Emotionally taxing: Area taxidermists address the downside of preserving pets

Letting go of a loved one can be one of life's hardest lessons.

That can be especially true if the loved one is winged, clawed or hoofed.

Losing a pet can be traumatic for some pet owners. In an attempt to keep their beloved best friend forever by their side, some have opted to have their domesticated darlings stuffed.

But is that a good idea?

Local big-game taxidermists have ceased the practice of preserving pets because of the emotional drain on pet owners and themselves.

"They can't let go," said Scott Drawantz, owner of Great Basin Taxidermy in Las Vegas for 12 years. "But there's no life there. You've got a dead animal."

Drawantz practices traditional taxidermy on deer and other wild game for hunters. He stopped stuffing pets about three years ago.

He has acquiesced in the past, however.

A few years ago Drawantz had a cat freeze-dried at the request an insistent elderly woman. She called him back soon after. This time her dog had died.

The woman had temporarily preserved her beloved canine in a tightly sealed plastic bag and placed it on ice in a shallow grave in the backyard.

She convinced Drawantz to help her.

"She said, He's calling to me to get him out of the box,'" he said.

Drawantz sent the pet to one of a dozen Southwest taxidermists who still freeze-dry small pets. He was charitable in his fees.

"She was not a wealthy lady," Drawantz said. "It's difficult to take money from people who just lost a pet."

Cash from pet taxidermy is hard won, he said. Pet owners often cry and want to share stories about the dead animal.

"I could probably make good money if I did it, but I do not want to deal with the emotions," Drawantz said.

Ins and outs

The pet is not actually stuffed. Traditionally the skin is cut down the underbelly and removed in one long piece. The body is then discarded.

The skin is treated with chemicals until it is the texture of leather. The hide is fitted over a wood and foam form and attached with pins or nails. It takes from one to seven months to dry, depending on the size of the animal.

Plastic eyeballs are chosen, sometimes by the owner, and placed in the empty sockets.

When a pet is freeze-dried, only the internal organs are removed. The body structure and skin are left intact and are injected with preserving chemicals.

The posed animal is placed in a below-freezing, vacuum-sealed room. Moisture is slowly sucked from the body, and within one to six months the pet is ready to be fluffed and brushed for its trip back home.

The cost is generally $600 for an an animal weighing 10 pounds or less. Prices increase from there depending on pounds, poses and special requests, Drawantz said.

Bill Huffman, owner of the World's Fauna Taxidermy in Aguiler, Colo., receives on average about a dozen pets per month from surrounding states.

"I didn't realize a few years back that pets would be so popular," Huffman said.

He recently began to advertise in national cat and dog magazines. Some pet owners drive from Arizona, California and Nevada to deliver and pick up their pet, Huffman said. They don't trust shipping companies.

"It's like a funeral when they drop off the pet," he said, "and when they come to get it."

Huffman has had some strange requests. Two elderly women asked him to freeze-dry their deceased cats. They insisted he be meticulous in the process -- they wanted to be buried with the frozen felines.

Huffman doesn't judge his customers, but he takes a different approach when one of his own pets pass on.

"Personally, whenever I lost a dog or cat, they got buried," Huffman said.

A freeze-dried pet may resemble the likeness of the animal, he said, but its plastic eyes no longer return looks of adoration.

"It's pretty well impossible to remove the skin from an animal and reproduce what these people saw" in their living pet, Huffman said.

Death dilemma

The two other professional taxidermists in town agree with Huffman.

Allen Silberstein, owner of the Studio of Taxidermy Art in Henderson, will occasionally freeze-dry pet birds for distraught owners, but never cats or dogs.

"People don't know what they are getting into and they sometimes can't handle it," Silberstein said.

Birds are easier to mount, and their expressions aren't as animated as those of cats or dogs.

The problem, Silberstein said, is that by the time the pet is ready to be picked up the owner has either moved on in the grieving process or can't face the final, frozen product.

A tan dog, with a strong resemblance to Benji of movie fame, has sat on Silberstein's shelf for eight years, its head poised as if waiting for a command.

"I can't bring myself to throw it away," Silberstein said.

Chris Petersen, co-owner of Thompson's Taxidermy in Las Vegas, said they receive a handful of calls each month from grief-stricken pet owners who have temporarily stored their animal in the freezer or at the vet.

"They don't know what to do with the pet because there's so much emotion attached to them," Petersen said.

A few years ago a bereaved woman from Pahrump asked Petersen to freeze-dry her precious pet -- a chicken.

The fowl's spunky personality had endeared it to the family. It had become a fixture in the day-to-day happenings of the household.

The bird is now perched and preserved in the house where it once roamed free.

Recently Petersen consoled a boy who called with questions about how to preserve his ferret that had died.

After a lengthy discussion she convinced him it was probably a bad idea.

Petersen does offer to preserve the hides of domestic animals and return them to the owners, but that is rarely chosen.

"It's just not the same," Petersen said.

The problem lies in the facial expression. Once the skin has been removed, tanned and fitted over a pre-made form, the animal looks, well, like any ordinary animal -- not Spot the dog.

"We try to talk them out of it," Petersen said. "But they can't give up their pets."

Letting go

That's where Joan Coleman steps in. She has counseled grieving pet owners since 1993, when her own two German shepherds died.

The traumatic loss prompted her to write, "Forever Friends: Resolving Grief After the Loss of a Loved Animal" ($14.95, JCTARA Enterprises, Inc., 1993).

People from all over the world contact her through her website, jctara.com. Some find it hard to discuss their intense grief with friends and family.

"People don't understand, and think they should just get over it," Coleman said. "They say, 'Just go out and buy another one,' or ask 'You spent that much money to try and save an animal?' "

Writing a closure letter or poetry to the pet or mounting photos and mementos aids the healing process, she said, which can take about nine months.

Coleman recommends cremating the remains and scattering the ashes in a potted ficus or other household flora.

"You can take a plant with you if you travel and that way the pet is always with you," Coleman said.

Tony Clayton, owner of the Craig Road Pet Cemetery, said owners remain attached to the pet long after it has died.

Owners who had buried their pets have asked Clayton to disinter (dig up) the deceased so that they may take it with them when they move from Las Vegas.

He always obliges.

It is difficult for owners to let go of a creature that was so dependent on their love and care, Clayton said. What to do with the body becomes a dilemma they didn't prepare for.

"It's difficult because there is nothing to preserve the pet in its natural state," Clayton said. "Some families can't stand the thought of burial so they look for (options)."

Most families are opting for cremation, he said, so that the pet can forever have a place in the home -- wherever that home may be.

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