An animal dying somewhere that is not home is a particular kind of awful, because none of your usual reference points are there and you are trying to think clearly in a place you do not know. Heavenly Pastures handles pet cremations for families in Blackpool and along the Fylde coast, and this comes up here more than most places, because so many people arrive with a dog in the back of the car. We should be clear that we keep no premises in Blackpool. Everything happens at our crematorium in Burscough, near Ormskirk, inland from you.
What to Do in the First Hour
Whether you are in a caravan at Marton, a holiday let on the front, or three hours from your own vet, the first hour matters less than people fear. Nothing has to be decided immediately and nothing terrible happens if you sit down for twenty minutes before doing anything at all.
Somewhere Cool and Somewhere Quiet
The practical need is simply to keep your pet somewhere cool and undisturbed until arrangements are made. A shaded room with the heating off is usually enough for several hours. In a caravan or a small let this is harder, and it is one of the reasons people panic unnecessarily. If you are struggling, ring and ask rather than guessing, because there is almost always a workable answer and it is rarely the one people assume. What you should not do is put your pet somewhere warm out of an instinct to keep them comfortable, which is a very natural thing to want and the opposite of what helps.
If You Are Not From Here
Visitors sometimes assume they must get their pet home themselves before anything can happen, and set off on a long drive in no state to be driving. That is not necessary, and we would gently suggest not attempting it. A long motorway drive in the state most people are in within an hour of losing an animal is genuinely unsafe, and there is nothing waiting at the other end that cannot be arranged from here. We can collect from a holiday address as readily as from a house, and ashes can be returned to you afterwards rather than requiring you to stay in the area. If your own vet is at the other end of the country, that changes nothing about what we can do.
Finding a Vet You Do Not Have
If you need a vet urgently and are away from your own, any practice will see an emergency, and out-of-hours services cover the whole area overnight. You do not need to be registered. Take whatever medication your pet was on if you have it with you, and if you know the microchip number that helps, though nobody will turn you away without it. If your pet is insured, the policy generally covers emergency treatment away from home in the same way it would at your own practice, and it is worth a look at the paperwork before you assume you are facing an unexpected bill on top of everything else. That is rarely the first thing on anyone’s mind and it does matter later.
The Two Options
Once the immediate part is over, there is a decision to make. An individual cremation service keeps your animal on their own throughout, which is what makes it possible to hand the ashes back to you afterwards. A communal cremation service means they are cremated alongside other animals and ashes are not returned to anyone. If you are away from home, the individual option does mean a little coordination about where ashes go afterwards, which we sort out with you rather than leaving you to work out. Costs for both sit on the pet cremation price list.
Out of Hours and at Weekends
Blackpool is busiest at exactly the times when everything else is shut. Collections can be arranged beyond the ordinary weekday hours for an additional charge, which is exactly the sort of situation that provision was put there for. If waiting until the morning is manageable, we will say so honestly rather than encouraging a call-out you do not need.
Dogs on the Beach and the Things That Go Wrong
Older dogs and hot sand are a poor combination, and every summer brings a few animals who overheat on the beach or in a parked car. If you are here with an elderly dog, walk early or late, keep to the wet sand, and take water. It is obvious advice that people forget on holiday because the whole point of the week is that nothing is routine, and an old dog who copes perfectly well with a familiar garden can struggle badly with an unfamiliar day out. The individual dog cremation service page covers what follows if the worst does happen.
How We Get to You
We collect from wherever you actually are, home or otherwise, and from veterinary practices across the Fylde. Collection is priced on travel time from Burscough with the bands published on the areas we cover page, and you are welcome to bring your pet to us directly if you would rather, where there is a chapel of rest and no rush.
Ring Us and Ask
If you are somewhere unfamiliar and unsure what to do next, 01704 776976 will get you a person who will talk you through it without any obligation. If speaking is too much, the contact form works just as well.