When my collie Cosmo passed away at the age of 12+ last summer, I was able
to donate his body to a local veterinary school. He had so many medical
problems during his life I thought his body would be good to learn from and
that maybe some of his suffering could go to something positive. I learned
about it through the emergency vet that I took him to after he passed away,
the school picked his body up from them. For this particular school, if your
dog is under 65 lbs they will return the ashes to you on request, but it can
take up to 2 years. Not that this is for you at this time, but I wanted to
share what I learned in case others may be interested. This particular
veterinary college was outside of Los Angeles where I live. Its probably not
an option everywhere.

Most importantly, best wishes and healing thoughts for Tyson.

Michele / Los Angeles


> From: Michael and Jennifer WhiteWolf Crock <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Farm Collie Breed Conservancy and Restoration
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 02:45:24 -0700
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [FARMCOLLIE] Tyson report
> 
> Tyson held in there pretty good today, probably better than I did to be
> honest about it.
> 
> We have to face the inevitable,  and though we have the high hopes and
> best intentions to help Tyson along  as best we an can for him, we do
> recognize that  it would be good idea to make arrangements in advance,
> so that were not running around deep in grief looking for final services
> on the spur a sad moment. We found a place that specializes in Pet
> cremation, and at reasonable prices. They do only individual cremation,
> not mixing a larger number of animals all in one. Everything is done
> on-site and the best part it is that have a very nice comfortable room
> set aside for you and your Vet, if it is appropriate not to wait for a
> natural passing over.  If your pet passes at home, they will even come
> to your home to pick up the body. If someone wanted to, they even allow
> you stay with your pet after passing, all the way to the cremation room
> and if you want to stay there until it is all over, they also allow
> that. I think I might have too hard a time with that though.
> 
>