Re: [tlug] [completely off topic] WTF 7 year olds dog cremation question

[Edward Middleton <edward.middleton@example.com>]

On 06/16/2013 12:16 AM, CL wrote:
> On 06/15/2013 10:54 PM, Edward Middleton wrote:
> > Sorry for asking this here but I am not really sure where to start.  I
> > spent a large part of today cremating my wifes dead dog and the
> > experience was somewhat traumatic for my daughter.  Now we are past the
> > whole thing, my daughter has a questions only a 7 year old could have
> > and I don't even know where to start looking for an answer. Any pointers
> > appreciate.  Why is a cremated dogs brain black?  If it was carbon it
> > presumably would have burnt with the rest of the body.
> >
> > Edward
> Sounds as though you didn't have a crematorium that did it's body weight
> and time calculations correctly.  There has recently been a spate of new
> pet crematoriums springing up under fake temple auspices and a number of
> them have been doing less than satisfactory work ... or so I have heard
> when we needed to cremate three of our late departed moggies last month.
>
> Without knowing any details of the dog's final days, I am familiar with
> a type of aging in mammals in which parts of the brain calcify and
> harden prior to death.  You'll have to ask the attending vet whether
> that was the case in this pet's death.  We use one who doesn't pull any
> punches in this regard and will give us straight talk on what is going
> on, but I'm familiar with many more who like to obfuscate and
> prevaricate when faced with explaining the hard facts.

The dog was about 20 years old so it could have been a few things that 
caused its death.

As for the cremated remains, there was a brittle tissue thin black 
structure in what remained of the dogs skill and given the state of the 
bones it didn't seem plusable[1] that it was unburnt combustible remains 
so I guess the question was what black inorganic substance would remain 
after the combustion of a dogs brain.

Edward

1. given my limited experience examining cremated dog remains I am happy 
to defer on this.