Having a pet die is always difficult no matter how long you've had the pet. We treat them like our children, and they give us the unconditional love that we, as their caretakers, deserve.
I've had two pets die in the past few years, one was a cat and one was a dog. My cat lived to be 13 years old. When he died, I wrapped him in a special blanket and buried him in the yard of a home I was moving into in two weeks. I still live there and anticipate being her for a very long time. My dog died at the age of 15, and she was too big for me to manage a burial. Instead of that option, I went with cremation. I purchased a beautiful urn and had a little gold nameplate name. The urn is on one of my bookshelves. I'm happy with the choices I made at each pet's death.