If you wish to immortalize your beloved pet in the tombs of cyber-space for eternity, now is your chance. To reserve a cyber-plot for your pet, simply email your epitaph to pet@lavamind.com.
The Virtual Pet Cemetery receives dozens of submissions every week. At first we accepted all submissions. However, there has been such a demand that we simply don't have the space and time to post all of them.
We are doing our best to choose the epitaphs which appear as though effort and care was taken writing them. We admit that our selection process is not perfect, but if you take the time to write a well thought out epitaph, there is a good chance a plot will be reserved in your pet's honor.
BUSTER BROWN 1992-1995
Buster Brown was a little brown mutt. He weighed twenty pounds and was bow-legged. He chased cars and wouldn't come in at night. He loved everyone but my grandpa. He slept in my bed at night, he puked on my pillow at least once every three months. We will all miss him. Buster Brown was two and a half. We had him since he was six weeks. We saved his life, he was being sent to the pound. My mother saved him from that fate and took him home to us. He got ran over when we were going to the fair. Ironically my mother accidently ran him over. We love him.
Haley, Bill, Leisa, Jasie, and Lindy Stokes.
TOUCHE TURTLE -- R.I.P.
When I was a small child, I was given a Desert Tortoise as a pet. I loved him dearly and named him Touche Turtle after the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. One day, I was shocked to find that Touche had dug himself into a burrow and had died. I was heartbroken, and was afraid to touch him for a couple of days, but I decided I had better be brave and give him a decent Christian burial. I put him in a cardboard box, dug a deep hole in the back yard and laid him to rest with a few improvised words and a bier of flowers from the garden. As time went by, I adjusted to the loss of my cherished pet, until several years later when discovered to my horror that Desert Tortoises hibernate through the Winter. I'm sorry Touche... where ever you are! Please forgive me!
Elder Perm Poom
permpoom@mcchurch.org
ZOEY
As a funeral director by profession, our dog received proper and dignified burial. The funeral ceremony was of great help to our family and especially our children's ability to begin to deal with our grief. If you would please incorporate the following on your Web page, it would most appreciated:
Our beloved red miniature poodle Zoey met her untimely death in a collision with a car directly in front of our home in Miami Shores, Florida on August 2, 1995. Born less than two years ago and only a mile away, she brought much happiness and joy to our family. Zoey's unconditional love taught us all to be a better family and we will miss her very much. Our grief will end but her memory will be always with your loving family.
David and Andrew and Jennifer and Ken
STEVE 1987 - 1994
I bought Steve, and his two short-lived companions, the day of my junior prom. I had recently broken up with my high-school boyfriend, and he had asked one of my soon to be ex-best friends to the prom instead. I consoled myself by going to the local Woolworths and buying three goldfish for a dollar, and a plastic fishbowl.
As I grew, so did Steve. After a bout with tail rot, which killed his two bowl-mates, Steve moved into his very own 5 gallon aquarium, with a filter and blue rocks. When I graduated from high school the following year, I took Steve to college on a transcontinental trip from Washington D.C. to Golden, Colorado in a small fishbowl, barrelling westward on I-70 in my disco-yellow 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. He survived the trip by being metabolically frozen with a constant barrage of ice cubes in his bowl. He was a very strong fish.
During my freshman year of college, he lived in a spacious 10 gallon tank on my desk, allowing him to grow bigger and bigger. He lived through a brush with death, when he jumped out of his tank onto my calculus binder. When I sadly picked up his limp body, and tearfully placed him back into the water, as a last and only resort, he revived and swimmingly went on with his life. I went and bought a screen for his tank to protect him from any more unnavigated adventures into "outer space." As the years went by, Steve survived 4 more transcontinental trips in a playmate cooler. His final two years were spent in Golden in a luxurious 15 gallon home in a cool basement during my years as a graduate student. He had matured into a beautiful shimmery light golden beauty, as long as my hand, with glorious flowing fins. He was a solitary soul, happy in his environment.
One day, close to my graduation, I found Steve in a bent position, floating near the top of the water, a victim of some sort of fish-stroke. His gills were still functioning, and he was staring off into space. I was broken hearted, and felt quite helpless. I had a tough decision to make. I could stand idley by and watch as he wasted away, no longer in control of his mobility, or I could try to help him. I fashioned a splint out of six straws and some waterproof tape. As gently as possible I fitted Steve to the splint, straightening out his twisted fish-body, all the while, his gills slowly pumping water and filtering precious oxygen. I weighted the splint down, so he could return to his home. I had done all I could. I went to bed that night, slightly hopeful that Steve would recover. He was, after all, a fighter.
Sadly, Steve did not win his final battle. The next day, he was in his splint at the bottom of his tank, all life functions at an end. I had lost my faithful aquatic buddy of seven years. I was crushed.
Although I cleaned and refilled the tank, and began again with a small black molly, no other fish could ever fill the the small volume of space that Steve took up in what is to forever be "Steve's tank".
Trish Green
hhsuper@aol.com
DOMESTIC COMPANION ONCOLOGY
I bought Sadie when she was just a pup, and I was only ten years old. I loved that dog, and she and I had seven wonderful years together. But then she started to have seisures. These seisures increased in severity and finally the vet told me that he was convinced she had a brain tumor. Upon hearing this, I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to euthanasize my beloved pet. The veternarian, shrewdly perceiving my hesitation, suggested chemotherapy, but I thought it best to minimize her suffering and so decided to "pull the plug," so to speak. Not a day goes by that I don't wonder if I mad the right decision.
Garrett Hodgson
R.I.P. SNOOPY 1988-1995
Snoopy was not like any other dog. He was very smart and well loved. I got him for my 9 year old hearing disabled daughter. Snoopy was the only thing that made her happy. Snoopy is no longer with us and she is in grief of his death. If any one has a white begal I would be more than happy to pay top dollar for it. I loved that dog...
(please no prank mail)
MHasten@lnd.com
CHARLIE'S ANGEL
I once had an extremely green parakeet, who bothered everyone with his obnoxious squeaking and cawing. No matter how long I sat before this bird and made big mouthing attempts to teach it English, it refused. The bird's name was Charlie, and other than the fact that it refused to speak, it was a fairly nice bird, as birds go. My parents, annoyed at its loudness, were told to buy it a mirror, so that it would believe it had a companion -- but Charlie was not fooled. It was about this time that my sister, in that way that younger siblings will, decided that she too must have a bird. She received an extremely blue, little girl parakeet -- god knows what my parents were thinking! -- and because she was, in my opinion, the stupidest sister around, proceeded to name her bird "Angel". This was the seventies, you see, and so it goes. Charlie and Angel never did take to one another in the way predicted by my parents, but rather began to screech daily at each other. This was a problem, especially since I now had a baby brother who was also keeping the household awake at night. From the looks of my parents' bloodshot eyes, something had to go. Of course I assumed it would be either my baby brother, or Angel. Not so. One day, when I came home from school, I found the birdcage empty. No Charlie, no Angel. I ran to check the crib -- one baby brother burping happily. My mother insisted that the birds, who's clipped wings had recently grown back and we hadn't the heart to cut back, had escaped by accident. She was very sorry. Yeah right. So to Charlie and Angel, who, as I wailed to my mother, must have frozen to death in the bitter California winter, I dedicate this memorial.
Tracy Fullerton
TOAD OLYMPICS
As a child, I used to catch baby toads in the drainage ditch near my home and pile them into a bucket. When the bucket was filled, I'd bring the toads home and the festivities would begin. I did everything with those toads from creating toad towns to toad roads to toad Olympics. Often, I would line up 3 to 5 toads and have a race. The toad which crossed the finish line last would have to pay for the defeat with a show of aerial acrobatics. In other words, I'd throw the poor loser high in the air and watch as it came back down to earth. Few lived to tell the tale. More than once, I resorted to punishing the losers by placing them in my toy cap gun and squeezing the trigger. I can still picture their pink little tongues popping out of their mouths after impact. Now that I am older and a pacifist, I regret my evil deeds as a young boy and wish to make amends by honoring all those dead toads with a Virtual Burial.
Steven Hoffman
THE LOVE DOG
Lee Manucia Abrahams
OF ALL GOD'S CREATURES
In Memory Of Samantha
A MOTHER'S GIFT
Nero
TIGER FLUFF
1980-1991
Sweet little Lady Baby,
She purrs in God's ear now.
Louis V. Spielman
HUNTER - R.I.P.
Hunter, I will miss you; you have touched my life in ways I could never hope to explain. Eventhough your life was suddenly, mysteriously taken away, your memory will always be with me and your other buddies FAM, Punky, and Howdy. May the newspaper in that "great big pound in the sky" be abundant.
You will be remembered
Becky Brewster
TOFS
Today, July 27 1995, our hamster Tofs past away. After two and a half years, he has now fallen into eternal sleep. May he rest in peace. We miss you.
Joakim, Asa, Jessica, Axel and Gull-Britt.
RAGNAR THE NORWEGIAN ELKHOUND
Lost my friend of 14 years on May 9, 1995. He was the sweetest, kindest, most obedient dog I've ever owned. He shared our home with 2 cats and a lab mix, always was eager to please and always got along with the other animals. Hope he knows how much I miss him.
Kevin Gallagher
kkg@callnet.com
TON-TON McCOOT
Precious Pet Dies Monday
FOR LOVE OF A TIEL
Birds aren't thought to be overly cozy or friendly, but cockatiels are just that. For over 2 yrs I had the love of such a sweet cozy bird. His name was Geordy, after the star trek character. he would sit upon my shoulder as I typed all day, and nibble popcorn held between my lips. He was gentle and lovable, and so affectionate. He was intelligent and had several phrases such as "Riker sucks" "fire fire fire" (he watched too much beavis and butthead) and he did a flawless impersonation of our phone and doorbells. He died in early summer, of a tumor, I held him until the last shivers went through his tiny body. I don't have any children, but as Geordy died I felt I had lost my child. My husband took him out to a field and buried him by some wildflowers.
Minx Kelly leather goddess of phobos
minxkely@Mars.mcs.com
BIBI DOLPHIN THE MAGPIE
It was a long time ago, but I can remember it as if it was yesterday. When I was 7-years-old, there was a magpie's nest in a tree behind our house. One dark and rainy night the nest was attacked by an evil crow. One little baby magpie fell out and down to the ground. The mama magpie didn't care and left it there! My father picked up the little one, and we put it in an old bird-cage that we had. We named the magpie Bibi Dolphin. She (or he) was with us one summer. Oh what a summer that was! My bro and I fed Bibi with worms that we dug up in the garden! And how Bibi loved to eat pieces of paper that we held into her cage! And her croaking in the car when we went to see relatives! But everything, even the most beautiful things, have to end, and one September morning I found Bibi Dolphin lying dead in the cage. The whole family was struck by grief--Bibi had become one of us during the summer.
Bibi, I hope you are happy in bird paradise!
Larry
etxllll@tn.ericsson.se
SNIFFER
Our family of 5 had a dog when we were growing up. A mutt, sort of looked like benji. We were very young when we got her, and we named her Sniffer. Sniffer was not a smart dog, was not an extremely obedient dog, but was a very good dog and we all loved her. I will always remember the sparkle in her eye as she ran away, determined to roam around alone for a while. I cursed at her then as I chased her around the neighborhood, but I always had a bit of a smile because I knew she was having a blast.
Putting a loved pet to sleep is one of the most difficult decisions a family will face. Poor Sniffer. Smelly, old, blind, grouchy, particular, WONDERFUL Sniffer.
Todd
ALDO
We have put our dog, Aldo, down a few days ago. She was a good dog, an old dog and a not so intelligent dog, but she was part of the family. Please could you put her name in the Pet Cemetary?
Cya
TIFFY
Tiffy was a ten year old Sheltie and my best friend. We would go for long walks and she would always listem to me. She was never judgemental or critical, but just wanted to be with me. She was my best friend and I miss her so much!!
Bill
WILBUR
Wilbur, Bobby brought you home from the shelter and set you on the floor. You shared 17 years of your life with us, never complaining and always gave love and attention. You were always the best little boy we could have asked for. On your final day on earth, I asked you not to forget us and find us when we have made the transistion also. We have not forgotten you and look forward again to seeing you small face waiting in the light for us.
Lee B. Brown
SUBMITTING MATERIAL:
BEFORE SUBMITTING MATERIAL, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES AND CONDITIONS:
1) There is no charge for submitting an epitaph to the Virtual Pet Cemetery.
2) If you want to submit a graphic image along with your epitaph, you may send a .BMP, .JPG or .GIF image of your pet, tombstone or crypt on a PC formatted floppy disk to
LavaMind's Virtual Pet Cemetery
3627 Moraga St.
San Francisco, CA 94122
All graphics files must be sent by snail mail because our email reader can only handle text.
3) It typically takes a week or two to post an epitaph, so please be patient. The Virtual Pet Cemetery currently makes no money and is not our full time occupation. We usually upgrade the cemetery once every couple of weeks. If your epitaph does not appear within two months, please let us know. We will be sure to notify you as soon as your epitaph is in place. If you do not hear from us for several weeks, it may mean we are on vacation or heavily involved in our main occupation, which is programming computer games. But don't worry, we will be sure to post your epitaph, and we will send you an email as soon as it is up.
4) LavaMind has your permission to seek a copyright of the submitted material, and that material may be used in anyway LavaMind sees fit. In other words, any material submitted to the Virtual Pet Cemetery becomes the property of LavaMind, and LavaMind shall have all rights to it, including the right to publish it in any format presently known or unknown and the right to any proceeds generated as a result of its use or publication.
5) The Virtual Pet Cemetery is open to anyone or anything. However, we do reserve the right not to include an image or epitaph that is deemed inappropriate or offensive. Also any materials, donations or other items sent to the Virtual Pet Cemetery cannot be returned or refunded.
6) Thank you for taking the time to submit your epitaph.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE ABOVE TERMS, PLEASE DO NOT SEND US ANY MATERIAL.
If you or someone you know has a web site and would like to link up, feel free to use our official Virtual Pet Cemetery WEB LINK logo shown below. Click here to download it.
"P.S. To fear death is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not." --- Socrates