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Barking at The Moon
Question: Should animal crematoriums and animal cemetaries have specific rules, regulations and guidelines for operating their facilities?

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~catzbarking

Durante's ashes

Contributed by: Monica Koziol   on 8/19/2007

Our cat Durante was very cool - that's the purpose for this blog - this cat memoir - because he was unique and he died tragically and way too soon just because he was being a cat!!!

On Tuesday Aug, 7, 2007 - our cat Durante was run over by a car very near our home. A woman had called me to say she found him and pulled him off the road. I was panic stricken because I had just let him in the yard less than 30 minutes before I found him. I blanketed his body and placed him into a box.

I telephoned my vet and someone was going to come to pick up his body so he could be cremated. I was not able to drive that distance in the state I was in. I had waited a few hours and his body was outside in the hear and humidity. I wanted him to be cared for sooner than later. So I took him to a vet's office near our home: Belleview West where I was assured they did cremation and he would be cared for, and it would take a week.

The next morning, after very little sleep, I had a terrible feeling and called the vet to find out about Durante and they said they sent him to Denver Animal Disposal. I became panicked again and got the "disposal" company's phone number. Something inside me said something didn't seem right. I questioned the receptionist about what I could expect. They assured me all would be fine, they used this man for many years and never had a problem. The name sounded horrible and I felt horrible and that I had done the wrong thing.

We paid $150 to Belleview West and Robert Nice, the manager of Denver Animal "Disposal", assured me by telling me that Durante was placed in a metal container and his tags were in the container with the ashes. The receptionist at Belleview West said it usually takes a week and I could pick him up then. I did not want to wait so I drove to this site on Thursday August 9. Robert told me to meet him at 11am. and said that's when he would be there even though I prefered to meet him on Wednesday.

Robert showed up at his facilty with what are suppose to be Durante's ashes. He said the metal bell was burned up yet, I found it in the ashes the way I found it under his body. Durante's ashes were not at the place Robert told me to meet him, but rather with Mr. Nice. They were inside a small metal container with a hand written label; "Durante Koziol" . I asked him how they do these individual incinerations of the deceased animals.

We were standing feet away from the incinerator. It wasn't hot, just very blackened on the outside where I assumed was the door. He said he usually burns 400 lbs. of carcasses and then the oven is still at temp so that's when they do the individuals.

--So how is it that my cat was burned so quickly?
--Did they have 400 lbs of deceased animals?

Our cat's body was not stored in refrigeration to be burned after these communal burns of the deceased. I was assured that this facility is certified and health inspected.

--By what entity and where is the certificate from the vet or someone about my cat...?
--Who are we to believe?

This man handed me a metal tin and then proceeded to try to sell me a poly-resin container - "urn" as he referred to it that was etched with cats all around, including a tiny golden sticker on the bottom reading "Made in China" for which he wanted $59.95. I broke down and said no thanks! Then realizing that I probably was taken in because after all, the only way to prove these are our Durante's ashes is to have a DNA test.

I am asking The Denver Channel to help us - my mom and I - find out if these really are our cat's remains, because we simply don't know.

I have an awful feeling about all of this and am terribly saddened by Durnate's death and that I trusted someone else to look after him other than our usual Veterinarian practice and staff.

She and I loved this cat so very much and his demise has left us feeling empty and taken in.

Our home is empty without Mr. D.

You can readHis-Story and what we are trying to accomplish at:
catz-barking.blogspot.com.


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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Submitted By: Monica Koziol
posted on 3/6/2008 @ 9:11:16 AM
(Not Rated)
catz-barking.blogspot.com is no longer active. It was not that content was objectionable, however some glitch occured with the server and dropped my account. All that remains are some cached pages of the original blog.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Monica Koziol
posted on 3/6/2008 @ 9:09:32 AM
(Not Rated)
The original blog was dropped due to some type of server glitch at Blogger.com so...http://catz-barking.blogspot.com/ is no longer. Just some cached pages remain with Google. The following is the new location: http://my.opera.com/Zorya%20Kot/blog/ Nothing has changed. THough I am waiting on some money due me and am in hope that I can finally take this to civil court. Need $$$ in case I DON'T win. I still want to know who's ashes I have.
[Report as objectionable]
Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Monica Koziol

Littleton , CO

Monica Koziol has posted 1 blog entry and 2 comments since joining on 8/19/2007. Monica Koziol 's average blog rating is 0.
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