My Pets Ashes About Us

My Pets Ashes About Us

I’m Kaz, I’m the mum of three gorgeous boys (aged 18 & 13 – twins) and live in Devon, just on the edge of Dartmoor. We moved here 9 years ago from Bristol and love it, I was brought up in the countryside and I’m so happy that I am lucky enough to be able to offer my boys the freedom of living somewhere as beautiful as we do.

Our cat April

We didn’t have pets when we lived in the city and I promised my boys that wehen we moved to the countryside could have a cat and so we welcomed the beautiful April into our lives…

Such a beautiful cat, so pretty, so cuddly and so very, very patient with my boys. She would regularly be picked up and taken off to join in with whatever game was the current fave. I would have to check bedrooms after school drop-off to make sure she hadn’t been hidden in a cupboard, they all wanted to be the first one to play with her as soon as they got home!

A home without a pet…

It made such a difference to our home, it became a real home. A house without pets feels kind of empty I always think. It means that you can talk to them if you’re on your own and not feel mad! There’s always someone waiting for you when you’ve been away. It just feels right, sat on the sofa with a cup of tea in your hand and a cat on your lap, what’s not to love?

Hit and run

And then one terrible night we got a knock at the door, a neighbour had seen a car hit her and she had run off. We searched everywhere, contacted all the local and not-so-local vets, put posters up all over town and posted on the local ‘what’s on’ facebook page. Our local community were amazing! It made me realise why we had moved out of the city, it felt like the whole town were on the look-out. But we heard nothing.

Discovering our April

Six months later we started re-vamping a corner of our garden and there she was. It was such a shock, I was completely blown away by the loss – awful. I then had to sort out the practicalities, to book a cremation and decide what to do with her ashes. And I had to tell the boys, it took me ages.

Dedicated to Pet Loss

This website My Pet Ashes is dedicated to April. I don’t want anyone to go through what we did as a family. Writing about my bereavement journey really helped me to deal with the loss, you can read my blog here.  My aim is very simple, I want to help you if you lose a pet. Let me give you some ideas to cope with pet bereavement. And, most of all, we can celebrate the life they lived with us. When you lose a pet you don’t even get a funeral, and it is so important to mark their passing. They were a member of your family and deserve to be remembered.

Pumpkin, Midnight and Mabel

It took us about a year from learning about April to being able to think about having another pet. We now have a few more additions to the family: our cats Midnight and Pumpkin – and yes the boys named them and yes they arrived at Halloween – and last year our Schnoodle Mabel joined the Martin gang.  It doesn’t mean we don’t still miss our glorious April every day but we have found a way to live with the loss.

I hope you like what we’re trying to do and if you have any questions or want to get in touch please do! The email is hello@mypetsashes.co.uk or you can call on 01626 798198. We also have a Facebook Page a Twitter account and Instagram so please get in touch and share your stories we do love to hear from you. And you can sign up to our free pet bereavement guide here.

Kaz Martin

We also run the award-winning Scattering Ashes website which specialises in everything to do with your loved one’s ashes.  If you see something on that site that you would like to have or do with your pet’s ashes just let me know and I’m sure I can sort it for you.