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Mike McCullough never intend to start freeze - dry out beloved pets for grieving owners . But more than a decennary ago , a Quaker of a friend enquire the Fort Loudon , Penn . , stuffer to salvage his beloved detent from the tomb or cremation by preserving the brute rather . McCullough agreed .
Then he talked to a Wall Street Journal newsperson about the process . It made the front Sir Frederick Handley Page . Requests from sorrowing owner get down rolling in . Today , McCullough’staxidermyshop , Mac ’s Taxidermy , is one of a fistful of places around the commonwealth that will keep not only hunting trophies , but also the hunting dog .
A pet schnauzer preserved with a freeze-drying technique at Mac’s Taxidermy in Fort Loudon, Penn.
" It ’s a whole dissimilar game for us , " McCullough severalise LiveScience . " You have to be a counselor-at-law , you know what I intend ? It ’s baffling . "
continue pets
McCullough and other taxidermist like him apply a special procedure to keep Fido or flossy looking lifelike even in death . Traditional taxidermy involve skin an animal and stretch along its hide over a three - dimensional modeling . That wo n’t cut it for the folk pet , as the creature ’s feature cease up looking generic , nothing like the unequalled brute that owners knew and get it on . [ Quiz : Test Your Pet Knowledge ]
Most taxidermist recommend a closed-eye “sleeping” pose for preserved pets.
or else , pet preservationist use freezing - ironic chambers , which glower air pressure level to the decimal point that ice-skating rink turns immediately into gas without go through the liquid phase angle . Many stuffer use freeze - dryers to preserve small animals or fish . Taxidermist Cathy Huntley , possessor of Freeze Dry By Cathy in Newaygo , Mich. , first got her freeze - drier to preserve flowers before branching into turkey fountainhead and eventually pets .
The freeze - drying technique leaves animal seem much as they did in life , though the process is n’t solely noninvasive : Taxidermists must first remove internal organs and fatness , which do n’t freeze - prohibitionist well . Artificial fillers then plump up the dehydrated brute . Even for closed - eye affectedness — the sorting recommended by most taxidermists — false eyes must be sneak in in the sockets to forbid a sink feeling . For owners who want their ducky to front awake , some animal stuffer offer custom - made glass eyes , paint from pic of the pet during biography .
The summons be hundreds of dollars for even the smallest animals , and thousands for a larger weenie , such as a Golden retriever . In part , that ’s because it takes acquirement to prepare and pose an animal properly , Huntley told LiveScience . But freeze - drying machines themselves are incredibly expensive , melt down in the tens of thousands of dollar . The machines also require mickle of electricity to be given . At several hundred dollars a calendar month in power bill , costs add up rapidly . And freezing - drying is n’t a fast procedure : It might take six calendar month to prepare a 10 - pound cat , said Anthony Eddy , owner of Anthony Eddy ’s Wildlife Studio in Slater , Mo. For an 80- or 90 - Sudanese pound dog , freeze - drying might take a class . [ See Photos of Freeze - dry out deary ]
Comfort after death
On top of the expense , freeze - dry out requires effort and planning for owner . The favorite must be frozen right after death and express - ship to the preferred studio apartment .
Even so , hundreds of pet owners each yr make the cause . Eddy alone says his occupation preserves between 150 and 200 pets per twelvemonth . Their owner hail from Florida , California , Hawaii and every land in between . What they all have in coarse are deep grief and a sense of unbreakable fond regard to their beast familiar .
" What we hear from pet owners is that they ’re so connected to their pet , they just ca n’t stand tobury their petor they do n’t want to cremate it , " Eddy told LiveScience . " It ’s just too valued to them . "
Many clients are sr. or single , dwell alone , McCullough said . Some keep their pet so that when they themselves die , the brute can be buried with them .
" I actually had a gentlewoman send me a photo , " McCullough tell . He ’d preserved her grandfather ’s dog , and now the woman ’s grandfather had passed away . " There ’s this picture of this grandfather and this dog actually in the same coffin . "
In recent years , McCullough suppose , he ’s seen a trend of untested mass prefer for immobilize - dry preservation , including one couple from Las Vegas , client of his , who sent him photos of their preserved beagle in a doggie ambler .
Emotional red ink
While pet preservation is " not for everybody , " Eddy said , those who it is for often write him with cryptic discernment . In fact , bonds between PET and favorite ownersare often quite strong , concord to Allen McConnell , a psychologist at Miami University in Ohio who studies the pet - human bond .
" One thing that our inquiry has shown is that when hoi polloi feel closer to their pets , they deduce stronger benefits in terms of mental or strong-arm health , " McConnell secern LiveScience .
Among these benefits are greater self - esteem , less depression and downcast blood imperativeness , he said . A preliminary study McConnell and his workfellow are just complete keep abreast possible pet adopter after they visit an adoption event . Those who actually went through with the acceptance had low-toned depression levels two months later than those who walked off without a furry friend .
Thetype of petdoesn’t seem to matter , McConnell said , perhaps explaining why best-loved preserver get clients with everything from hombre to dog to birds to lizards . What matters is the extent to which the person feels a adhesiveness and projects anthropomorphic emotions onto their favourite . [ America ’s Favorite Pets ]
Thoughts of pets can also solace solitariness just as well as thoughts of a good champion , McConnell ’s laboratory has found . These strong bond may help explain why some the great unwashed do n’t desire to let go after decease .
Eddy , McCullough and Huntley are allpet ownersthemselves , though none say they ’d prefer for preservation of their own brute .
" It ’d pour down me to come in and look at her every daytime , " McCullough enunciate of his own pet bulldog .
But all three taxidermists said they empathise what drives their clients . Like McCullough , Huntley never look to start preserving pet . Then she thought of the employment she does for hunters .
" I thought , well , you have intercourse , if someone thinks enough of a critter that they puzzle out really hard to cross and sprout … if they suppose enough of that animal to put it up on their bulwark , then somebody who has lived with a ducky that they jazz affectionately and have for 15 age , why not ? " Huntley said .
