All pets go to heaven, but how they get there is up to you.
When the time grows near, it can make the grief process infinitely easier to bear if you have a plan in place, so that your pet can be honoured in the most meaningful way.
Contrary to popular practice, it is not permitted in Vancouver to bury your pet. If you still choose to do so, your pet must be buried deeper than six feet and the site should not interfere with water lines. Pets that have been euthanized can be toxic to other animals and should never be buried.
There is another downside to burial. Local pet owners who believed that a Surrey pet cemetery the only pet cemetery in Greater Vancouver was their pets forever home, soon discovered that land can always be sold to the highest bidder.
Between 1952 and the mid-1990s, the site at 147A Street and 78 Avenue became a resting place to more than 600 cats and dogs. But then the privately owned cemetery was sold to a developer and fell into neglect. The City of Surrey has said there is little it can do to protect the graves, and several pet owners have exhumed their pets to find a more stable home.
It is issues like this that prompted Kevin Woronchak, a North Vancouver firefighter, to open the Until We Meet Again Pet Loss Memorial Centre in 2007. His family traumatically lost three pets in the span of a week in 2006, and discovered that there was little in the way of emotional support for families when it came to pet loss.
Since opening their after-care facility and crematorium, which enables grieving owners to process the death of a pet at their own pace, Woronchak and his wife Joanna have witnessed multicultural displays of remembrance, such as the hiring of pastors to perform services, catered affairs, wrapping the body in white linens, and singing.
If keeping your pets ashes is important, be sure to confirm how your pet will be cremated. A 2009 CTV investigation revealed that use of the term private cremation varies widely in BC and that few crematoriums actually place only one animal in the chamber at a time. More commonly, the term private refers merely to segregated.
At the time of the investigation, three crematoriums passed the testing Until We Meet Again, the Pet Loss Care Memorial Centre in Victoria and Forever in Peace in Mission. However not every BC crematorium was tested.
In addition to cats and dogs, Woronchak says Until We Meet Again has performed cremations for pets as small as beta fish and budgies, and there is a reflection room at the centre where families can opt to be together while the cremation is taking place.
No matter how much you prepare for the day, it is undoubtedly heartbreaking when your pet does pass away. But support is available.
Sometimes people call us in the middle of the night, just to talk to us, Woronchak says. We tell them, Its okay. Just put a nice blanket under their head. It will be fine.
Vancouver resident Philip Rooyakkers, the former president of the Urban Puppy Shop, has created a new app: PiP (Positive Identification of Pets.)
In a Globe and Mail story, he says his app, which was recently added to iTunes, uses facial recognition technology to help people find lost pets.
They upload a photo of their pet and, its hoped, someone who finds the pet also uploads a photo and the app matches pet with owner. The app is free but it costs $18.99 a year to register your pet and upload a photo. If a registered pet is missing, PiP allows the owner to issue an alert to other users, vets, and animal agencies.
In the story, the BC SPCA says the concept is fantastic but that people should also have some permanent ID on their pet.
