How is it possible that a smaller rabbit produced more ashes upon cremation than a slightly larger rabbit?

Question

A little over a year ago, after euthanizing my rabbit (Stormy), I had his remains cremated and his ashes returned to me. There isn't a lot of ashes, but a lot of bone fragments. I recently put down my rabbit (Spunky), and I got his ashes back today. For a 5 pound rabbit, there are a lot of ashes and very few bone fragments. Among the ashes are a part of a heart, well two parts but they are the same piece, and I have the other half. As far as I can tell, there is only supposed to be one heart piece, not two. The amount of ashes and the fact that there are two fragments instead of one lead me to believe that this is NOT my rabbit. There is an "id" tag with a number on it in with the ashes, and I'm planning to call in the morning and ask a few questions.
Both rabbits are about the same size, they were of the same breed (mini lop mix). Spunky was a tad over 5 pounds and Stormy was about 6-7 pounds.
If there has been a mistake with the ashes, is there any legal course of action I can take?
My brother says that the reason there aren't a lot of ashes from Stormy is because he was cremated at a lower temp for a longer period of time and that the reason there are more ashes with Spunky is that he was cremated at a higher temp for a shorter amount of time. This makes sense to me, but is this why there are more ashes? Or will I have to live with the fact that there is no way to prove if I truly got my rabbit's ashes back?

Cornelius Q. Rockefeller III · Accepted Answer

My guess is that there are fewer bone fragments because they were more finely pulverized than the other rabbit. So instead of having a few ashes and lots of bone, the smaller rabbit has more ashes and fewer pieces of bone.

Lady · Answer

Many times when they do cremations they do many animals at the same time and the ashes you get back are a portion of your animal. Each place does it differently but because of the expense of running the cremations many places will try to do as many bodies as possible. I'm not sure there is anyway to make sure that you got the remains back of your rabbit except by using DNA, and that would probably be expensive. The place that did the cremation might have had different people doing the preparation and that could account for the difference, since different people might do the collecting differently. You can always call and try and get your questions answered but they probably won't be able to make sure that you have the right remains, you will probably only be told that they took the best care they could and believe you received your correct remains. I'm not sure there is much else you can do.

Alisha · Answer

The weight of the animal has nothing to do with the amount of substance you get back. Fur, fat, and tissues all burn off. Fat and other bodily tissues are mostly water, therefore there is usually no yield. You SHOULD (in theory) have the SAME amount of substance left as a rabbit is a rabbit.
I am unsure of the burning temperature theory... As the place I worked in always burnt at the same general temp (INCREDIBLY HIGH).
It DOES happen (very once and awhile) that ashes get mixed up. Our facility had a camera recording everything ALL the time, just incase such a thing happened. There really is no way of proving that they messed up (if they did) unless they have a camera in place, and therefore there is probably no legal action you can take.
Feel free to call them... the company I worked for recieved calls like that ALL the time (and joy, I had to deal with them )

Anonymous · Answer

Your smaller rabbit also prolly was more muscular than the big one.

I accept your brother's explanation though.

Anonymous · Answer

That's one of life's great mystery's.

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How is it possible that a smaller rabbit produced more ashes upon cremation than a slightly larger rabbit?

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