In the top of my closet, I have the cremated remains of one dog and three cats.  I had meant to bury the cedar boxes once the ground warmed up, but the boxes have been in the top of my closet for almost 5 years now.  Somehow I just can't bring myself to bury them in the ground.  Does anyone have any advice for me?

Arabella, I'm clueless about this, so my big question is: Are there any health hazards associated with the remains? 

I'm not quite sure what your problem is with the idea of burial, but it seems to me that if you can't put the remains into the ground, the next best thing would be to leave them on the ground.

Could you open the boxes and scatter the ashes around shrubs and trees?

Is there an area where you could put the boxes on the ground (in contact with the earth), and then mound gravel over the boxes, building a cairn of sorts?  It wouldn't be burial, as such, but it would let the earth reclaim the box and the remains.

I hope you find a solution that works for you.

Angelina, no health hazards are involved.  Maybe I am just having a problem with mortality in general, not just the mortality of my pets...

There are a few things you could do:

Scatter them at their favourite places in the garden.

Buy some nice roses or bushes and bury them under there, or scatter as above.

If money is no option, they can make diamond type stones out of ashes now, but it is very very expensive.

If you still want to keep them in the house, you could get some lovely urns and group them together with their pictures by the side.  A bit like having a pet treasure shelf just for them.

NB  This isnt uncommon in the pet world.  Some of my online friends have pet ashes going back 15 to 20 years or more. 

I'v never kept the ashes of my pets, because I could never get rid of any of them, they are scattered at the pet cemetry in Cambridge, UK.  So Iv now buy a broach in the shape of the pet to wear on my jackets.  I lost my dog Sandy in March 2009, so I found a lovely pewter broach of a Lurcher, from a dog charity. Iv had quite a few pets, so Im slowly working down the list to get them all.

I like the idea of planting a special  bush or flower over them.  Maybe I could bring myself to bury them if there were that kind of a lovely reminder of them.  Thank you, Purdy Bear, for your wonderful suggestion.

When my daughter lost her 15-year old Lab (Sadie Susan), a friend had an apple tree planted in her yard as a memorial.  My daughter put some of Sadie's ashes into the hole when the tree was planted and scattered the rest at the mountain lake where Sadie loved to run and swim.  Ten years later, that tree is bearing fruit, and is still "Sadie's tree.)
Janice

What a wonderful, caring thing to do!

Apparently I am not the only one in my family who has this problem of what to do with the ashes.  My grown #1-Son's 18 year old cat just died and he now has her ashes on the mantel of his fireplace.  THis cat was the first pet he got when he moved away from home.  He says that his wife put the ashes on the mantel and that at first it was hard for him to look at them there.  I'm wondering how long it will be before his wife puts the ashes in the top of the closet like I did.  Perhaps I tell my son and his wife some of your suggestions.  Thanks again for all your ideas.