Like so many young couples, we wanted to be a family. But we were young, not ready for children just yet. So, of course, we had a baby of a different kind … the furry kind. We got in way over our heads. He was big, he was loud, he was hungry but most importantly he was ours.
He was far from perfect. In fact, he taught us quite a bit about ourselves as a couple. We managed to tackle many parenting issues before we were even parents. He was with us from the beginnings of our marriage until the impending birth of our first (non-furry) child. He was there to witness our entrance to adulthood.
So when he died suddenly in his sleep, just months before our son was to arrive, we were heartbroken. It was a turbulent time in our lives — we were moving away from friends and family to another state, my husband would be starting his surgical residency, and I would be leaving veterinary medicine and entering motherhood. So the loss was keenly felt.
Fortunately, we had a wealth of pictures (as Angie recently pointed out is so important). And we had something else we both cherish dearly — his paw print.
There was a thoughtful veterinary nurse who showed me how wonderful this gift was to a grieving family, and I carried that with me into my own work in practice. And when our Cain passed away, I asked a colleague to make one for me. It is our remembrance.
Sadly, I’ve made many of these during my time working as a veterinarian. If you are faced with your beloved furry friend crossing the rainbow bridge, you could request your veterinarian make a paw print for you. In the instance that your loss is sudden, be aware that there may still may be time to make this request in the days after your loss. If your pet is facing a serious surgical procedure you could consider asking your veterinarian’s staff to make you a paw print when your pet is anesthetized.
While this may not be a project you do for yourself, I wanted to provide some helpful tips you could reference in the future:
- Use an oven bake clay, such as Sculpey, generally available at most craft stores.
- Take a golf ball to racquetball size piece of clay, depending on the size of your pet, and work it between your hands, getting it a bit warm and softened — this is very helpful.
- Flatten gently with the palm of your hand, turning over several times to get a pancake of clay approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick
- Carefully place the paw in the center of clay, firmly pushing down on the central paw pad first. Then imprint each toe pad with equal pressure, one at a time. Lift carefully all at once.
- Consider leaving room to inscribe your pet’s name on the front, or you can also carefully inscribe information on the back side. The clay is dense, so you need a fairly firm sharp object, such as a tapestry or knitting needle to do so.
- Bake according to product directions.
Our pets can play such powerful roles in our lives, and remembering them is important. I hope this gives you another way to keep them close to your heart.
Amy Bader
Amy is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. A photography course in high school sent her to college with a journalism degree in mind, but some surprises along the way led to a career in veterinary medicine. Motherhood has brought things full circle, and now she is concentrating on her photography, finding her creative self and expressing the joys in life which she shares on her blog, Life in Eden.
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