Rest In Peace

a pet's funeral proper arrangements and ceremony?

my Bunny died - On Easter!, i had him for more than half my life - and all my friends asked if i had a funeral but i said it was childish so i want to know how i would go about having a funeral for my bunny, Mintey.

Public Comments

1. im a big animal lover, and i see nothing wrong in having a funeral for it, u might as well say he was your baby, definetely have a funeral for him, and either have it in ur backyard or go to some kind of open field where its not being used for anything, and invite only the serious people who thinks nothing is wrong with this, sorry and good luck.
2. I'm very sorry for your loss. It's never easy to lose a beloved member of your family, regardless of his species. I've been to a number of funerals and memorial services for deceased humans, and their formats have varied widely. Some were very religious and formal, and others were less formal celebrations of the life of the deceased at which people took turns sharing happy memories of the person. Some funerals included hymns, some included candles, and some included everyday objects the mourners associated with the deceased. The point is that you can plan whatever kind of ceremony you feel would be best for honoring Mintey's life and providing comfort to the people he left behind. There are plenty of options to choose from. I'd suggest inviting only people who knew Mintey. That will probably mean your family and any friends who spent a lot of time at your house. These will be the people who will understand whatever symbolism you go with, whether it's serving baby carrots in memory of the excited way Mintey would grab his carrots and run off with them, or whatever else you find meaningful. If you choose to have people share their memories of Mintey, I suggest letting them know in advance that you'll be asking them to do that so they'll have time to think what to say. If Mintey was adopted from a shelter, you might want to make a donation to that shelter or the House Rabbit Society ( http://www.rabbit.org/ ) in memory of him. Personally, I'm never comfortable with asking other people to make donations, but I do sometimes mention the donations I've made and hope my friends will get the hint that them making a similar donation would bring more comfort to me than flowers or sympathy cards. Anyway, I hope you'll be able to plan whatever type of ceremony would be most meaningful to you. If you don't want to have a ceremony at all, that's fine too. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. People mourn in different ways, and you should mourn in whatever way works for you. One final bit of advice: If you don't want another rabbit in your life at this time (e.g., if you're planning to go to college in a few years and know you won't be able to take a rabbit with you), you may want to mention this to the people around you. Otherwise, there's a chance one of them will seek to comfort you by showing up with a new rabbit to "replace" Mintey. It horrifies me that people do this, but it's happened to me! One of my guinea pigs had died the day before, and my veterinarian handed me a new guinea pig and said she was for me! I was aghast, because I'd just spent hundreds of dollars on vet care and had decided I'd wait until I had a better paying job before getting any new pets. Anyway, if any of your friends or relatives are the type of person to hand you a new rabbit and tell you his name is "Mintey II", you may want to make it clear that's not something you want. Even if you DO want to adopt another rabbit, you should be able to choose the rabbit yourself. Sorry again for your loss.