#poor girly is so brachycephalic

[froody]

Seeing that pic of your family's taxidermied cats was really cool actually - I couldn't bear to be parted with my cat after she died so I had her cremated and I keep her with me - but if I'd have known a taxidermy service I might have considered that instead, it makes me so sad I'll never see her again except in pictures

That wasn’t me, though I’m a total advocate of pet taxidermy but we haven’t had any of our pets taxidermied yet. I would love to know who OP was.

Dealing with a pet’s death is so difficult that exploring options in that moment is almost impossible. I am so so sorry for your loss and I hope navigating grief becomes easier for you. Even if she only lives on in memories and photos now, she still made a mark on this world and I’m sure she knew how much you loved her.

Below the cut are some options and tips on preserving a pet’s remains after death for future reference or anyone who would like to know more:

If anyone is interested in taxidermying their pet’s remains after death, I recommend looking for a taxidermist before the pet dies and writing their pricing and contact details down. It’s kind of difficult to find a taxidermist who will work with pets because of the taboo, the fear that the customer will not realize the animal won’t look wholly lifelike and the difficulty of navigating the US’s weird laws around the remains of certain animals like cats. (It is legal, you are paying for a service done to the animal and not the animal’s remains themselves.) You may have to ship your pet’s frozen remains to the taxidermist if they live fair away, this is not a problem for most taxidermists who deal with exotics such as pets. Taxidermy is an art form and it’s important to find a taxidermy artist you like and feel comfortable with the pricing. You can get your pet soft mounted or traditionally mounted. One fills their remains with wire and stuffing so they can be possible and huggable, the other mounts them on a foam or wooden form in one particular pose but usually stands the test of time better.

When you get a new pet, I highly recommend every one starts an emergency fund if capable. That money can be used for unexpected vet bills, future body preservation expenses or whatever you may need.

Additional forms of pet preservation are freeze drying (a form of preservation that freeze-dries the entire pet in a certain position with the organs intact), wet specimens (animals within preservation liquid and kept in glass containers, only feasible for small pets), diaphonization (a process for small animals the bones and cartilage are stained beautiful colors and the rest of the remains are dissolved, the remains are then kept in a solution within a glass container) or skeletonization (where the body is reduced to a skeleton and you can have it re-articulated in its entirety or keep parts of the remains such as the skull, taxidermy usually only utilizes the hide of the animal, if you choose to get your pet taxidermied, you can have the rest of their remains skeletonized if you desire).

If you’re not squeamish and looking for a cheaper option, you can DIY some preservation methods. I highly recommend in-ground skeletonization. You bury the animal in a permeable bag and allow them to decompose naturally over a period of time before cleaning their skeletal remains. This is good because you can have a traditional funeral for your pet and months or years to distance yourself from the grief before you process their remains. The process is a little different than commercial skeletonization which is usually done by beetles within a short period of time. The bones may be stained even after cleaning but if that’s not something you’re worried about, DIY skeletonization may be for you.

You can also DIY wet specimens. This works better for small pets like insects, small fish, mollusks etc.