Recently lost "my" cat of the 2, in very unpleasant circumstances. We had him euthanised within 1 hour of his, horrific, condition making itself known.
His ashes arrived this morning and just before scattering them in his favourite bit of the garden, i had a look at them. What happens after the furnace is turned off?
I'd be surprised if all the ashes were collected, but, given the amount that arrived, i could be convinced that this did represent everything that doesn't combust. How likely is that?
Is there any after processing occurs, maybe cleaning or mechanical breaking down of some sort?
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One of my friends had "George" his big Boxer dog cremated, and the Ashes duly arrived back in a nice little wooden cask. Inside the Cask was a sealed plastic bag with what were "allegedy" Ashes. I didn`t say anything, but i knew i`d seen "George" very recently! in fact i still have a 5kg sack of him! - They`d sent him mainly white Coral-sand as used in Marine aquariums mixed with various bits of "other" material.
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A friend of mine went to great deal of trouble in taking the ashes of his late mother to her favorite cliff top. sea view location. he carefully let the ashes slowly disperse in the wind. to find in the bottom of the casket a piece of paper - with the word 'Mrs XXX' and date of cremation, Unfortunately the name was completely different from his mothers!
'Mistakes' happen. even in human crematoria.
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I have a friend who builds and installs crematoria, and some years ago I asked him about this. Basically everything that's left gets ground down to a fine powder. The grinder is (or should be) thoroughly cleaned out after each job. In the case of human cremations, the cremator is specifically designed to only accept one body at a time.
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>> 'Mistakes' happen. even in human crematoria.
And at funeral directors.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-339947/Undertaker-wrong-ashes-charge.html
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>> bag with what were "allegedy" Ashes. I didn`t say anything, but i knew i`d seen
>> "George" very recently! in fact i still have a 5kg sack of him! -
Explain - Now!
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Morbid, but interesting.
I had a chat with the Funeral Director, after MIL's demise, while SWMBO was brewing up. I asked how the ashes are isolated from the ashes of the coffin. He said basically that they were just any of the larger bones which didn't burn properly. They were taken from the retort and ground down to a very fine powder. I asked other things, like what happened to the coffin handles ?
He told me they were plated plastic and just went in with the rest to burn.
I wouldn't imagine there would be much left of a small pet at 800 degrees.
I read a book some years ago about a large American private crem who had been found to be ' co-mingling ' ( American word ) the ashes by just going out in the back yard with a shovel.
They were, however, stuffing up to 5 or 6 cadavers, without coffins, which they re-sold, into one furnace......Rascals !
Never been one for attaching any importance to ashes, but SWMBO had her Mum's kept and they were buried in a small hole under the turf just behind the memorial kerbstone in Dunham Lawn Cametery. We took the opportunity to have her husbands name inscribed as well.
My eldest daughter went out with a young Funeral Director for a while.......he never wore socks !
Funny that !
Ted
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Having a son who likes to 'know', at our local crematorium, there are five chambers and each one only takes one person at a time. As each cremation takes longer than the half hour slot allowed for each person's service (20 minutes service plus 10 minutes arrival and departure) the actual process goes on overnight. There is a viewing chamber, as some religions require the family to view the cremation - not sure how much one actually can, or would want, to see.
Last edited by: DeeW on Sun 8 Aug 10 at 17:48
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The whole thing that prompted me thinking was when i looked at them it just appeared to be very small shards of bone and a claw (he was more or less a house cat so i always did his claws for him with a backwards edge, made identification pretty easy) sitting near the top.
I was just intrigued everything was so clean, and that a claw would survive the furnace. Couldn't imagine them cutting the claws off before then adding in afterwards so it prompted some curiosity!
Ho hum. His final minutes before the sedation took over and made him dopey, were calm and peaceful and he appeared to be with it enough to take comfort from me being there. Whether he was or not i'm not sure, as long as the pain was numbed i don't really mind either way.
Although he was gone, and an animal in the grand scheme of things, the loyalty / bond takes over and i didn't want to leave his body with the vet for disposal. We'll move from this house at some point so i didn't want to bury his body out the back (i dug up a dog before at another house it's not exactly the most pleasant thing). Figured cremation + ashes scattered was a good compromise.
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It never occured to me to get a cat cremated. We have always just taken the body back from the vet's and buried it in a special place in the garden.
I have a mold for casting small gravestones in concrete, and while the cement is still soft
I scribe in the cat's name and dates. I started the custom when I bought the house in 1985, and the children have insisted we carry on ever since. The earliest stones are now weathered and covered in ivy. There used to be some wooden markers there too, placed by previous owners, but these have all rotted now.
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Living in the 'Dead ' centre of Manchester, being just round the corner from our 2 crem chapels with 5 retorts, I've always been fascinated. they do open days there. I went some years ago and got a booklet about the history of the place, which is interesting.
I went to a Hindu funeral there 4 yrs ago and the closest male relatives do go in the furnace room to witness the cremation.
I learned that you go in feet first because, the chest takes longest to burn. There is an extra strong flame above that point.
We've never had a cat but all our dogs have been left at the vets after euthanasia. They have them collected and taken to Rossendale pet cemetery for cremation and you get a nice letter afterwards. My last special Border Terrier, Harry, was a little gem. He had a poor life, being afflicted with an allergy. We spent many hundreds trying to ease his problems but to no avail. It got to the stage where he was scratching himself raw all the time.
I took him when SWMBO was out and held him while his eyes closed. It was very quick.
I walked home and sobbed my eyes out.................dogs !, who'd have them ?
Ted
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>> I walked home and sobbed my eyes out.................dogs !, who'd have them ?
I will cry more when my dog dies, than when my father died.
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Too much information in this thread :-o
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There is a natural burial ground near a friends house, they plonk you in a largish post hole standing up, then plant a tree on you.
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Do you have to be dead ? or is it just the local Mafia ?
Ted
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>> Do you have to be dead ? or is it just the local Mafia ?
It helps, movement upsets the tree.
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I am really glad to know I'm not the only softie on here.
Pat
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>>Explain - Now!<<
Well, I don`t really see what there is to explain? but unless "George" had an extremely Maritime menu he looked and felt exactly the same as the bag of Coral -sand I have at home! - if it`s the words Coral-Sand thats throwing you, I should actually give it it`s correct name of Silver-sand, as Coral sand is banned by Cites! - however "George" was a very white, heavyish powder, with a few grey "bits" in! and didn`t look or feel right to me!! (and i`ve seen plenty of dead burnt animals before!)
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Are you setting the tone for the week, L'escargot?
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>> Are you setting the tone for the week, L'escargot?
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Clk Sec, that's too cryptic for me to work out what you mean, so I'll take it a a compliment. Thank you.
CraigP asked "I'd be surprised if all the ashes were collected, but, given the amount that arrived, i could be convinced that this did represent everything that doesn't combust. How likely is that?"
A major point of the article was that "Contrary to popular belief, the cremated remains are not ashes in the usual sense, but rather dried bone fragments that have been pulverized in a device called an electric cremated remains processor. This leaves the bone in a fine sand like texture and colour, able to be scattered without any foreign matter." and I considered that this was relevant to CraigP's question. However, rather than extract this and quote it on its own, I decided ti would be better to give the link to the whole article, warts and all.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 9 Aug 10 at 10:18
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Hmm, that site defines cremation as being the burning of a human body. Dictionaries define it simply as the burning of a dead body. I think the latter definition is the correct one.
I stumbled across "how to cremate at home" in the course of checking that but I'll spare you that link :-)
JH
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Slightly morbid question about ashes - devonite
