On July 5 I had to make the decision to have my beloved cat Taz put to sleep. I decided to have him cremated. My vet informed me that there was only one pet crematory in the area. Mountain Empire Pet Crematory they would pick up my Taz, cremate him and his remains would be returned to my vet's office.
On Friday July 13 my vets office called to inform me that my Taz's remains were back at their office. I picked up my Taz's remains and was sickened to see an ugly black plastic box, the size of it is 8" X 6" X 4 1/4". At the time I was too upset to say anything and I hadn't looked inside.
After I came home I prepared myself to transfer my Taz's ashes into a special memorial box that I had made for his final resting place. Upon opening up the ugly black plastic box I saw shredded paper which I removed to see a plastic bag (gallon size) tied with a twist tie, inside this bag was a smaller bag with my Taz's ashes, upon removing this smaller bag I was again shocked to see my Taz's ashes in a 'Ziploc' sandwich bag, when I say 'Ziploc' I mean the actual commercial bag with the letters and logo for 'Ziploc'. I was so upset in seeing this and felt so outrage and disrespected. To make matters worse the 'Ziploc' sandwich bag wasn't completely zipped and some of my Taz's ashes had spilled into the bigger bag.
It was not the time for me to get upset and do anything, it was time to say a final goodbye to my Taz and put his remains in his final resting place. I made sure that my Taz's ashes were completely zipped up and proceeded to put my Taz (along with the bag) into his memorial box, and sealed it shut.
The next day I went to my vets office to talk with them (they don't have any control over what the pet crematory does) and while they don't care for the ugly black plastic box either, they didn't know about the 'Ziploc' sandwich bag. I was not able to speak to the owner of my vet clinic at this time, but everyone who works at my vet's office were shocked at what I had told them. I asked who do I speak to at the pet crematory and they told me the woman's name is Wanda. I asked when the owner would be there and they told me he would be there on Thursday, July 19, I told them I would be back to speak to him.
When I went home I called Mountain Empire Pet Crematory and asked to speak to Wanda, the date was July 17. Wanda came on the phone and I told her who I was and why I was calling. I told her that I was outraged at how they disrespected me and my beloved Taz. Her response was 'what would you have us do, we switched to those bags because the plastic was thicker and therefore sturdier' when I told her that the 'Ziploc' bag wasn't completely zipped her response was 'it was in another bag, wasn't it?'
I told her of a friend of mine who lives in another part of the state just recently lost her cat and had her cremated too, and when Chelsea's ashes came home they were in a sealed bag, similar to a seal-a-meal type bag, one that couldn't be opened without cutting it, and the sealed bag with the ashes were in a tin that had paw prints on the outside. I went on to ask Wanda why they didn't do something like that and was told they never thought of it. I told they that they could go to Wal-Mart and for a small amount buy a seal-a-meal, and was sure that they could find tins with paw prints on them.
They charged me $15 for that ugly black plastic box, I'm sure they could get paw print tins for less than that. Wanda told me that they never had any complaints before, I told her that if I had anything to do with it, they would from now on.
On Thursday July 19 I went to speak to the owner of my vet clinic and his response at what I told him was not only was it disrespectful to me and my Taz that it was just plain tacky to put my beloved Taz in a 'Ziploc' sandwich bag. The owner told me that he knew the President of the local funeral home that is in charge of the Mountain Empire Pet Crematory and he would be talking to him about what I told him.
The office manager asked if I could get a picture of the paw print tin, I assured her that I could and would. I do believe that my vet's office will no longer allow any pet remains to go home in that ugly black plastic box but will be in a paw print tin, that is if Mountain Empire Pet Crematory doesn't change the way they do things.
Later on the evening of July 19 I found the web site for the Heritage Family Funeral Services, Inc., the parent company of Mountain Empire Pet Crematory and read what they had to say about pet cremations, this is what I found in their ad about pet cremation. "Since most people who keep pets consider them members of the family, it is an especially trying time when a devoted pet passes away. That is why we make a special effort to help families who have lost the love and companionship of a devoted pet, by offering a special cremation service.
Today, cremation is accepted as a meaningful alternative to ground burial for your pet. Some families keep the cremated remains at home. You have our assurance that our crematory is totally dedicated to the pet cremation service. Your pet is handled with care and cremated individually". I clicked the 'contact us' link and wrote to them about how disrespected I felt as to what had been done to me and my Taz. As of July 25 I have yet to get a response from them.
Nothing can change the way I feel about how much I totally feel disrespected about how they treated my beloved Taz's remains, I just want everyone to be aware of how his remains were treated. I am planning on writing a letter to the editor of my local newspaper to voice my outrage about how both my Taz and I were dealt with at this difficult time.
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