Pets have been a core part of families across America for many years, and their
presence in our lives continues to expand. In 2021, approximately 49.6 percent of all
households had at least one pet, and this number is expected to continue growing. With the increase in beloved pets comes an increased need for quality pet care, including end-of-life
services.
While cremation may not be a comfortable topic to discuss, public comprehension of the
process is crucial to ensure respectful and reliable after-life care. Cremation has become one of
the most common choices for grieving pet parents, with about 80% of people choosing to
cremate their pets and about half of those individuals choosing private cremations.
As the demand for pet cremation rises, there is a concern that the quality of these services may be
compromised, especially if a service is not affiliated with an accredited program.
The typical cremation process includes several steps, with the first and most important
step being how a pet is packaged. After owners depart and a deceased pet is left in the care of
a veterinary clinic, the pet must be securely packaged so they can be transported to a
crematorium.
For security and sanitary measures, deceased pets are often placed in bags. While
many owners will never see this part of the process, the type of bag used is very important.
Trash bags may be an affordable and accessible option, but they lack the respect our loyal
companions deserve and can cause issues in later cremation steps.
Most people would be appalled to know a loved one was placed in a trash bag after
passing, and this sentiment extends to pets. Our loyal companions deserve to be respected
throughout their end-of-life services, and this respect starts with their preparation for transport.
Specialty packaging, intended only for cremation, should be the service standard. Bags
that are designed specifically for transporting deceased pets in a sanitary and dignified manner
ensure more than comfort and cleanliness.
Cremation-specific bags prevent tragic accidents, such as lost ashes or receiving
incorrect ashes. If trash bags are used, there is always the chance that a beloved pet may be
accidentally discarded as trash or missed by a crematorium’s transportation team.
Mistaken identity can also be prevented, as cremation-specific packaging can better
ensure that a pet’s identity is not lost or confused with another pet at any point during their
journey. Unlike a trash bag, cremation bags are designed to be fully sealed and marked with a
pet’s identifying information.
The most reliable systems take the effort to match a pet’s identification information to ID
numbers on that same pet’s packaging and a stainless steel coin. This coin goes through the
entire cremation process and serves as insurance that a pet’s identity is never mistaken or lost.
Grieving the loss of a pet is often complicated and exhausting. Cremation services may
not erase this pain, but they can provide pet parents with a sense of solace. This is especially
true when precautions and genuine care are put into the entire passing process, and it all starts
with the quality of cremation packaging used.
Citations:
1. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2022/demo/2021-household-pets.html
2. https://www.cremationassociation.org/page/PetCremation?&hhsearchterms=%22pet%22
3. https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2017-09-15/avma-providing-guidance-handling-pet-re
mains