# Do Vets Profit from Bodies of the Deceased?



## ^gsds4+ (Jun 14, 2011)

I had an 11 year old bullmastiff. He had swallowed something which had really torn up his stomach. The vet viewed the x-ray and recommended he be put down, saying that just one bag of blood was 2500.00. I complied. He asked if I'd like for them to dispose of the body. I had no means of doing so properly and respectfully, so I agreed, to the tune of 100.00.

Bullmastiffs, Labrador retrievers, and other big-chested dogs are the delight of medical researchers who do cardiovascular research. At one point, there was a plague of dog thefts perpetrated by trash who had no concern for the anguish left behind in their sorry quest to make a quick buck. Dogs were snatched in broad daylight from their own backyards.

In light of this, what do you suppose my vet did with my loved one's body?

It was rumored that Auburn University would pay big money for the body of such a dog. Heck, 100.00 would pay for the gas for the trip to the school, and then some. I've heard a body can go for as high as 5000.00. That would allow the vet to recoup much of the money lost in helping an army of little old ladies whose little Cocoas required treatment for diabetes, etc.

Maybe my vet was honest (though he never actually said what he would do with my dog's body), putting Cletus' body in an incinerator. But none of this was mentioned, nor did I have the foreknowledge to ask.
Maybe the prospect of making a quick 5000.00 can make a vet a bit too hasty in his recommendation of putting down a big-chested dog, hmm?

Is this a case of "ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies"?

If my vet did, indeed make a 5000.00 + profit from the body of my dog, I would would have liked to receive at least HALF of those monies to fuel my own philanthropic pursuits, or simply pay some vet bills.
But then the money gained from just one of these scenarios would easily fund that two week trip to Hawaii the vet's wife had been whining about.

Possibly a marriage was saved by a few dead dog bodies?
But now YOU have the foreknowledge to ask some tough questions, right?


----------



## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Vets have contacts in the cremation business. So you have two choices - the cheapest is mass burial which means the animals are all cremated together and buried together by the business. The more expensive is private which means only your animal is done and the ashes are kept and returned to you. Near here there's no pet cemetaries or the like so you have to go with cremation

It all comes down to trusting your vet I suppose, my parents own a farm with acreage so we bring the body back to be buried there. There's been two animals that were given to the vet to dispose of and they chose the mass cremation so we didn't receive the ashes back.

ETA - Of course there are shoddy people in all businesses so yes it's always possible


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Are you serious? You actually think that a vet makes 5000 bucks selling your dead dog to a vet school, a vet school that gets them for FREE at the local humane society? 

Seriously????


----------



## Mister C (Jan 14, 2014)

I am sorry for the loss of your beloved Cletus.

After having my my first dog put to sleep I asked the vet to have her cremated. I called back a couple of days later for an update and discovered that they had disposed of the body and there was no way I could get her remains back. I was extremely angry with them on the phone and told them I was going to come over and talk to the vet to whom I gave the instructions. They closed the office before I could arrive. I guess I really did sound quite angry. I always wondered what happened to her remains. 

There was a recent story about a monster who kept dogs alive for profit after their owners decided to put them to sleep. It's a horrible, disgusting story. I'm not saying your vet did this but it has happened.


Texas vet kept dog alive for blood transfusions months after planned euthanization, owners say* - NY Daily News


----------



## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

The vasy majority of vets are honest and understand our pain at losing our pets. They are also very respectful of our wishes. 

I have my pets cremated and ask for the remains. I actually had a 'friend' ask me how I knew they were really my pets ashes. I had to see give it a rest - how far do you want to push it? 

I am sorry you lost Cletus.


----------



## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

My canine vet has always been very respectful when it comes to euthanizing my pets. I have the ability to take care of my own, so they'll tightly cocoon the body before I take it home to bury it. 

You have to have trust. If you don't, you need to seek a different vet.


----------



## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I was told by my vet that if they disposed of my dogs body it would go to the county land fill.


----------



## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

A live dog isn't worth $5000...no way a dead one would be.

Most vets just cremate. You have a choice of private or mass.

I don't think any vet school would pay that much money for a one time use carcass of a dog (you can only dissect once after all).


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Vet schools do not pay big money for dead dogs. They get dogs that are slated to be put down at the shelters.

I don't know where you heard that a dead dog is worth $5K, but not even live dogs are worth that much unless they are highly trained working animals.

When a vet euthanizes a dog, you have options. You can take the body home and bury it. Or you can have the vet take care of the body. The cheapest option is "communal cremation", and you don't get ashes back. When our vets say "communal cremation", it's a nice way of saying that your pet goes to the rendering plant with all the other dead animals and is recycled. Private cremation is when they send your pet to a crematorium and you get your pet's ashes back. That is fairly expensive. I don't think the vet is actually making any money off deceased animals. But someone has to provide the service of disposing of the remains, and that costs money.

Personally, I don't get attached to the physical form once the spirit is gone. The dead body is nothing but an empty shell, now food for worms and microbes. So to me, it doesn't matter what happens to the body after my pet dies--I've always had the vet take care of it with "communal cremation". 

In fact, when I die, I hope my body can be used for science or something useful, rather than being buried in a hermetically sealed coffin and taking up space in the ground. That, to me, seems wasteful.


----------



## ugavet2012 (Apr 15, 2010)

martemchik said:


> A live dog isn't worth $5000...no way a dead one would be.
> 
> Most vets just cremate. You have a choice of private or mass.
> 
> I don't think any vet school would pay that much money for a one time use carcass of a dog (you can only dissect once after all).


This. 
The OP's post is Insanely ridiculous. Vet schools get dogs from shelters like others have said, and people who "donate" their pets' bodies for learning (rare). Where in the world would they get $5000 to pay for a dead animal that shelters are just throwing away???? People need to think stuff like this through.
We chose our own dissection dogs in anatomy lab, the vast majority were medium sized mutts, there's no way I would have chosen a large/giant breed. It would have taken way too long to dissect. 
We have our own private crematory and therefore only offer communal or individual cremation, no burial or other disposal. The ashes you get back from us are 100% your own dog but I don't see why it matters one bit, and yes I have unfortunately myself had a dog cremated at our crematory.


----------



## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

Shade said:


> Vets have contacts in the cremation business. So you have two choices - the cheapest is mass burial which means the animals are all cremated together and buried together by the business. The more expensive is private which means only your animal is done and the ashes are kept and returned to you. Near here there's no pet cemetaries or the like so you have to go with cremation
> 
> It all comes down to trusting your vet I suppose, my parents own a farm with acreage so we bring the body back to be buried there. There's been two animals that were given to the vet to dispose of and they chose the mass cremation so we didn't receive the ashes back.
> 
> ETA - Of course there are shoddy people in all businesses so yes it's always possible


 Actually the bodies are disposed of like trash. Picked up by a disposal company from vet clinics, shelters and humane societies and subsidiaries, shipped to rendering plants and are churned into pet food (low end). Company out of Montreal that renders dogs and cats...owned by "Maple Leaf foods"...you know the makers of all the cold cuts that had the listeria contamination a few yrs. back


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

The owner can pay to have pet put to sleep, cremated and get the ashes back. In that scenario the place that does the cremation(if not on site) would pick pet up and cremate at their facility then return ashes to vet for the owner to pick up. The other way would to pay for the euthanasia and a disposal fee and a truck would pick them up and bring them to the landfill. I will NEVER forget what I saw when I worked at the vet and the guy came to pick up the dogs/cats in the freezer for the landfill. The truck(a dump truck type) loaded to the top with dead animals piled on top of each other. It is the most uncaring, disgusting memory I still have today, it is embedded in my head. They were just laying there like pieces of trash, I wanted to throw up. I lost a lot of respect for people in general that day. All of those animals just tossed away like trash and they didn't matter made and still makes me sick. If I didn't have the money to cremate I would take the pet and bury it before I let the vet dispose of it.


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

We use a reputable company. They pick up bodies for private and Mass cremation. They are all treated with respect. I am appalled to hear these stories. They are not placed in a dump truck, they are in a refrigerated van. 

In 20 years in the business, I have NEVER been witness to the things people say, and I have worked at multiple practices. Closest would be large animal disposal. 

No matter what, no vet is making 5000 bucks from a dead dog.


----------



## Juliem24 (Jan 4, 2014)

Love my vet, love their sensitivity and sweetness with my dogs when it's time. Chose communal cremation for most of them because Mikey, Rusty, Sam, Gunnar, Andy, Sasha, Nicky and Tell are still living in my heart and in my head. Their bodies are of no consequence now. Just as mine will be of no consequence.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

gsdsar said:


> We use a reputable company. They pick up bodies for private and Mass cremation. They are all treated with respect. I am appalled to hear these stories. They are not placed in a dump truck, they are in a refrigerated van.
> 
> In 20 years in the business, I have NEVER been witness to the things people say, and I have worked at multiple practices. Closest would be large animal disposal.
> 
> No matter what, no vet is making 5000 bucks from a dead dog.


Appalled or not, it happens and it's sickening to say the least. Consider yourself lucky not to have to ever see that.The dogs I seen with my two eyes were in a dump truck, definitely not a nice refrigerated truck There was just a story about a truck on its way to the landfill and it lost a couple dogs/cats(10 or so animals--mostly cats and a puppy) on the road. People were horrified and didn't know what was going on or why all the animals were all over the road. I actually saved the picture that was in the story but I'm not posting it, it's to disturbing


----------



## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I have been told that the state vet school in my state pays the shelter around $50-$100 per cadaver. They take whatever dogs were euthanized the day they need the cadavers, small or large. There is NO shortage of very large black dogs on the euthanasia list at most shelters -- they're the hardest to adopt out--so if the vet school needed big dogs, they could find them in municipal shelters very easily.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

In high school most people had to dissect a cat. I say most because I didn't and I wouldn't. I'm guessing those cats were bought for the purpose of learning from somewhere, most likely an animal shelter.


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

I liked the part about the op wanting at least half of the money. And of course the thought that someone would pay 5k for a dead dog.


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

If I had been drinking something when I read the original post I would have likely spit it out at the computer in a midst of amusement and disgust. 

I get there's shady people in the business, but seriously? I've been in many different aspects of the animal industry, and the end result for the animals was really broken down into two different categories. Some animals ended up in the landfill and the others were cremated (whether that meant with other animals or in a way that let them be returned to their owner). 

A woman that I met in our hiking club was talking with me about some place in chicago that was lying to the people who sent animals to be cremated to them. Saying they figured ways to make it so that there wouldn't be ash in the end of the crematory cycle, and it made her suspicious of all crematories. 

I was surprised. I told her that I never felt like that with EITHER crematory that the clinics I currently work with. They were very honest and very kind people who went out of their way to make things not only easy for us, but easy for our clients! One clinic they come out three days a week like clockwork to pick up the animals for cremation and they have been truly wonderful with all requests from owners. They started making claw pawprints for all private cremations, offer them free to the employee pets, and when we were collecting a dog who had passed at home with his owner from the car and bringing him in, they sat back and waited until she had gotten back into her car to leave before they got ANYWHERE near where she was. 

They didn't want to make what was already a horrible experience (the dog passed at home while she was looking for help to get him into a vehicle) and she was so upset about losing him. We all were honestly, because we all had come to adore the lughead of a gladiator dane. 

Even strays or wildlife that come to us, we pay for communal cremation for them. The crematory we use only has 3 options. Communal - which has a place on the way to another city where the ashes are spread, Segregated Private - which is many animals in the chamber, but it is slated so that you get your pet back, and Private Private - which is only one animal within the incinerator. The cost is based on the cost of using the machine. The more animals within there at once the more "efficient" it is, for lack of a better way of putting it.

I too have to say that it's disheartening to see such mistrust and so much focus on the negative. Those who do wrong should be punished, but if you cannot trust your vet, you need another vet. Just like if you can't trust your physician, you need another one. Trust is the MOST important thing in a doctor - client - patient relationship. Without it, there's nothing.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

llombardo said:


> I will NEVER forget what I saw when I worked at the vet and the guy came to pick up the dogs/cats in the freezer for the landfill. The truck(a dump truck type) loaded to the top with dead animals piled on top of each other. It is the most uncaring, disgusting memory I still have today, it is embedded in my head. They were just laying there like pieces of trash, I wanted to throw up. I lost a lot of respect for people in general that day. All of those animals just tossed away like trash and they didn't matter made and still makes me sick.


 I love dogs and cats as much as the next person, but I've never understood the need to revere dead bodies. I don't even get it with human bodies. Once the spirit is gone, the body *is* trash... Of course, one man's trash is another's treasure... in the wild, when an animal dies, the worms, insects, scavengers and microbes would be eating the body. Is that more or less disgusting that being loaded into a truck and taken to a rendering plant to be recycled? 

It's the circle of life. No matter what you do with the body, it's not going to hurt the living being that once used it. I agree that most people shouldn't have to see a dump truck full of dead pets, because most people are so far removed from the cycle of life and death, it would be disturbing to them. In our society, we attempt to hide death and pretend it doesn't exist. I think this only makes the grieving process longer and more difficult.

If you eat meat or wear leather, you have no business getting emotional over a dead animal carcass. Whether in the grocery store cut and wrapped in neat cellophane, or on a road, or in a truck, that body is going to be recycled. Whether into food, fuel, or product, nothing really goes to waste. It's how the animal is treated while it's ALIVE that is important.

And no, I'm not stupid or heartless. If it's your own pet, of course you're going to have an emotional reaction to seeing it dead. That's part of the grieving process. And I'm aware that humans have long-held rituals and beliefs surrounding death, from the days of King Tut until now. I just don't quite understand it.


----------



## my boy diesel (Mar 9, 2013)

> If you eat meat or wear leather, you have no business getting emotional over a dead animal carcass. Whether in the grocery store cut and wrapped in neat cellophane, or on a road, or in a truck, that body is going to be recycled. Whether into food, fuel, or product, nothing really goes to waste. It's how the animal is treated while it's ALIVE that is important.


exactly this!


----------



## Mister C (Jan 14, 2014)

Colie CVT said:


> I too have to say that it's disheartening to see such mistrust and so much focus on the negative. Those who do wrong should be punished, but if you cannot trust your vet, you need another vet. Just like if you can't trust your physician, you need another one. Trust is the MOST important thing in a doctor - client - patient relationship. Without it, there's nothing.


I posted earlier about a bad experience with my former vet after I had my dog PTS. I had asked for cremation but they disposed of the body through other means--probably a landfill. While I was extremely angry at the time for the mixup I got over it and now view it as just that--a mixup. I don't think the vet made any money on the dead dog and he even refunded his fee for the euthanasia. But he also lost my trust that day.

I agree with you. Trust is the most important thing in a doctor-client-patient relationship. 

I trust my current vet. He's a kind, honest man and a very good vet. When his vet tech couldn't draw blood on my 15 year old GSD Maddie he even came to my house the next day to draw the blood himself--at no charge. He also agreed to do in-home euthanasia when the time came. He is the one I relied upon the most when deciding what courses of treatment were best through her years and when we should have Maddie PTS. Even Maddie trusted him.


----------



## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

I happened to work at a shelter where we did cremation service for the public, and the vets in our area would give us the animals for cremation.

We had three options.

Public: which means we do a lot of bodies into the oven and the remains go into the trash- which goes into the dumpster. 

Semi-private: Which means we put (depending on size) 2-4/5 animals into the oven, separated by rocks (even though on the website it says, "In a semi-private cremation, a _barricade_ is placed in the center of the cremation chamber with a pet on each side. Ashes are kept separate and are carefully packaged for return to the owner." They lie!) And we take the ashes/bones out one by one, into trays and than grind up the bones, etc. 

Private: Which was supposed to be JUST that one animal, after a certain amount of weight, there was no option for people. Because the oven can only fit one huge dog obviously. Same thing goes, take the ashes out like that and put in grinder. (Now to save on money, when i was taught to use the oven, we still put other animals in, like with semi-private, because they wanted to save money. I thought this was awful and so dishonest, so i would always strongly suggest for semi-private, so it would be an honest thing.) 

Now i know some cremation services will bury the remains for the public cremations. Which i think is the best thing to do! I would have loved to do this instead.

We had a driver pick up the bodies from Vets, hours away from our shelter, whether they were public, private, or semi-private. Thats what happens around where i live, with the veterinary clinics to the bodies of animals waited to be cremated or if the owners do not want the body.


----------



## Colie CVT (Nov 10, 2013)

You had a valid reason to be upset, Mister C. It was just this overall feeling of mistrust that seems to come up in many veterinary related posts that saddens me. I know that I and those I work with work very hard to help people out as we can and make things right. Even if I know people out there aren't great, I still feel most vets are honest people who care about the animals. Sour apples are tossed about more and that general negative feeling is sad to see from my end of the spectrum.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Freestep said:


> I love dogs and cats as much as the next person, but I've never understood the need to revere dead bodies. I don't even get it with human bodies. Once the spirit is gone, the body *is* trash... Of course, one man's trash is another's treasure... in the wild, when an animal dies, the worms, insects, scavengers and microbes would be eating the body. Is that more or less disgusting that being loaded into a truck and taken to a rendering plant to be recycled?
> 
> It's the circle of life. No matter what you do with the body, it's not going to hurt the living being that once used it. I agree that most people shouldn't have to see a dump truck full of dead pets, because most people are so far removed from the cycle of life and death, it would be disturbing to them. In our society, we attempt to hide death and pretend it doesn't exist. I think this only makes the grieving process longer and more difficult.
> 
> ...


Oh I understand life and death. The sad part was that so many were disposed of as if they were trash and it makes you(general you) wonder how many got to be loved, had a home etc or if their life consisted of neglect, abuse and not being loved. If they are going and they are to the landfill they aren't being recycled, they are being dumped into a huge hole like the rest of the trash and eventually will be buried. The respectful and decent thing to do is to cremate them. I work in the garbage industry, people attempt and probably have gotten away with disposing live animal. I know of one garbage man that got fired when word got out that he ran the blade knowing full well a live puppy was in the trash. I don't believe that any animal is disposable, nor is a person. Out of respect we wouldn't throw a human family member into a landfill, soul or no soul they are buried or cremated properly. It's all a matter of respect for life and death.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I don't think it's a matter of trust or not. I don't think one person ever asked how the animal was disposed of if they didn't want the ashes. They just didn't want to know, if they asked they would have been told. It's that simple. If it's there policy to dispose of bodies by means of a landfill then that is where the dog will go. I'm not sure what people expect?


----------



## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

llombardo said:


> Oh I understand life and death....I don't believe that any animal is disposable, nor is a person. Out of respect we wouldn't throw a human family member into a landfill, soul or no soul they are buried or cremated properly. It's all a matter of respect for life and death.


 Well said


----------



## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

llombardo said:


> I don't think it's a matter of trust or not. I don't think one person ever asked how the animal was disposed of if they didn't want the ashes. They just didn't want to know, if they asked they would have been told. It's that simple. If it's there policy to dispose of bodies by means of a landfill then that is where the dog will go. I'm not sure what people expect?


Although i do agree in a sense; there are some ways you can do it quite easily done by: 
A. throwing it into the woods, water, ocean, mountain, etc.
B. Burying it. 

My manager took home the animals we as the shelter had to put down that were dear to our hearts, and we were all going to go hiking together to dispose of the ashes on a mountain in remembrance and honor of their little and sometimes short lived lives. 

Or you can put in trash bags and put into the ever growing landfills. It works, and i can see why really big shelters have to do this. 

Although i agree with Freestep, when the spirit leaves the body, it no longer is your dog, its flesh. But i also think that the body should be treated respectfully, as thats the same fur that was hugged and kissed, the same face that was looked at, the same body the dog used. And i grow, for lack of better word, a respect for the body after it was carried out of the back of a car wrapped up in a blanket, put into a wagon so i can pull it into the cremation room. Seeing grown men crying and saying goodbye, kissing the face, or giving one last pet and also seeing little kids sitting the back seat of the car with tears in their eyes will tug at your heart. Its very hard to not have "respect" for that body after seeing that. If you can have "respect" for other peoples "possessions" than why not for a body that once held the spirit of someones best friend and family member? 
I mean who didn't cry when Wilson from Cast Away went off into the ocean? And it was not so much the ball, but the relationship that is drifting away that is sad. 
I'm sure its easier if you don't have to do the intake for the cremation. 
I remember a couple times they put down a couple dogs in the shelter, they just stuck the bodies in the freezer, i walked in on one, and it was very upsetting to see the dog i had just seen earlier that day jumping up on its cage to get attention from me, to a lifeless body in the freezer. Would have been easier to see a cadaver bag with a tag on it with its name.


----------



## trcy (Mar 1, 2013)

The vet in west los angeles told me they would do a mass cremation and the ashes are put in the ocean. I also overheard my local emergency vet telling a couple the same thing. 

If I was told they were going into a landfill I would probably have chosen private.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I used to have to put them in a bag after they were put to sleep. For most of them I was the last thing they saw. Some of them were put to sleep for no reason. The last one, the one that broke my heart and essentially ended my career in that field was a Doberman named Harley. He was 2 years old, his owner kept making appointments and canceling them to have the dog put to sleep. The owner claimed he was aggressive. I looked into the records and this particular owner had several dogs, all GSD's and dobes and all were put to sleep before the age if two, a red flag to say the least. One day he just walked in with the dog, signed the papers and left. The dog had bruises in him and the vet determined the dog was abused. The dog was so happy and loveable, we never even put him in the cage, he ran around the office greeting and kissing everyone. I would have brought him home in a minute but the vet on duty wouldn't allow that. I held that dog and cried as the people he found and trusted instantly put him down. I cried like he was my own. I even kept his collar and named my next male pet which was a cat Harley in memory of him. That was the last dog I bagged up, I quit the next day. Many years later when I had to put my lab down I called a vet and explained I needed him put to sleep, they stated that they would not euthanize a dog unless the dog was not healthy. That day I gained back respect for the practice and appreciated that another dog like Harley wouldn't be put to sleep in this vets office, it made me feel slightly better to know that some vets made that their practice.


----------



## sparra (Jun 27, 2011)

It's pretty simple.....If you want to know what happens to your dead dog take it home and do it yourself or pay the money to have it cremated and returned to you.
If you aren't willing to do either of these things and you surrender your dog's body for someone else to deal with expect it to end up in a mass grave somewhere not all that nice.


----------



## Tiffseagles (May 12, 2010)

The vet I worked for had bodies picked up by this company: Abbey Glen Pet Memorial Park

The school I'm attending gets dissection dogs from a shelter (they were slated to be euthanized anyway).


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

llombardo said:


> If they are going and they are to the landfill they aren't being recycled, they are being dumped into a huge hole like the rest of the trash and eventually will be buried.


 I keep hearing people say that pets go to the landfill, but around here, that's actually illegal. You can't put pets in the trash; vets and shelters contract with the local rendering plant (if the owner has not chosen private cremation) and they send a truck (that looks just like a garbage truck) to pick up the bodies. Most likely the dump truck you saw was going to the rendering plant, where the bodies would be recycled along with slaughterhouse waste, roadkill, used restaurant oil, etc. It's not a pretty thing to think about, but I'd rather see animal bodies be recycled than buried in a landfill.



> I know of one garbage man that got fired when word got out that he ran the blade knowing full well a live puppy was in the trash. I don't believe that any animal is disposable, nor is a person. Out of respect we wouldn't throw a human family member into a landfill, soul or no soul they are buried or cremated properly. It's all a matter of respect for life and death.


 Okay if someone is throwing a LIVE animal into the garbage, that's totally different.

As for the rest, like I said, I simply don't understand the human reverence for dead bodies. It just seems weird and morbid to me. When I die, I want to be thrown into the wilderness for wild animals to eat. I realize that I'm kind of weird in this respect.




VTGirlT said:


> But i also think that the body should be treated respectfully, as thats the same fur that was hugged and kissed, the same face that was looked at, the same body the dog used. And i grow, for lack of better word, a respect for the body after it was carried out of the back of a car wrapped up in a blanket, put into a wagon so i can pull it into the cremation room. Seeing grown men crying and saying goodbye, kissing the face, or giving one last pet and also seeing little kids sitting the back seat of the car with tears in their eyes will tug at your heart. Its very hard to not have "respect" for that body after seeing that. If you can have "respect" for other peoples "possessions" than why not for a body that once held the spirit of someones best friend and family member?


 I understand what you're saying. I'm human too.  I have had to euthanize many animals in my lifetime, and I was always there with them, holding them and kissing them as they passed. Surely at that moment, I do not want anything bad to happen to that body. But once the spirit is gone and the body is an empty shell, it's no longer mine and it doesn't really matter where it goes. I don't know if that makes sense or not.



> very upsetting to see the dog i had just seen earlier that day jumping up on its cage to get attention from me, to a lifeless body in the freezer.


 Yes, the first time you see that makes or breaks your career in veterinary medicine or shelter work. Even if you can go on after that, it's going to get to you after a while. You can go day by day, but there's always that moment where you realize the emotional toll of it all. 

I don't work in veterinary medicine anymore.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Freestep said:


> I keep hearing people say that pets go to the landfill, but around here, that's actually illegal. You can't put pets in the trash; vets and shelters contract with the local rendering plant (if the owner has not chosen private cremation) and they send a truck (that looks just like a garbage truck) to pick up the bodies. Most likely the dump truck you saw was going to the rendering plant, where the bodies would be recycled along with slaughterhouse waste, roadkill, used restaurant oil, etc. It's not a pretty thing to think about, but I'd rather see animal bodies be recycled than buried in a landfill.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I worked at the vet and I know for a fact they were going to the landfill.


----------



## my boy diesel (Mar 9, 2013)

how many years ago was that llomb?


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

my boy diesel said:


> how many years ago was that llomb?


I worked there about 13 years ago. For the last 8 yrs I have worked in the garbage industry and deal with landfills quite often, on a daily basis.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Freestep said:


> I keep hearing people say that pets go to the landfill, but around here, that's actually illegal. You can't put pets in the trash; vets and shelters contract with the local rendering plant (if the owner has not chosen private cremation) and they send a truck (that looks just like a garbage truck) to pick up the bodies. Most likely the dump truck you saw was going to the rendering plant, where the bodies would be recycled along with slaughterhouse waste, roadkill, used restaurant oil, etc. It's not a pretty thing to think about, but I'd rather see animal bodies be recycled than buried in a landfill.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

The public shelter in my city puts them in trash bags and piles them into a truck to go to the landfill.


----------



## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Tiffseagles said:


> The school I'm attending gets dissection dogs from a shelter (they were slated to be euthanized anyway).


Well..."slated" is relative here...

Shelters sometimes quietly "move up" euth dates to satisfy the vet school "orders" for cadavers. They keep that very quiet though. The order of X cadavers at $50 each on Y date may shape the euth list on the day before Y -- they have to euthanize at least X number of dogs to fill the "order." So they do, adding some if needed. I could out shelters where I'm very certain this has happened, and the vet schools unknowingly causing it with large "orders" -- but I won't as I have a feeling it's actually quite common place.


----------



## Bridget (Apr 5, 2004)

Quite a few years ago, I lost my cat of 19 years. I was quite young and felt as you do, Freestep, that his spirit was gone, and that it didn't really make any difference what happened to the body. I had my nephew tote the body out to the woods near where my mother-in-law lived so others could feast upon it. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Now when I think about my dear friend, I really regret it. It seems very disrespectful and I would not do it that way again. 

I always ask for the single cremation and have the ashes returned to me. I trust my vet as much as I trust anyone, but I do often wonder if these are really "my" ashes. I try not to overthink it. It is the symbolism that is important anyhow.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Bridget said:


> Quite a few years ago, I lost my cat of 19 years. I was quite young and felt as you do, Freestep, that his spirit was gone, and that it didn't really make any difference what happened to the body. I had my nephew tote the body out to the woods near where my mother-in-law lived so others could feast upon it. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Now when I think about my dear friend, I really regret it. It seems very disrespectful and I would not do it that way again.


 We had some barn cats when I first moved here and for a while, we lost one after another. It was heartbreaking. My husband buried one of them in the backyard. About three weeks later, my dog dug up the body.  That wasn't fun. In retrospect, I'd rather the body had gone to the rendering plant.

I have one barn cat left, and she comes indoors now.

I understand that no one wants to see (or even think about) something "bad" happening to their pet, even after the spirit has left the body. I guess that, having worked in veterinary medicine and in shelters, I've seen a lot of euthanasia and I've gotten closer to life and death than the average pet owner. 

My husband is very sensitive, so I am always the one to deal with end-of-life issues for our pets.


----------



## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Freestep said:


> About three weeks later, my dog dug up the body.  That wasn't fun. In retrospect, I'd rather the body had gone to the rendering plant.


I was out of town at a horse show when my husband called to tell me we had lost our old Aussie. He buried him 'out back'. When I got home I found out he buried him out in our back pasture instead of the back yard. I went out to pay my respects and found that the coyotes had dug him up. 

A mistake my husband never made again.


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Freestep, what's a rendering plant?


----------



## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

lalachka said:


> Freestep, what's a rendering plant?


 
A rendering plant is where they grind the bodies of animals, fats and waste are boiled off and the meat mush is put into cookers...

Undercover video...Note: viewer discretion 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DTzDfYMxo


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Rendering is the process of cooking down proteins and fats. Ever see a can of lard? That is rendered pork fat. Here's a pretty good article that explains what happens at a rendering plant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(animal_products)


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

I know what rendering plants are. I just thought that they don't exist for pets. And when you said you'd rather your pet have gone to a rendering plant I got stuck. 

So this is something widely accepted? Where is the fat used?


----------



## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

lalachka said:


> I know what rendering plants are. I just thought that they don't exist for pets. And when you said you'd rather your pet have gone to a rendering plant I got stuck.
> 
> So this is something widely accepted? Where is the fat used?


 soaps. lipstick. etc.


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

GatorBytes said:


> soaps. lipstick. etc.


Wonderful, we wash with dead dogs and wear them to..


----------



## my boy diesel (Mar 9, 2013)

that is your choice as a consumer
to know what is in your products and choose wisely
not that tough of concept


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

Some things I wish I didn't know. That's one of them.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

thank god I have vets who cry with me when I lose a pet as if they were their own. All my animals are privately cremated and returned to me. 

If I had to dump animals like some of these horrible stories, I don't think I could sleep at nite


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

It's not pretty to think about it, but it's reality. We have to have a means of recycling waste. Including animal bodies. I have immense respect for animals while they are still in their bodies, but I do not revere the empty shell the animal once occupied. I don't revere dead human bodies either, and I'm willing to accept that I'm a little weird in this respect.

From the Wikipedia article:

"The rendering industry is one of the oldest recycling industries, and made possible the development of a large food industry. The industry takes what would otherwise be waste materials and makes useful products such as fuels, soaps, rubber, plastics, etc. At the same time, rendering solves what would otherwise be a major disposal problem. As an example, the USA recycles more than 21 million metric tons annually of highly perishable and noxious organic matter. In 2004, the U.S. industry produced over 8 million metric tons of products, of which 1.6 million metric tons were exported.
Usually, materials used as raw materials in the rendering process are susceptible to spoilage. However, after rendering, the materials are much more resistant to spoiling.[_citation needed_] This is due to the application of heat either through cooking in the wet rendering process or the extraction of fluid in the dry rendering process. The fat obtained can be used as low-cost raw material in making grease, animal feed, soap, candles, biodiesel, and as a feed-stock for the chemical industry. Tallow, derived from beef waste, is an important raw material in the steel rolling industry providing the required lubrication when compressing steel sheets. The meat and the bones (which are in a dry, ground state) are converted to what is known as meat and bone meal.
In the absence of the rendering industry, the cost of waste disposal of waste animal material would be very high and would place a significant economic and environmental burden on areas involved in industrial scale slaughtering. This cost may manifest itself through the expensive use of sanitary landfills, incinerators and other similar waste disposal techniques without yielding profit directly out of it leading to the incurrence of opportunity costs. Using substitute products to rendering products may not necessarily prove to be lesser in cost."


----------



## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

I don't think you're weird. I'm the same way.


----------



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I don't ask for the ashes back. My vet has a deal with the crematory. At least that is the story. I am with them until they are dead if I put them down, but once the spirit goes, I too am not too concerned with the shell. They are gone. The shell, if left alone will decompose and draw scavengers and bugs. I guess I am just way more concerned with what happens to them while they are alive than what happens after death.


----------



## Cheyanna (Aug 18, 2012)

Freestep said:


> Personally, I don't get attached to the physical form once the spirit is gone. The dead body is nothing but an empty shell, now food for worms and microbes. So to me, it doesn't matter what happens to the body after my pet dies--I've always had the vet take care of it with "communal cremation".
> 
> In fact, when I die, I hope my body can be used for science or something useful, rather than being buried in a hermetically sealed coffin and taking up space in the ground. That, to me, seems wasteful.



I am with you. I hold to the Klingon rule. Upon death, the soul leaves the body and the physical part is nothing more than an empty wrapper. I hope Fiona out lives me, so I don't have to actually test my theory.

But I have signed up with a local medical school to get my empty wrapper. Toss it on the body farm for all I care.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your baby, OP.


----------

