Is this a sign of mental illness or just a strategy on her part ?

You’re not overreacting, you are overly critical.

You don’t like that she tried to cremate it? What would you suggest she should have done? Dump it in the trash? Leave it out for the vultures and flies and other carrion eaters?

Sounds to me like she was trying her best to honor her dog.

And two incidents of burning things over a ten year period is not a pattern or practice.

I don’t understand what the two incidences have to do with each other? Plenty of cultures burn their dead – perhaps your daughter finds closure in that manner.

Not sure what she should have done but burning just sounds so harsh. I think I would have put it in a trash bag and dragged it to the very back of the property. Her son told me she killed a dog six months ago because “she didn’t like it.”
If you knew her I highly doubt you would think of her as someone who honors much of anything . She has ongoing drug problems along with depression.

^Then perhaps you should focus on her depression and drug problems. Is she getting counseling? Under a doctor’s care?Personally, I find the thought of leaving the body to rot in a trash bag much more disturbing.

Of course I have focused on her drug/legal problems for many years. I have gone to court with her and she has many unpaid fines. We have always given her money and places to stay. I bought her an air conditioner last week. She owes thousands of dollars in unpaid ER visits most of which were for panic attacks.

@syz she has been offered counseling for decades but thinks it’s demeaning and won’t go. Once she went to a live in clinic but left the next day. I would love for her to have counseling but she fears getting into some sort of problems with the police.
But I do feel better now that I’m hearing that burning a dead dog is a sort of respectful act of closure and not a violent one. I also felt it was thoughtless when a dog of hers became rabid and she dragged it into her car at 3am and dropped it off on a street corner. She has gone off for months and left a dog alone in an apartment. The same dog was left at a log home for a month. Both times she was chasing after a man and said the dog would be fine.

Well, it sounds from all that that she is clearly mentally ill. Mistreating animals while they are alive is far worse than burning them when dead but all her actions sound like they come from illness.

I am not sure what strategy you think she is trying to achieve. She sounds mentally ill to me, after all the additional information you have given. And, you seem to have been a willing, if not happy, codependent in all this.

Stop giving her money, start having her face the consequences of her actions, and if she seeks help, support her in getting help. And, things that require intervention from authorities can always be reported as her needing to be hospitalized.

Mistreating animals is not a symptom of mental illness. It is a crime and deserves to be treated like one.

@Hawaii_Jake That’s true, but I was also referring to other things that Aster has said about this daughter.

Burning a dead dog is not mistreatment of animals. The animal was dead – I’m pretty sure he didn’t feel the flames. People are cremated, too. Is that cruel? I think it’s a bit creepy, but it’s nothing to be upset about. It’s over and done with. And I’m not sure how throwing it in the trash is any more humane.

She obviously has other problems judging by the additional details you posted, but that’s not what you’re asking about. I think hearing she killed a dog should upset you a lot more than hearing she cremated a dead one.

@janbb I haven’t followed the other questions about this daughter, and I’m sorry to hear she’s possibly sick.

Animal cruelty is not a symptom of mental illness, and cremating a dead dog is not animal cruelty.

@Aster Killing a dog is animal cruelty and should be reported to the police. Abandoning one for a long period of time is also cruel and should also be reported. I don’t know what your relationship is like with this daughter, but you might find a hard-nosed approach appropriate.

We cremate people, I see this as no different. If there was no way she could dig a hole that is. She sounds very ill, I am sorry to hear this.

It’s a good way to dispose of decomposing flesh, lots of people have burned the bodies of humans or animals in the past to kill off all the germs. It’s not demonic, it’s smart if you can’t bury it.