Choosing the Right Pet Cremation Option

Where will you go when it is time to say goodbye to your beloved pet? Most people will turn to their trusted Pet Care Provider, who will hopefully guide them through this crossroads of emotions and decision making with love, support and dignity.

Surprisingly, this is rarely the case. Recently when I picked up my dogs from the beauty salon, the dear lady told me that when she lost her most recent dog, her husband handled all the decision making as she was too emotional. After spending nearly $ 350.00, it turned out that she had mistakenly ordered a mass cremation, and thus this couple สัตว์น่าเลี้ยง of their beloved pet. Her pet sitting provider told her "don't worry, we'll take care of everything, this is the option most people choose ..." She had assumed, incorrectly, that she would receive her pet's ashes in return.

While pet cemeteries have been available in many communities, burial within a pet cemetery can be a very expensive option. Many may still choose to bury their pet in their forties, but most communities now have very strict health department zoning restrictions on pet burial. Today, families have become more mobile and may wish to take their pet's remains with them when they relocate or they may feel more comfortable with a visible and tangible memorial for their beloved pet. These are all reasons why more and more pet owners are choosing cremation and up to 70 percent of those owners are choosing to receive their pet's ashes after cremation. Just 10 years ago, only 25 percent chose this option to receive the ashes after cremation.

Knowing that cremation is your choice is not the last step in this decision. Many pet owners do not realize, as my poor dog groomer did not, that there are many options for pet cremation and the deconstruction of these options and the variety of terms in use for these options is the most important aspect of choosing pet cremation. Pet cremation is generally divided into three main categories; mass cremation, individual cremation and private cremation.

Mass or community cremation: As the name implies, it involves the cremation of many animals at once, within a single cremation session. Pet incinerators (the actual pet cremation equipment) can be very large with a capacity of several hundred to thousands of pounds in weight. Animals included in a mass cremation can come from a variety of clinics, animal shelters, etc. and when the cremation session is complete, the ashes are collected and taken away for disposal by the cremation company, usually at their private landfill. This option should be the least expensive for the pet owner and is a decent and hygienic way to dispose of the pet if you don't want to retain the ashes.

Individual cremation - Individual cremation is a source of much confusion for pet owners and often uninformed pet care provider staff. Individual cremation simply means that the ashes that are returned to the pet owner are intended to be only the ashes of their beloved pet. Typically with an individual pet cremation, the animal is tagged with a metal tag and placed inside its own individual metal tray within the cremator. Depending on the volume of the particular cremator, there may be many animals within a session, however the animals are identified and separated. When the session is complete, the ashes within each individual tray are processed, bagged, and prepared to be shipped back to the pet care provider or individual pet owner, depending on the circumstances of their arrival at the crematorium. Many pet owners believe that an individual cremation means that their pet was cremated in one sitting and then returned to them as a guarantee that these ashes are only the ashes of their pets. The only way to be absolutely sure that this is the case is with the next option, which is private or private cremation with witnesses.

Private Cremation and Witnessed Private Cremation - A private cremation provides the option for the pet to be completely cremated alone within the cremation chamber or cremator, ensuring that there are no other ashes mixed in with the ashes of the unique pets.