PET FUNERALS
Many pet owners consider their pets to be family. Some even refer to pets as “children” and prefer to call themselves “guardians,” considering it a more accurate description of the relationship. Leading this group of pet owners are baby boomers who provide their pets with a range of animal care services and products, including doggy day-care, grooming appointments, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and expensive medical and preventative care. Increasingly, pet owners are also seeking meaningful ways to commemorate these beloved animals’ lives when they die. some states specify that deceased companion animals are not waste and that it is illegal to treat them as such. Those in the business note that memorial services for animals are essentially no different from those for humans. The depth of emotion, the sense of loss, and the need to grieve are very similar. Many pet services imitate human funeral services, with pet funeral businesses having the facilities associated with human services, such as a chapel and viewing area where people can stay with the pet until the cremation. These facilities also sell urns, markers, caskets, vaults, cards, and jewelry associated with pet burial or cremation. Those moving into the pet business from human funeral services have found that many best practices for human deaths are appropriate for pet services. For example, it is critical to present a price list to every family and make the products and services as transparent as possible. preplanning options, typically senior citizens, is very likely to be pet owners who have not made formal arrangements for the care of their pets after they die. Individuals between age 55 and 64 years have 2 million pets, while those between age 65 and 74 years have 1 million pets. Individuals older than age 75 years have about half a million pets. These pets are mostly dogs, cats, birds, horses, reptiles, and fish, in declining order. Just as there are local ordinances that dictate how a person’s death is handled, there are federal, state, and local regulations regarding the disposition of a pet. Most clients are unaware of the legal issues surrounding pet loss or disposition. Legal regulations associated with pet aftercare relate to a diverse range of issues, including crematory emissions, animal burial, and prohibitions on the misrepresentation or fraudulent claims related to the type of cremation specified. Regulation is likely to become more common in upcoming years. Pet crematories may belong to the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories (IAOPCC), which has hundreds of members and offers one-day training sessions. The association also lists suppliers for pet cremation units, urns, caskets, and mementos (IAOPCC, n.d.). A number of lawsuits have resulted from cases where animal remains have been lost or accidentally cremated. The lack of standardized regulations for pet cremation means violations are likely. Given the lack of oversight, disreputable crematories may operate for years without inspection or registration. It is very important that pet owners and funeral directors engage in transparent cremation where the animal will be handled appropriately.
In 2003, the American Funeral Director magazine published its first issue focusing on pet loss and memorialization, signaling a change in the way the human funeral industry addresses companion animal aftercare. Pet memorialization is becoming a big business that is associated with keepsake merchandise, formal funerals, and scattering ceremonies. People love their pets and seek similar closure and peace after their deaths that they do with their human family members. Pet disposition Fewer than 200 of the thousands of pets that die every day are buried in pet cemeteries or cremated individually. Most other pets are mass cremated. In some cases, pet owners are unaware of what happens to the body if they make no specific demands regarding disposition when the veterinarian euthanizes the animal. Legal regulation involving pet cremation and burial is lacking. While some states are making explicit requirements for consumer protection and transparency, there is still negligence and misrepresentation in the pet loss industry. Feeding into this is a general lack of knowledge regarding pet burial, cremation, and funeral services among the general public who are largely unaware of the choices they have in pet aftercare. Pressed by consumer demand, the industry is changing: Pet burial and funeral services are becoming much more mainstream, and professional pet cremation services are increasingly distinguished from permitted animal disposal personnel who transport, mass-cremate, and dispose of lab animals and road kill. This is partly because new regulations in Statistics Individuals living in the U.S. spend $53 billion annually on their pets. Currently, about 25% of companion animals are buried, and 75% are cremated. The pet funeral business is more than 95% dogs and cats, and other animals also require burial or cremation services. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates that 78 million dogs and 85 million cats are owned in the U.S. (ASPCA, 2016). Approximately 44% of all households in the U.S. have at least one dog, and 35% have at least one cat (ASPCA, 2016). Not only are dog and cat populations on the rise, but many people own a series of pets in their lifetime, as the average life span of a dog is 11 years and of a cat is 14. These statistics suggest that the potential demand for pet loss and memorialization services is great. The majority of people who experience pet loss choose cremation over burial (Martin, 2022). About 5% of those who cremate also opt for a funeral or memorial service, and about 20% request a private viewing. Memorials, scatterings, and other services are also requested. In most cases, consumers are unaware of their aftercare options. This makes sense when you learn that the primary group interested in direct sales and Pet cremation Perhaps the most significant feature of pet cremations is that they may involve more than one animal. Misrepresentation of this fact has caused pain for pet owners. Many have posted information on the Internet to expose fraudulent practices in pet cremation and keep others from making the same mistakes. However, sometimes the confusion is deliberate. A number of news exposes have appalled the public with cremation horror. Practices associated with pet cremation Many who choose cremation want to see the animal once more prior to cremation. Funeral professionals can preserve the body in a chilling unit, clean it, and present the animal in a peaceful
way, usually in a curled sleeping position and wrapped in a blanket.
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