Recently in memorials Category

Every so often my colleague Stephanie Walton, who does the "Ask Us" feature for the Daily Breeze, get a question about pet bereavement groups.

I'm not aware of any groups that meet in the South Bay around this concern (if anyone knows of group meetings, send us the information and we can post it). But there are some online sites that can provide solace for owners who are missing their best friends.

This story by the Associated Press on the Daily Breeze website highlights a few of them such as Doggy Heaven and Immortal Pets. 

(AP Photo/Amy Sancet)

From the story:

The (online) obituaries -- accompanied by photo montages, poems, and notes of condolence from friends and fellow pet owners -- are a part therapy and part memorial, a way to grieve and a way to immortalize. ...

"It's a reflection of the social fabrice, says Samantha Gowen, who writes the Orange County Register's Pet Tales blog which regularly includes obituaries sent in by readers.

..... Online obituaries offer pet owners a way to tap into that network, find support and channel the pain of losing a pet.

Doggy Heaven began about two years ago and now has a database of more than 1,200 dog obituaries. The site is free and allows owners to post photos and information, with an option also for visitors to add messages.

Immortal Pets has about 2,000 pet obituaries for dogs, cats, birds and even rats. There is a section for free obituaries.

I've noticed that Facebook provides another outlet. And here at South Bay Pets we're always glad to take submissions from readers who would like to tell the world about their special pet.

The Daily Breeze also has memorial ads (Daily Breeze/Pet Memories) you can purchase (prices range from $49 to $97, depending on the size) that will be published in the paper as well as online at South Bay Pet Talk. Contact Christina Haidet at 310-540-5511, Ext. 6399 or e-mail her at christina.haidet@dailybreeze.com.

 

There are all kinds of ways to remember a special pet. One of the best and most meaningful -- and one that does a lot of good for other animals -- is making an SPCA-LA donation, which is what some friends did for my dog Ellie when she died just about a year ago at the age of (almost) 14. (The memorial donations aren't just for pets, either -- a group of us at the dog park also purchased one of the donations in honor of Judy McDonald, a dog park regular who died late last year after a short illness.)

But personal momentos and keepsakes of our pets also are so important for many of us as owners. Keeping a pet's ashes or ordering one of those garden stones that look like grave markers just aren't my style.

I do have all the old license and name tags from dogs I've lost through the years. One of my favorite tokens, though, are a couple of pet paw print plaques I had done for Ellie (shortly after I'd adopted her from the Long Beach shelter) and Fritz, the remaining terrier I'd "inherited" after my mom's unexpected death in 1990.

A couple who lived in Long Beach, I think, had their own home business making the plaques and conducted sessions at the Doggie in the Window pet shop in Long Beach back in the mid 1990s. Owners would bring their dogs, they'd take the paw prints in wet clay (there were a couple different plaque designs available you could choose from), then they'd fire them in their kiln at home and you'd pick them up at the store when they were done.

 

 

I tried finding the couple later when I had different dogs -- my idea was to get the prints for all of the dogs I had -- but I guess by then they were out of business as I coulnd't find them and the store had no recent contact with the company.

I still treasure the plaques with Ellie and Fritz's prints on them, I think especially because they were made during such a happy time, when both dogs were healthy and we had years ahead of us together.  

A company I found online called Precious Paws and Claws makes the prints, but it's a crematorium -- so the prints are made from your pet's body when you or your vet turn it over to them, I guess. Kinda creepy.  

It's better to make what will be future keepsakes when the animals are young & healthy, I think. Seeing them on my kitchen wall makes me smile, not feel sad, because I remember how fun it was to try to cajole the dogs into putting their paws into the wet clay (not easy). It was a day of happy memories, not something I received after they'd died and I was still grieving the loss. And they've been on my wall for years, going back to when both dogs were still very much alive.  

The prints should be fairly easy to do on your own at one of the many ceramic shops, however. I've also seen kits for something similar that you can buy at places like Joann's and Michael's.

 

I found a Web site called Pawprints Jewelry makes pendants out of your pet's pawprint, which would be a different way to go.

(Slightly off-topic, but here's the Sandy's Paw Prints web site, operated by someone who takes imprints of animal tracks found around their property and makes all kinds of things out of them, from spoon rests to refrigerator magnets.)

So what are some other special ways you've found to remember your pets?  What are your favorite keepsakes? So often it's the simple, even mundane things -- like their old tags or special collars.

Anyone know of a good pawprint kit or instructions online? I've missed getting prints on three of my dogs already -- Muffin, Mercy & Pilgrim -- but I would love to resume the tradition again and make  pawprints for Cowboy & Tess.