do you like to snuggle your pig once theyve passed?

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Hanwombat

Hanwombat

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Years ago when one of my pigs died I'd get my dad to put him in a box and that would be that, I feared seeing them dead, but since I lost Fennel several years ago there is nothing I love more that a good last snuggle with them once they've passed.

After Lentil died he was still warm and limp, he still looked alive, we had a good old snuggle for about 30 mins, i really didn't want to put him in the box.

The way I see it is that I'm going 24, I could have another 60 years ahead of me and I have to now wait that long to see Lentil and my other pigs gorgeous faces again so what's one last snuggle once they're dead gonna hurt?
 
I think this is down to opinion. I shouldn't have animals really as i get really freaked out by dead things, i am dreading the day i come across one of my piggies after it is passed. When we lost Honey, i couldn't believe how quickly she went rigid and it really upset me and freaked me out, i couldn't hold her. She was wrapped in a towel, i asked my OH just to uncover her face and a little of her body (as i didn't want to see her legs with how they had gone) and i touched her and blew her a kiss.

So in short, i personally wouldn't sunggle i dont think, as before, i would stroke and blow a kiss, but i think that would be all i could handle.

This probably makes me sound really childish, but it is just me, i just cant handle dead things, i am the same with humans, i have only ever once gone to a chapel of rest, and i only did that for the sake of my OH (it was his nan) and whilst i was glad he didn;t go alone, i regretted going, she didn't look peaceful and asleep as everyone assured me she would, she looked like what she was - a corpse in a coffin, and that has just confirmed that saying final goodbyes isn't my thing.

xx
 
I too used to have a real phobia of dead animals and still do! When my Casper rabbit died, he was PTS at the vet. I never saw him and it was my mum who stayed with him whilst he was PTS.

When my Connie pig died, I didn't want to look at her but hubby convinced me to say goodbye. I just blew her a kiss whilst she was still in the hutch.

Since then I have lost 2 hamsters and three gerbils and I couldn't touch any of them apart from my gerbil, Den who died a couple of months ago. Hubby had gone to work and because I had two gerbils, I couldn't leave Den dead in the tank with Doug so I had no choice but to remove him. I am not going to lie, it was horrible and took me nearly 2 hours!

However, I started doing an animal nursing course in April where I have to do a few hours a week in a vets. I am now used to seeing dead animals and am now just getting used to removing cats after they have been PTS.

I know it is much different when losing a pet of your own but after doing the work I have been doing, I really hope I won't be as scared when one of my piggies sadly leaves me.
 
Claire W said:
I couldn't leave Den dead in the tank with Doug so I had no choice but to remove him. I am not going to lie, it was horrible and took me nearly 2 hours!
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The thought of being in this situation scares me so much, being on my own and HAVING to remove of of them, especially if they have been there a long time. I dread to think how i will cope if i am in this situation. I think i would have to do it with a towel or something.

And with the being PTS thing, i couldn't be there when it was being done, i feel awful about it, but i just wouldn't be able to.

xx
 
I have a last snuggle if possible. It's my way of saying good bye.
 
Toffeewoffee said:
The thought of being in this situation scares me so much, being on my own and HAVING to remove of of them, especially if they have been there a long time. I dread to think how i will cope if i am in this situation. I think i would have to do it with a towel or something.

And with the being PTS thing, i couldn't be there when it was being done, i feel awful about it, but i just wouldn't be able to.

xx
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When an animal is PTS it is different than when an animal dies naturally. I won't put why on here as some people may prefer not to know although it is very peaceful. Again, I'm not sure I could watch one of my own pets :(

With Den, I had to wear a wooly glove and I didn't look at him. Originally, i was going to take Doug out but he wouldn't come out from under the shelf where Den was laying.

After 24 hours of an animal dying, their body begins to go soft again so they wouldn't necessarily be rock hard (sorry, I don't know of a nicer way of putting it)

I still dread finding one of my piggies though :(
 
Absolutely, I've always hugged mine for a while after, in fact I've struggled to let them go, i feel awful putting them in the cold ground 8...
But yes, it's just another way to say goodbye.
 
Glad I'm not the only one, I'm the same, I just dont want to let them go, I really had to make myself stop snuggling lentil last night
 
Hi,

I have only ever had to have one guineapig put to sleep and that was last year. I didn't watch the Vet he took her to another room and brought her back to me. I was in tears before, during and when paying.

I stroked her all day until evening when we buried her as I didn't want to let her go.

I think it was the most upsetting stressful thing I have had to go through. I dread having to go through it again, I don't think I would cope with it again.

Silly.
 
Luckily for me I've never had to be through this with my piggies. I dread the day it comes.

I don't know what I'd personally do. I hate seeing anything dead. I couldn't even go see my grandad in his casket when I was allowed to. That day I had the worst 3 lessons at school that I always dreaded Wednesday for, but I went even so as I couldn't bare to see my loved one that way.

...I think... I might want to hug them depending on how they look. If they look like they normall do but just asleep I think I'd hug him and not want to let go but if they took on that rigid form I think I'd feel too sad to see them that way and be unable to.
 
I deal with death a lot. I assist in euthanasia, I break the news to people that their animal has been found dead etc. so I've seen a lot of reactions, and trust me, one last hug is probably the least weird of them all! :x
 
I snuggle all my lost babies right until the very last second, until they are ready to be buried, i cant help it, i dont want to let them go.

I also take a picture :red

Its just my thing 8...
 
Toffeewoffee said:
I feel like an awful, selfish piggy owner now :(
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Don't hun, we're all different. Some people want to remember their pet as they were when they were alive as opposed to deceased, even if they do often look like they're sleeping. I didn't visit my Nan in the chapel of rest because I didn't want that to be my last memory of her (having looked after her for 3 years). I did stand outside at night and read her a poem tho, that was the last thing i could do to say goodbye :red
 
Toffeewoffee said:
I feel like an awful, selfish piggy owner now :(
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It is all down to personal choice. Some people like to remember their pets the way they were and not what they looked like when the died.

We had a lady bring her 14 year old cat to the vets last week to be PTS. She was in hysterics, didn't want to stay through the precedure and chose not to take the body home.

She isn't a bad owner, it was just her personal choice. You're not awful and selfish at all xx
 
I shook like a leaf when I found Percy-Roo, I tried to wake him and I didnt realise I was screaming daves name (he gently pulled me back) and told me he was gone. He had thick white gunk in his mouth and we couldnt close his jaw shut so i kept him on his side.

We sat in the utilty with Percy-Roo on my lap, stroking him for about half an hour talking to him about our favourite moments with him, we then lined the shoe box with soft tissue and wrapped him white tissue paper. I sang to him whilst my OH dug out his burial spot, and then we went inside I cried for about two weeks.

In those two weeks - this sounds gross i know- i wanted to dig him back up as i just wanted him near and he doesn't belong on the ground but i reminded myself that whats left is a shell, his spirit and that personality that i love is now painfree in heaven.

I still say hello whenever I pass his grave, but it still hasnt properly sunk in yet that I'm not going to see him again. :(

Anywhoos I've buried quite a few pets and wildies, a wild bunny with mixi was the hardest i found a spot in the woods nearby (so no kids didnt get hold of her/him) and buried her under a layer of leaves and said goodbye. I've also buried four wild rats which died a slow death from poising (my OH wanted to chuck them in the bin) but i popped them all together in a shoe box, and i've lost count of the birds we've buried from the cats in our area :(
 
Toffeewoffee said:
I feel like an awful, selfish piggy owner now :(
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Don't...everyone believes different. I've withheld my views until now, but they are this...

I'm not religious or spiritual or anything. Death is normal, it happens to everyone and everything. As far as I'm concerned, when you die, that's it; if there's more after that, then great, I'll find out when I get there! For me, the person/animal is the personality, and the body is the vessel that carries it around, and death just leaves the vessel behind; it's the personality that's gone.

They can do what they want with me when I die. They can have my organs while they're viable, when I get to the age that they're no good, then I shall change my wishes to have my body used for anatomical examination.

Who knows, maybe I'll be more useful in death than in life :))
 
I know exactly how you are feeling Toffewoffee

We have had 5 hamsters who have all passed and I have never held any of them afterwards. I am too scared, I think like others have said that its the rigidness that gets me, and they looked sort of shrunken if you know what I mean? My youngest daughter sat for ages cradling them bless her.

I only saw my dad when he had died as I lived far away and didnt get there in time 8... it really upset me to see him in the coffin. I knew I had to as I may well have regretted not doing so. Until then I had refused even when it was my nan. I preferred to remember her as she was.

None of my piggies have passed as yet but when Alfie was poorly I thought a lot about if I had to have him PTS. I would have gone to the vet with him and held him I think, so I was the last thing he saw. Maybe its because the hammies were the girls, and the piggies are mine that I now feel I would be able to cope with possibly holding them.

But I shall just have to see when the time comes. We all have diffrent feelings on death, there isnt a right or wrong way to cope just to do what is right for each of us.... x
 
I just have to share my most recent story related to this thread. It sums me up totally. I am at work, just went to make myself a coffee, opened the fridge to get the milk out and saw something red wrapped in a carrier bag, curiosity got the better of me so i picked it up to take a closer look and find out what it was, then i realised, freaked out and dropped it.
It is my bosses lunch.... lobster or possibly a crab.

Ooo them antenna things really got me.

So i just dont do dead things.

Dont tell my boss i dropped his lunch on the floor, it was wrapped in a carrier bag.
 
Laura your memories of Percy's passing has brought me to tears :0 It reminded me of when the pet cremation service brought Rodney to me in a little casket, so I could say my good byes.

It was lined with white fleece, and he had a little white rose in with him.He looked beautiful. I had 1 hour with him, before they came to collect him for his cremation. I dont think I have ever cried so much in my life during that hour. The feeling of complete and utter devastation at the loss of my boy, is a pain I hope I never have to experience again. We had such a close bond. I sent him to the rainbow bridge in his favorite bed, some grass and a little "good bye" note :(

When my cat died, he was PTS after kidney failure. I brought him home in his favorite bed and again spent some time with him, before we buried him. He also looked beautiful, his fur was so soft (it had got a bit scraggy in the last few months of his life), and he just looked like he was curled up asleep.

I dont handle death very well at all, especially in animals but for me I have to say my goodbyes. its all a matter of choice, and whatever your choice its neither right nor wrong....you are doing what is best for you.
 
No, not at all. I understand why some people do, but I just DON'T.

When Picchu went I wanted him buried as soon as possible. I held on to him and stroked his head while my OH's dad dug the hole for me, but that was it. I don't have a problem with dead things per se (unless they're starting to decompose or something... sorry to be icky), but... He'd been so sick and it had already been so hard. I'd been so emotional for days, and I knew he wasn't going to make it through the day, and once he finally gave up I just didn't have much left to be honest. I probably seemed to harden up a bit, but I just wanted him sorted and at peace immediately once he'd gone.

Like people have said here, everyone reacts differently.
 
The only time I dealt with a piggy dying was when I was little but I can relate with deaths of 2 cats.

One was missing for about 3 days and ended up getting into some poison or something and we couldn't get him to the vet in time. They gave him antibiotics and said they hope he pulls through. We went somewhere 2 days later and came back home to my boyfriend meeting me at the door telling me he had passed. I was devastated and went running into the house insisting it couldn't be true. I cuddled him for hours until we put him in the ground with his favorite toys and a blanket.

The other cat was about 2 years later and he was the one that healed my heart from the last one I told you about. He ended up getting into a fight with a stray cat in the neighborhood and had to get his tail amputated after it got infected. He kept biting the incision and had to be stitched up 3 times. The vet said they couldn't do it again because he didn't have enough skin left on his bum left to fix it again, but no matter how hard we tried he tore it open again. We had to take him to the vet to be PTS and I Cuddled him the whole way there and held them while then did the procedure. I told him I loved him while it happened and cuddled him until my parents made me put him in the ground.

I still get teary eyed walking past their burial spots (next to each other) and whisper that I love them 8...
 
Most of my animals from hamsters to rabbits and guinea pigs look for me if I'm about when its nearly there time to go! They wont settle until i gently pick them up and nurse them in my arms gently talking to them saying how much i love them and thanking them for being such a good friend,
It is hard as they struggle for that last breath and it does really upset me as theres just nothing i can do only comfort them which is there choosing! As said they wont settle and call for me,
I just seem to know its there time to pass and if my little animal friend/friends want to be on me when it happens i will let them even tho it is upsetting its also a great honor!
And when they have passed il keep hold of them for awhile gently stroking them as I'm crying saying how much i loved them and thanking them for being such a bundle of joy....
I then put them in there enclosure for a while open all windows, and when it come time to bury them i gently wrap them up in biodegradable tissue/material with there favourite toy,a little food parcel.........
Even though i do all this it does still effect me I'm usually upset for days/wks depending, i lost magi my syrian hamster in sept which my brother brought me for a christmas gift so he was abit special, and thought after that i dont want to go through this every couple of years or so its heartbreaking,so i asked if i could have a guinea pig instead as they live for mch longer (usually) and i had them before,also rabbits............
I think it depends on you if you can have that last cuddle with a passed animal friend,some people are ok with it and some people just cant handle it,plus its very very upsetting,so i guess it depends on how you are,
But did you know Hearing is the last thing to go when dying,infact you can still hear after you have passed for a few mins!.......(i know personally as my mum was dying and she still remembers everything and even that the nurses saying be careful what you say as hearing is the last thing to go on human+animal alike! She did die but they managed to bring her back with those things they shock your heart with!
 
When we found our baby winston when he had passed, i ended up snuggling and snuggling and snuggling - my hubby had to take him off me in the end :(
 
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