However this drug, pentobarbital, persists in the buried body of the pet for up to a year. Any animal scavenging on the remains will be poisoned by the euthanasia solution.
If your pet dies of a disease which could be spread to other animals or even people, their body might also pose a risk. One option is pet crematoriums and cemeteries. Professional burial or cremation avoids the risks of environmental contamination or disease that might occur with backyard burial. However, there is another path. As a veterinary pathologist, my job is to conduct autopsies on animals to determine their cause of death. We also use the knowledge and samples we get from the autopsies to conduct research to improve our understanding of diseases and treatments in both animals and people.
Our pets make excellent "models" of diseases in both pets and people, allowing scientists to study the development and progression of a disease and develop new treatments.
Cancer is the most common cause of death for pet dogs. Many popular breeds get the same cancer at high rates, providing ample valuable research material. These dog cancers are similar in appearance, behaviour, treatments and genetic causes to many human cancers.
What's more, because dogs share our home environments, but age faster and show more rapid cancer progression than humans, studying dogs provides faster research results. In the United States, dog cancer trials are already informing trials on new human treatments.
Another area where dogs are valuable scientific allies is in the study of rare genetic and developmental diseases in children. As we have bred dogs for specific appearances, from squishy-faced French bulldogs to lanky greyhounds, we have unwittingly created genetic abnormalities. Some of these are close counterparts of rare genetic disorders in children. Thus, dogs can be used to help identify the genetic mutations behind the disease, and how the faulty gene affects human children.
If you are interested in donating your pet's body, your veterinarian can direct you to potential local options.
Beyond helping us research human diseases, veterinary schools need pet body donors to help teach anatomy, surgery and pathology. At its most ethical this training is done on the bodies of animals that have died from natural causes.
Donated pets provide my students with a valuable understanding of how disease affects the body. We report the autopsy findings back to the pet's veterinarian. This information is crucial to vets who want to confirm diagnoses, and to give grieving owners some closure.
The loss of a pet can be heartbreaking, but there are many ways to create a meaningful legacy from that loss which helps both pets and people.
• Rachel Allavena, Associate Professor, The University of Queensland
- The Conversation
