Helping Pets Get To Heaven
Making Final Arrangements For Your Pet
It's another one of those subjects that no one wants to think about. I know I hate it. But I've had all kinds of pets for a long time and I've had to deal with the difficult subject of making final arrangements for a pet, and I know you probably have, too.
When we were kids we used to have little services out behind the barn. We would bury our pets and put up stones as markers. I think it gave all of us some kind of peace to be able to walk past them, year after year, and know they were still resting there. It felt like we never really lost them.
It's more difficult now. People don't stay in the same homes as long as they once did. Many people live in apartments or condos. Burying pets in the backyard just isn't an option for many people.
As the story below, from this week's Atlanta Journal Constitution, points out, cremation is a good alternative for many people. And professionals like Christine Hunsaker make saying goodbye a little easier.
Up Close: Helping pets get to heaven
A weekly conversation with an intriguing metro Atlanta businessperson
By JULIE HAIRSTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/14/07
The death of her beloved poodle, Casey, propelled Christine Hunsaker out of the corporate world of funeral service.
When Casey died, Hunsaker, 40, found no one in Atlanta who could help her address her loss in the same way funeral homes help the grieving families and friends of people when they die.
Christine Hunsaker, right, shows an urn to Karen Miller. Photo by Mikki K. Harris.
So, she decided to fill that void herself.
Her business, Paws, Whiskers & Wags, on East Ponce De Leon Avenue in Decatur, opened in July 2005. In her first six months of business, Hunsaker, 40, served 420 customers. She expects to serve 3,000 in 2007.
Q: How did you get into this business?
A: I've been in the cremation business since I finished grad school. I grew up in a funeral home. My Dad's an undertaker. I've been around the business my whole life.
When Casey died, it changed my life forever. I wanted a first-class death services facility to serve people like me. The No. 1 thing we all want to know, whether we're cremating a two-legged loved one or a four-legged loved one, is that people are going to take good care of you. But you also want to know that you're going to get your pet back.
Q: How do you know?
A: The best thing we can do in this business is have a 100 percent full disclosure environment so that any veterinarian or pet owner can visit, tour, be part of the process and wait.
Our No. 1 goal is to make a very hard experience for a customer a little bit easier. We want them to walk out of here and know that they've got their pet and have confidence in what goes on here. We want to help them through it.
Q: To what do you attribute the growth in your business?
A: The pet industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in North America. So that would be true of the care we give them, even when they die. The care-of-pet industry is going to be a $4 billion industry this year. We take a lot of the mystery out.
Hypothetically, Mr. and Mrs. Jones have just lost Sparky. We're on our way. Depending on Sparky's size, we'll either have a stretcher and a paw-print blanket or a basket and a lovely little blanket and take Sparky into our care right away.
Once we've got Sparky in our care, we let the owner know. We help and advise them. We let them come to our office and make paw prints. We clip locks of hair. They can bring flowers. And they can come today. … We care for Sparky right now.
Q: What was your biggest adjustment after leaving the corporate world?
A: When I first opened, I called my Dad and said, "I can't do this. I'm crying all the time. How do you get a little stronger?"
He said, "Christine, you will always feel it. A lot of times, you'll cry. But you'll get a little better at tempering that as you go."
I'm still waiting for that to happen.
Q: Have you ever had any really unusual requests?
A: Ninety-nine percent of our business is traditional dogs and cats. But we've helped a lot of ferrets and rabbits and snakes and birds.
About this time last summer, we got a call from a family that lives in Sandy Springs. He was the sweetest man and he was really broken up. But he kept saying "my pet," never my dog or anything. He said his pet's name was Hooch. Hooch was a wedding gift to them. They thought Hooch was a potbellied pig. Well, Hooch grew and grew and grew. And Hooch was a 250-pound African pygmy boar. …
One of my most memorable stories is a tractor-trailer, a big one, that pulled in here when we first opened. And this big man, very big, who had to duck his head to come in, got out of his big truck. He walked around his truck and opened the door. … And he walks in with this black-faced, soot gray little Pomeranian and all he could squeak out was, "He's dead. Can you help me?"
That dog had ridden by him in the front seat of his truck for 14 years.
Q: Do you ever do little personal ceremonies?
A: Yes we do. Right in this room.
I had a lady in here yesterday ask me, "How do I go home and tell my kids that we lost our dog?"
I said, "How old are they?"
She said, "5 and 7."
So I sent her home with a bunch of these books and we're having a stone made and they're going to plant a tree to remember.
A schoolteacher who came in here was worried about helping his twin girls when their dog died.
I told him to have the girls make pictures and a love letter and bring flowers in here for Scout. And come and tell Scout goodbye.
The kids stood here and talked to Scout. The dad said, "Girls, see those big machines in there? Those machines are going to lift Scout back to heaven. And when you get back, this lady's going to hand us a box with angel dust and that's how we'll know he made it."
And those girls came back in here with chocolate ice cream all over their faces and, by golly, they were going to get their angel dust and know Scout made it to heaven. The dad came up with that on his own and I share it with a lot of pet owners.
