Cremation Vs. Burial In A Strange Place, Ladywolf... Options

[ladywolf]

Well, I think I'm about up against it with Ladywolf. Now she has an open sore that is oozing pus, and the whole situation is really coming to a head, so to speak. She is still alert, still eating well, still able to go out and do her thing, still enjoying lying in the yard, still enjoying going for rides--but I am very depressed and think that I am probably looking at euthanasia pretty soon...Darnnit! (That's not what I'd like to say, but you know how the obscenity filters work.)

I am most depressed because they want about $250 to cremate and return a pet's ashes around here, and I simply can't afford it. A member here very kindly sent me some money awhile ago to help with Lady's euthanasia, but told me to spend some of it on Lady food if I needed to, and I've needed to. Not all of it, but I only have enough left to have her euthanized, not cremated. I had planned to drag her out into the desert and try to bury her, as I did with Poppers, but the more I think about doing that, the worse it feels. I want her with me, forever, not alone in some strange place.

How important has it been to others of you to have your animal cremated and get the ashes back? Seems like it's been pretty important. I didn't think that it would matter to me--I've had 11 dogs, and some have been cremated and some buried and I've always been okay with it--but I HATE Arizona, I probably won't be here much longer after Ladywolf goes, and so I'd be leaving her in some strange place that I'd probably never return to.

I am NOT asking for donations--I am just trying to find a way to find peace with whatever choice I have to make. I'm unemployed right now, and have been for some time, and Lady's diet of mainly chicken, and her meds, have been breaking my bank. I can't even afford to take her in right now to find out what this new open sore is all about. This money thing is making me nuts!

I do have one friend I could approach for help, perhaps--she has helped in the past when Lady needed surgery on her LAST cancerous tumor--but I feel guilty doing so, because that one cost Nancy almost $1500.

I just don't know what to do. Maybe I'd be okay with leaving Lady in a pretty spot, maybe near Poppers (although it's not very pretty there), but I do kind of like the idea of letting my animals join the food chain. (Coyotes, etc. will ALWAYS get into a grave, no matter how deep it is.)

Please help me to be all right with whatever decision I have to make. The process has been painful--and prolonged--enough already.

Thanks, everyone. I am really feeling terrible right now.

Margi and the Wolf

[ladywolf]

Hi All--

I'M not attached to having ashes to carry around, though I think it's kind of sweet. I just couldn't bear the idea of leaving Ladywolf, of all creatures, out in the boonies all alone.

But--hallelujah--the decision has been made to bury her on Joan's property, and her handyman is going to do it for free! There are angels everywhere!

I just couldn't leave this til the last minute, the way it happened with Poppers, who went so suddenly that there was no time to plan. Ladywolf is too important for me not to know ahead of time what her final resting place will be. I'm a very emotional girl, but I'm also very practical, so...that's why I was losing it over what to do with a 115-pound wolf body!

Thanks so so so much to all who have and are supporting me through this challenging time. Lady has already FAR outlived the vet's expectations--by MONTHS--so who knows how much longer we have left together!

Big big hugs to all of you--

Margi

P.S. Moon Beam--I'll write later tonight...