How does one be prepared for a beloved pet's passing?

My dogs were really quiet one morning in January. They were in their teens. I went down and one was gone. The other was lying next to him. That was my planning experience. My vet said they could cremate him. That’s what I did.

Awww…well…first, just in-joy him every moment! Be present with him, really, really, REALLY, present!
Soak up all his Syness. His beautiful face, eyes, his velvety paws, take in his essence in every moment. :-)
You will know when he is declining and surely you will be keeping up with his vet visits.

Siamese are notoriously long lived, one of mine lived til almost 18!
You can look into having him cremated, most vets will send him out for that service if he is euthanized at their facility, or, you can bury him at home in your own yard.
In the meanwhile, don;t borrow trouble, odds are he has at least several more years.
Watch out for signs of kidney issues, diabetes, and thyroid problems.

These are all common in senior cats and will include extra hunger, more water intake, rough coat, weight loss. The symptoms are the same for all 3 of these very common conditions.
Just love him up, and pay attention to any changes in his heath, behaviors. :-)

My sister and brother have a dog cemetery on theiri property, under some nice trees and near the pond. When it was clear that the time was drawing near for one of their dogs, my bro-in-law dug a grave. As the animals grew old, he used to dig a few holes before the ground froze.

My daughter had her doggy cremated and had sevreral ceremonies with ash sprinkling; one on a freshwater lake in Cape Cod and another in Georgian Bay on Lake Huorn, both places where the dog had spent many hap Ipy hours.

I Milo goes before me, I will bury him in my woods, near the stream where he lapped up a lot of cold, clear water. If I go first, he and my daughter can decide.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room my sympathies.
I am going through the same thing with my old dog, Ayre. He is a 13year old BC, who is moving a lot slower and sleeping a lot more. He used to be very attentive and if sleeping would jump up at the slightest noise. Now, I sometimes have to poke him to get a response. Morbidly, I often check to make sure his chest is still going up and down if he is lying there and I walk by with no movement
He still has good quality of life though so we keep on trucking. We still romp and enjoy each others company and I try to spend time focusing only on him each day. He will follow me around like a, well, like a puppy dog and is still annoying with dropping his toys in my lap wanting me to throw them. He wants it so bad and will chase it every time. I have to set the limits on how much. Either feel guilty for not playing as much as he wants or feel guilty watching him try to recover from his overexertion; my choice.
My suggestion, enjoy each others company as much as possible. While doing so I am using this time to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable and steeling myself to wake up one morning and find out he died during the night. I cannot say I am grieving in advance but it does hurt and sadden me to think of it. I will cry and mourn the loss when it finally occurs.
We will bury him in the back yard next to my other BC. We buried her at the spot under the oak where she used to like to lay. He doesn’t have a particular spot anymore but used to lie next to her when she was alive so next to her is as good as any.

There really is no way to prepare. I just lost my dog about 3 weeks ago. He was old so we knew it was coming, he lived the predicted life expectancy, but it was still almost shocking when he was taken to the vet and they give the news. What makes it worse is having to decide to put them to sleep or not. Its awful to have to be in the position of deciding when their time has come. We were told he had hardly any muscles left in his back legs and would soon no longer be able to get around unless he had one of those wheelchairs on his back legs, but would have to be held up to go to the bathroom. He also had multiple tumors. You could see at this point he was in pain, and although the vet said they could make him somewhat more comfortable, they also said he only had about 2 more months to live probably because of the tumors. It was a really sad day, and its still hard to believe he is gone. It was a good 16 years with him! My brother buried him on his property next to another deceased animal. I, however, think that cremation is probably the better way to go. The way they give you your pet to bury them makes the whole process even sadder.

I don’t think you can. I’m certainly not prepared. Our cat is 2, and an indoor kitty, so I don’t worry about her much. Our 10-month-old puppy, however, is a different story. I strongly suspect she’s got hip dysplasia and, when I first started to realize this is probably the case, it really upset me. There were three days in a row that I felt really sad and found myself on the verge of tears at times.

Right now, she only takes a tiny bit longer to stand from the lying down position than she should and she bunny hops when she runs. There are no overt signs of pain, but dogs are good at hiding that. I have an appointment for her with the vet next week, so I’m hoping it’s not a severe case. I just keep reading these horror stories of young dogs having to be euthanized because of the pain and the owners not being able to pay $7000 for hip surgery (which I cannot afford either) and watching videos of dogs that are limping or cannot run and play or yell out in pain when they stand up. It breaks my heart to think that her condition could worsen suddenly and we may have to put her down at a young age. I think I’ll just lock myself in a dark room and sob for a day or two. I’d probably never get a dog again. Seeing her crate or toys or collar would kill me. How can anyone prepare for that?

If it were to happen, I wouldn’t want to carry her dead body home in a box so we could bury her. I’d probably allow the vet to have her cremated. No urn of ashes, though. I think that’s a creepy practice even for humans, and I don’t need her remains to remember her. If she died at home, my husband would probably want to bury her, but I wouldn’t have any part of it.

Psst, “a form of disposal” is four words.

Thank you, everyone. I mean my question to be more about logistical concerns than emotional ones, but I very much appreciate all your feedback. Very helpful.

Ooops, @livelaughlove21. I’m no good at card-counting either. ;-)

I had two options with my ‘kids’. Little Roo (cat) was hit by a car and I buried her in my back yard. Hobo was the first to go and I just had her created. The animal hospital took care of it. Tigger (dog) was created and we took her to the happy place we took her for walks. Pockets (cat) was created and went where Tigger did since Tigger raised her as her ‘pup’. I would ask for individual creamation. It is more expensive but you get yours back. Let your heart guide you. Only you know what you want to do when the time comes. My sympathies.

Not much you can do except be extra attentive to their comfort since they can’t speak and tell you when things hurt. Here we are allowed to take the bodies home for burial so that’s what I do, but bury them out at a friends place in the country.

He is likely to outlive you, Pachy—and imagine his concerns in disposing of the elephant in the room. Speaking only to the logistics of the situation, as you’ve requested, I predict that as his health declines, there will come a point where you make the humane decision to have him put down. It’s likely you’ll either have the vet dispose of the body or you’ll have his cremains given to you—a “well-urned” memento of a great friend, which you’ll place in the kitchen window.

Our vet takes a paw cast of each dog she has to put down. I have Skye’s on my dresser in the bedroom.

This is a constant thought for my family, as we have a multitude of pets.

Though it was unplanned, we will have a cat & three dogs all passing around the same time.

It’s hopefully a few years off, but we’ve already discussed how we will handle their final days and their resting arrangements (usually we go the route of private cremation).

What we do in the meantime:
*Enjoy sweet moments with each of them.
*Take cute photos of them playing & sleeping.
*Feed and care for them as best we can.
*Make their days enjoyable and comfortable.

@SpatzieLover How do you know that they’ll all die around the same time?

They’re all getting to typical ages for their breeds to expire. Again, we have 3–5 years to prepare ;) Though, our tortoise (now 19) could live to be 40 or pass at anytime.

We wrapped our cat in a sheet and buried her under the apple tree. We put a vaguely cat shapedrock on the spot. I like the idea of the cat’s body nourishing the apple tree. I wanted my ashes to be buried under our blueberry bushes for the same reason, but we moved and it’s not our property anymore. Now I’m looking at medical schools for a final use of my carcass.