Upsettting subject - Keeping pets Ashes

I have chosen to cremate all my bunnies because I want to take them to my forever house one day. At the moment I have them on all my large radiator cover in the lounge as a sort of display. Unfortunately I have them all in scatter boxes as I hoped one day to make them their very own special boxes. I have found that far too difficult to do and infact I don’t like even moving them to clean around.

A funny story, when I got married one of my bridesmaids took one of the flowers from the ashes not knowing what is was :lol: and put it in her hair!! She was mortified

What does everyone do when they have lots of pets ashes? I am curious. I know my mum can’t bear to look at them so they don’t even come out the box. Is it weird for me to have them all on display in my lounge?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve never opened the boxes tbh, but its not weird to do whatever you want to do with them. Our pets ashes are together in their wooden caskets, and their collars are on top of them. Like a sort of memorial area on the shelf. Boots bunny has a couple of photo tributes with his that JJ sent me Patch the goat came back in a scatter tube as I forgot to ask for a wooden box but it is very nicely decorated and her collar sort of hangs on it. I had my pony cremated after I had him pts, his box is large so his is in a cupboard now.

Zoobec said:

I’ve never opened the boxes tbh, but its not weird to do whatever you want to do with them. Our pets ashes are together in their wooden caskets, and their collars are on top of them. Like a sort of memorial area on the shelf. Boots bunny has a couple of photo tributes with his that JJ sent me Patch the goat came back in a scatter tube as I forgot to ask for a wooden box but it is very nicely decorated and her collar sort of hangs on it. I had my pony cremated after I had him pts, his box is large so his is in a cupboard now.

Click to expand...

That’s nice Zoobec. The problem is over the years you end up with so many it’s difficult to decide where to put them all. Especially when you love them all equally. The scatter tubes is what I have as my vets don’t really have a nice selection


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most of my past furries are buried in the garden but I do have some ashes from when I was thinking of moving house. Some are in an empty filing drawer and others are in front of the drawer. Sounds awful but I have four cats and would be distraught if they knocked them over and the ashes fell out.

My house is not my forever house either - I have an interest only mortgage and no way of paying it back - so when I move I will probably put them all in a big plant pot and plant something really special to remember them by.

In the garden I have hamster corner, an area for bunnies and piggies and another for cats. I've been in this house twenty years so sadly I have a lot of graves

I don't really like that they are in boxes - would prefer to let them 'free' but as I am unsure where I will 'end up' living - am 60 next year so could access a 'retirement' flat - I am keeping them safe in my study where all my important papers are kept, along with some of my crafts.

We didn’t have our first two cremated, I wish we had but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Snowy’s ashes are in a little wooden box with a plaque on top, which is how she came back when we got her cremated. She sits on a shelf in the living room.

Hopefully it won’t be for a long time yet, but when we have any more ashes, they probably won’t all be on display in the living room as there would be too many but definitely on a shelf somewhere else in the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Aboleth came back in a scatter tube, but I sourced a lovely pot/box for her from my mate's Dad We live in our forever home and she'd dug a hole in the lawn she wouldn't leave alone :lol: She LOVED that hole. So we put half her tiny amount of ashes in there (she was 2kg, but tiny amount of ashes!) and half will go in the pot when I get the memorial corner sorted in my office (a longterm project :roll: :lol. I might source some sort of box-picture frame thing so I can have two pictures (photo and an aboleth drawing) and the little pot... I intend to have a sort of memorial area in my office, and will add the goldfish and Charlie as well.

ETA I should probably add that, right now, the other half of Aboleth's ashes are still sat by the back door from where we put her back in the house, in early April :lol:

It's not weird at all to keep ashes on display if that's what you prefer. I have all my pets when I lived at home with parents buried in the garden, they're unlikely to ever move but I would be ok with it if they did. When I moved out, we had too many small pets that we lost every few years (big groups of rats, hamsters, gerbils etc) to get them all cremated as I didn't want a lot of ashes so they are either burried in large plant pots outdoors that we moved with us. We did begin to leave some with the vets as I worked there and had visited the crematorium so I knew that even the non ashes back cremations are done with care and ashes scattered over a nice garden so I was happy with that.

All the rabbits have been able to be buried so far.

I've only had one cat cremated. I was looking after him on a permanent basis for someone who needed to move on with their life. I thought they may want him back one day, so when he died, I cremated him and his ashes are still in a box in the kitchen. My girls have grown up with him just sat there and have probably forgotten about him (he died before they were born). It now turns out that his owner hasn't forgotten him (contacted him last year) but isn't bothered about his ashes. He was an unforgettable cat - he used to terrorise local dogs who walked past the gate, but was a big fluffy softie.

My other pets are all buried around the fenceline in the garden, but in pond baskets so they can be located again / won't be dug up accidentally. The locations are also marked on a map of the garden. I would like them to all be buried with me eventually, or at least all together somewhere nearby. Ashes are much easier to deal with to achieve that, though.

The trouble with 'forever' homes is that unexpected things happen and you may have to leave - I'm clearing 2 'forever' homes of people who can't be there any more and didn't get time to sort things out themselves, so it's making me think more about what will happen to the things I value.

keletkezes said:

Aboleth came back in a scatter tube, but I sourced a lovely pot/box for her from my mate's Dad We live in our forever home and she'd dug a hole in the lawn she wouldn't leave alone :lol: She LOVED that hole. So we put half her tiny amount of ashes in there (she was 2kg, but tiny amount of ashes!) and half will go in the pot when I get the memorial corner sorted in my office (a longterm project :roll: :lol. I might source some sort of box-picture frame thing so I can have two pictures (photo and an aboleth drawing) and the little pot... I intend to have a sort of memorial area in my office, and will add the goldfish and Charlie as well.

ETA I should probably add that, right now, the other half of Aboleth's ashes are still sat by the back door from where we put her back in the house, in early April :lol:

Click to expand...

that's really nice.

They remain in the casket xx

I've had all my bunnies cremated but never wanted their ashes back

when I die I have told my kids I wanna be cremated and the ashes thrown into the eyes of a passing cyclist :lol:

mikek said:

when I die I have told my kids I wanna be cremated and the ashes thrown into the eyes of a passing cyclist :lol:

Click to expand...

I keep threatening my Mum with scattering her at sea if she doesn't behave :lol: She loves the sea and boats and stuff, just not being on or in it XD She says she'll come back and haunt me if I do!

Very interesting what everyone decides to do. Thank you for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My bridge boy Rio is buried in the Garden,lived here all my life, here till I pop my clogs. Cleo his wife was PTS at the PDSA, at that time they wanted £100 for single cremation nearly ten years ago I couldn't afford that so she was cremated with other pets by them. I do regret not bringing her back to be buried but I was just so upset I couldn't bear to do that at the time.Various hammies and budgies all buried in the garden.

All pets were cremated but never had their ashes back. I do have 21 dog collars on a dining chair, on day they will go somewhere else but for now I dont know what to do with them. (We used to do end of life fostering for a springer spaniel rescue hence the number)

mikek said:

when I die I have told my kids I wanna be cremated and the ashes thrown into the eyes of a passing cyclist :lol:

Click to expand...

I've told my kids I want to be put on a compost heap, anyone's compost heap. I have no attachment to ashes. I was half-joking when I said it to my children, but they are aware that I want no formal funeral etc.

My pets have all been buried in a garden, where I was living at the time, or more recently put on our compost heap, which has then rotted down and been spread around their garden.

I think it's very understandable that people will have different views about this and to an extent I guess what you feel about death, religion etc will have an impact on how you feel about ashes.

A local green space has put up a 'Last Post' - basically a 5' high stand-alone wooden fence post that dog owners can put their dog's name tag on as a remembrance. I've not seen that before, but I like the idea.

Omi said:

I've told my kids I want to be put on a compost heap, anyone's compost heap. I have no attachment to ashes. I was half-joking when I said it to my children, but they are aware that I want no formal funeral etc.

My pets have all been buried in a garden, where I was living at the time, or more recently put on our compost heap, which has then rotted down and been spread around their garden.

I think it's very understandable that people will have different views about this and to an extent I guess what you feel about death, religion etc will have an impact on how you feel about ashes.

Click to expand...

I'm having visions of someone on here going to empty their bunnies litter tray to find an Omi lying there :lol:

Thats an interesting last point -I shall ponder that one

Oh says if I die first he is going to get my ashes and mix them with my bunnies ashes and bury me with them. If he dies he will be going on the radiator cover with Toby :lol:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk