then buried them in a special place.  I think the way your teaching your children, especially about other peoples beliefs is very good.  My parents never did that, but as we got older, they wanted us to learn about different beliefs, so we could decide on our own what if anything we wanted to practice.

Answer 3

We've had lots of losses. :( We are a Christian family and believe that our babies will be waiting in Heaven for us. Most of our animals have been cremated, although some have had to be buried, like our fish, snake, etc. We were going to bury our daughter's rat, but Princess got cremated too because our daughter couldn't bare the thought of leaving her behind. You should have seen her face! Our son has Cutie the cockroach in a special see through box. Recently, our daughter got a special porcelain box for her spider friend, Zero. We always try to take pics while our beloved animal friends are living so that we have some nice memories to look at later. We also hold on to special keepsakes, like collars or bowls. I had them give me pawprints at the vet and those mean a lot to me.

I like the fact that you wrapped Hamtaro in his fave toilet paper. I think that's very sweet! I'm so sorry about your loss!

Answer 4

When my guinea pig died (RIP Tiedye) we all cried and then talked about all the good times, and the long life she had. Me and my little sister colored sunsets on rocks and wrote Tiedye's name and put them in our garden. Then we buried her in the garden in a little decorated box. I think it was a really good way to deal with it. God I was upset.

Love Haleigh<3

Answer 5

When our dog died, I found a poem online called "Rainbow Bridge" and that really helped my son get through it!

Answer 6

ive never had a small pet but last year my cat died and we buried her in the back yard and i made a little poster with her pic and all the little nick names i called her and hung it in my room and when i ever miss her i can just look at the pic and it really helps to know that some how she'll always be with me.

maybe you should also

Answer 7

Similarly to how you handled that. We have had 1 dwarf hamster, 4 parakeets(bad set from a pet store, had intestinal problems and died within a week), and 1 bunny pass away, and did the same as you. Our daughter was only a baby with the hamster (I mean new born...so it was more for us), the bunny was real sad (we miss Oreo)she was about 22 months, the parakeets were when she was 27 months.

All but the hamster are in our backyard under our dogwood tree. The hamster happened brior to buying our house, so it's under a pine tree at the place we rented.

She has a concept of the life cycle, and I'm sure we'll have more pets to come and go over the years.