People turning to cremation for pets

In life, pets are treated like part of the family.

So it's only fitting that the same holds true when they die.

When families are faced with the loss of a pet, some owners are turning to cremation as the way to handle the remains.

Janet Moncure, a retiree who lives on a farm in Hanover County, understands just how close people and pets can be. Moncure is a foster parent to dogs — she keeps 18, five of which are hers — and most of them will be adopted.

In the past, Moncure chose burial when her pets died, but she says she never felt comfortable doing that.

Now she has her pets cremated.

"It's hard to lose them, but [cremation] makes people feel better to know they have been respectfully taken care of, and you get their ashes back," she said.

Pet cremations have become popular across the United States in the past few years, and more funeral homes are beginning to offer the service, said Mike Nicodemus, a funeral director in Virginia Beach and a board member of the Cremation Association of North America. The Virginia Funeral Directors Association and the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers do not keep track of how many funeral homes across the state perform pet cremations or how many pets are cremated each year.

"People often have high regards for pets and want to make sure they are handled in the right ways," said Bryan Small, president of E. Alvin Small Funeral Home, which owns Forever Friends Pet Cremation Services, a 3-year-old business in Colonial Heights.

The most common pets cremated are dogs and cats, but local funeral homes say they have also cremated ferrets, birds, goats and chickens.

Blair Nelsen, president of Nelsen Funeral Home and Loving Pets Crematory, cited the special attachment often formed between owner and pet. Particularly for older people who are widowed and don't remarry, Nelson said, the "pet truly becomes their companion."

Loving Pets in Henrico County has offered pet cremations for four years and serves more than 100 families a month, Nelsen said.

When it comes to cremating animals, the process is similar to human cremations, but they're done in different crematories.

J.T. Morriss began offering pet cremations at Precious Memories Pet Crematory in Petersburg in January 2005. Morriss said his funeral home conducts about 500 pet cremations a year, or roughly 42 a month.

Area funeral-home directors say they're seeing more people who want to be buried with their deceased pet's ashes and include pets as survivors in their obituaries. Animals also have been in attendance for visitation or funeral services.

"We encourage them to do that if we know the pets were close to them," Morriss said.

The price of cremating a pet depends on the size of the animal, from $115 to about $300 in the Richmond area.

At Loving Pets Crematory, urns generally range from $24 to $100, but custom-made orders have no ceiling. Figurine urns representing more than 700 breeds are available. The top seller is a photo urn, and also popular is taking the impression of a paw or nose print, then transferring it to a charm for jewelry.

Some people bury or scatter their pet's ashes. Others keep the ashes in an urn.

Moncure falls into the latter category. "That's what feels right right now," she said.

Jeremy Slayton is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.